Today’s Lombok landscape bears witness to the strength of a significant reformist movement from the nineteenth century. In 1892, the Dutch colonised Lombok by destroying the Balinese kingdoms then controlling the island and opening the door to Moslem modernist missionaries.
    During this period of colonisation, the Middle-Eastern thinkers Abduh and Ridha had a strong influence, and the missionaries asociated with this way of thinking, known as the Tuan Guru, set up pesantren religious schools. Little by little they were able to spread an orthodox version of Islam, which cast off much of the ancient local tradition - Islam Wetu Telu - that they deemed deviational (bidah).
    The majority of the indigenous population of Lombok today, the Sasak, are strict adherents to this orthodox Islam. The mosques scattered across the land are built after Arabic models, and it is not rare to see men and women dressed in Arabic garb. It would be a mistake to think that Islam Wetu Telu has completely disappeared, however, as it survives not only in isolated pockets in the Northern, North-Western, and Southern parts of the island, but also in many practices of daily life.

WHAT IS ISLAM WETU TELU ?
Islam Wetu Telu is a fascinating mix of ill-structured beliefs and traditions. It now exists in different forms according to the area, which reflect in each case the particular layering of alien cultural influences on the indigenous Sasak culture. Pre-Islamic Javanese, Balinese, Bugis, and “Arab” influences are all apparent.
    One of the ways to define Wetu Telu is “negatively”, in its deviations toward ordinary Islam. Islam is, at the social level, the reflection of the teaching of two sets of holy books; the Coran, which contains God’s revelation to the last prophet, Mohammad, and the Hadiths, which are a collection of the prophet’s words and deeds such as gathered by his early followers. All later teachings, duties (syariah) and legal construction (fiq) are based on these two books, which define Man’s relations to God and to other human beings.
    With regard to God, a set of five obligations or “pillars of Islam” are specified:

    These interpretations are so tightly defined that there are, at least based on the Holy Scriptures, very few possibilities of individual interpretations and deviations.
    The Islam Wetu Telu tradition does, however, deviate significantly from the above-defined orthodoxy. First, the holy Coran does exist, but rather than being a book of learning that is consulted as a reference for the organisation of people’s life, it is considered as a book endowed with magical powers. People may not consult it without presenting a set of offerings to it. The Coran is also not usually written in Arabic, but in Middle-Javanese, and it is kept in a box just underneath the roof. Finally, it is read only in exceptional circumstances, and even then only by the local priest after a short ceremony.
    Concerning the Syahadat sentence, instead of being uttered in every ritual as a constant reminder of God and his prophet, as in orthodox Islam, it is used instead as a kind of mantra formula. It is recited only on special occasions like weddings and usually by the kiyai holy man or pemangku priest entrusted with the ritual. Furthermore, instead of being uttered in Arabic, as it should be, it is uttered in Middle-Javanese.

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