Reciting of the Qur'an with Javanese Style in Yogyakarta Community: Encounter between Religion and Culture

Abstract

This study examines the Reciting of the Qur'an with the Javanese style. The object of study is in the Special Region of Yogyakarta. This discourse was viral and controversial after Yaser Arafat Reciting Qur'an with Javanese style at the Istana Negara when Isra Mi'raj last May 2015. Some discourses that revolve show the counter-productivity by considering the Javanese style of reciting the Qur'an only as a form of resistance to the majority of the reading Qur'an without regard to the character of the Javanese style of reciting Qur'an itself. Javanese people, including Yogyakarta, have strong cultural roots related to how to recite poems and songs. This study will explain some factors underlying the Reciting of the Qur'an with Javanese style in Yogyakarta can survive on the side-lines of the growth of Reciting Qur'an with Arabic style, which is increasing in demand by everyone. This study uses the anthropological-social approach and Bernard T. Adeney Ristakotta in three networks of meaning; modernity, religion, and ancestral culture. The author found several factors underlying Reciting Qur'an with Javanese style still exist in Yogyakarta. They are cultural, contestation, and ideological factors. All three are factors that influence each other. In this case, the contestation factor became the dominant factor among them.