Shi’a and the Tabuik Tradition: A Religious Ritual in Aesthetical Packaging in the Pariaman Community of Minangkabau – West Sumatera

Abstract

This article aims to explore Shi’a and the Tabuik Tradition: A Religious Ritual in Aesthetical Packaging in the Pariaman Community of Minangkabau. The presence of Shi’a as a religious sect in Islam cannot be separated from the problem of political conflict in the leadership system. Political conflict caused followers of Islam to break into groups that were for and against a change in Caliph. This conflict of leaderships gave rise to religious sects, each of which claimed to have the rightful successors to continue the Caliphate. Amongst these groups was the Shi’as ect, whose followers tend to be fanatic in their belief that Ali and his descendants inherited the right to Muslim leadership after the death of the Prophet Muhammad. The tabuik is a construction shaped in the form of a winged steed, or buraq, made from a type of bamboo, and used as part of a religious ritual to commemorate the death of Husein ibn Ali in the battle of Karbala in Iraq, on the 10^th day of the Muslim month of Muharam. The tabuik ritual is in the form of a colossal drama, or performance, which in the Pariaman community contains an important ideology with a background of religious values or fanaticism, and political values, packaged in an aesthetical form. A qualitative method is used, in which the researcher serves as the instrument for data collection through a literature study, with secondary data in the form of documentation and direct observation in the field. The analysis of the primary data focuses on the tabuik ritual in the Pariaman community of Minangkabau. The research results show that Shi’a and the tabuik tradition have a historical connection with the holy ark (tabut)of the Jewish people. In Pariaman this has become a religious ritual which is packaged aesthetically in the form of a colossal drama.

Keywords: Shi’a; tabuik tradition; religious ritual; aesthetical; Pariaman Minangkabau

DOI: 10.7176/ADS/83-07

Publication date:July 31^st 2020