Ogan-Besemah - Religion and Expressive Culture



Religious Beliefs. Virtually all Ogan-Besemah people are Muslims. Islam spread into the eastern part of the area in the sixteenth century, but the Besemah districts in the west were converted only in the latter part of the nineteenth century. Megalithic shrines on the Besemah plateau continue to be objects of vows and dedications. Much of the later work of conversion was carried out by the Nagshbandiyya Sufi order. In the 1950s leaders of this order formed a political party in the province; this party continues today as a nonpolitical religious association.

Religious Practitioners. Although in theory any adult male may serve as worship leader ( imam ), in practice several men of learning or high status function as unofficial leaders of worship. They may also be the village-level heads of the Sufi order. These heads lead chanting sessions in which a chain of authority ( silsilah ) is recited that links the head to the founder of the order, and in turn to the archangel Gabriel. Participants recite names of God and other Arabic phrases as a means to gnosis and as a way of expiating sins. Several major religious schools ( pesantren ), located in the eastern part of the area, are centers of religious learning from which many villagers return to take up local positions of religious leadership.

Ceremonies. Most men (not women) attend Friday congregational worship at least some of the time. The event also serves as the occasion for the village head to disseminate information. Ritual meals ( sedekah ) are held to celebrate a birth, ward off danger, give thanks for a crop, or bless the deceased. Chants generate merit that God then converts to blessings on villagers' activities or relatives. Muslim calendrical feast days are also celebrated.

Arts. Art is largely verbal and ranges from the telling of myths, to the exchanging of short couplets, to the singing of songs with stringed accompaniment.

Medicine. Older practices involving leaves and spells continue in use alongside the clinics, traveling doctors, and readily available powerful antibiotics and vitamins.

Death and Afterlife. Funerals are followed by ritual meals, at which men chant Arabic phrases that generate blessings for the dead. Following general Muslim ideas, people believe in resurrection and a final day of judgement.


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