ISAIs (Institute South Asian Islam) cooperating with Department of Magister of Sociology, State Islam University of Sunan Kalijaga held the limited discussion at Sunday, 10 August 2025. The speaker was Ihsan UI Ihtisam, PhD Candidate from Chicago University at Moslem History Concentration in South Asia, who promoted the topic of “Sufism and Civilization”. The event was began at 10.00 to 12.30 a.m where it was attended by 14 scholars from any element such as lecture, master’s student, alumnus and general participant.

The discussion was going on discursively and enthusiastically. For the general Information, Ihsan is an Indian specifically from Kerala which pre modern name was Malabar. The place had important relation by the Moslem spread in Nusantara because of the route of commerce and sailor ship. This event also gave the opportunity to the audience to understand well about the development Moslem history in Kerala and also relation the place to Indonesia.

One question was asked by Dr. Phill, Ahmad Norma Permata S.Ag, M.A., who asked about how the relation of Sufism and politic which depends on political pattern. He asked that because the process of islamization happen after the rule of Nusantara open the gate to the preacher. Then, Ihsan said that there are many similarities both Moslem in Malabar and in Indonesian such as adherent of Syafi’I in Jurisprudence, follower of Tarekat Naqsyabandi and Syaikh Abdul Qadir Al-Jailani, then there is an famous Kitab in Pesantren which is Fath Al-Mu’in which the author from Malabar which his name is Zainudin Al-Malibari. In another fact, the first Moslem in India came from Kerala which was based on the earliest evidence from Ibn Batuta. However, myth and stories are also a historical document about the past.

The other topic also discusses about modern political Moslem in Kerala. He said that in Kerala, there was not have political Moslem structure such as kingdom or monarch constitute but, Kerala just had a traditional ulama who lead religion movement. So, the mosque was Sufism center where have the rue as performing all kind of the ritual and place of the teaching Islam’s education. In another side, he also explain about Moslem movement in modern era. The rebellion against colonialism was began since the Malabar’s scholars came from Mecca that declared independence country. It seems similar to Javanese Ulama in Colonialism era that centralize Mecca as the center of traditional ulama that had the spirit of independence.

Based on his competence as a historian, the discussion works with historical perspective. It was not only talk about Kerala generally, but also covering many aspect such as manuscript, modern political development, Moslem movement and global Ideology. Thus, the event was going on steadily. Afterwards, this event was important stuff to connect the interaction of global multidiscipline scholars.

Writer: Muhammad Wildan Syaiful Amri, Junior Researcher ISAIs