Rara Istiati Wulandari, a rain shaman, was expelled from Aceh and then forcibly flown back to Bali. Acehnese political and religious authorities claimed she was being religiously insensitive in the sharia-compliant province. (Photo by Rara Istiati Wulandari / Facebook)

Negative reactions in Aceh to the ritual of rain shamanism do not mask the contradiction of parts of the Islamic community tolerating ‘Islamic shamanism’ or mysticism and ritual over science and modernity.

Recently, Rara Istiati Wulandari, a rain shaman, was expelled from Aceh and then forcibly flown back to her hometown, Bali. The Acehnese political and religious authorities claimed she was being religiously insensitive in the sharia-compliant province. State-run construction firms PT Wijaya Karya and PT Nindya Karya had hired the 40-year-old to stop rain from prolonging the construction of the Harapan Bangsa Stadium in Banda Aceh. The stadium had to be completed in time before the official opening of the National Sport Games (Pekan Olah Raga Nasional) that began on 8 September and is due to end on 20 September. The harshest criticisms came from religious groups.

Rain shamanism is a practice aligned with local mystical beliefs commonly found in Java. Its rituals aim at ‘chasing away’ clouds, preventing rain from falling to allow for the smooth organisation of social events such as outdoor weddings, sport events and political rallies, or construction projects. However, it is regarded as taboo in a conservative province such as Aceh because it is often accused as shirk (polytheism).

Yet Aceh’s religious figures focused on Rara violating Islam’s monotheistic principles but remain uncritical of mystical practices practised in the name of Islam such as ruqyah (Islamic exorcism attempting to evict evil spirits from people’s bodies). This practice is quite rampant in Aceh. In July 2024, for example, two social organisations (one set up to promote the practice of cupping, locally known as bekam) provided an opportunity for locals in Takengon area in Aceh to participate in a mass ruqyah activity “to help them and their families free from evil spirits”. This is in contrast with progressive Islam’s promotion of modern scientific knowledge.

Rara subscribes to the Javanese folk religion. She performed her ritual at the soccer stadium on 27 August 2024 and someone filmed her wandering around the stadium carrying a bowl and incense. It went viral on social media, including on Tiktok. This was not Rara’s first bout of publicity; earlier instances brought her into the limelight. In 2022, she conducted a similar ritual before the MotoGP event in Mandalika, West Nusa Tenggara. While her similar ritual around Mandalika stadium carrying a bowl and incense while barefoot went viral on international and local social media, it did not stir much controversy then.

However, for the more recent incident, the Acehnese and their religious figures were upset, as the ritual constituted “shirk” (polytheism), they claimed, whereas Muslims believe in the divine power of one supreme God. The saga was picked up by local and national mainstream media. For example, the Gema Baiturrahman tabloid carried a provocative headline: “The National Sport Games is not an event that will destroy Islamic aqida (doctrine or creed).” The tabloid, run by the Baiturrahman Grand Mosque of Aceh, is circulated to the Friday congregation and read by government and security officials, religious figures and businesspeople.

It rained heavily in Banda Aceh after Rara performed her ritual, so her ritual was unsuccessful. Netizens quickly ‘cancelled’ her on social media, contending that she did not obtain Allah’s blessing. Religious groups pressured the provincial government to act. The Acehnese government, comprising many religious figures, complied. Aceh’s acting governor Safrizal Zakaria Ali summoned to his office the representatives of the two firms that hired Rara. Ali demanded that they send the shaman home. The non-Acehnese representatives complied and Rara was flown out of Aceh just hours after the meeting.

The rain shaman saga more generally involves a centuries-old abangan–santri contestation in Indonesia. (Editor’s note: The authors are using terminology popularised by the anthropologist Clifford Geertz.) The abangan are mystical in their approach to Islam, mixing Javanese and local traditions of ancestor worship with Islamic religious practices. The santri are puritans, believing in the cleansing of the Muslim faith from polytheism. Coincidently, these puritans have historically been strong in Sumatra, where Aceh is located.

While Islamists’ criticisms of Rara are expected—Aceh has a long history championing for Islamic governance and by-laws—they do not tackle the problem underlying Rara’s and her sponsors’ understanding of the nexus between Islam and rationalism. In fact, it was not only the Aceh Muslims who were upset about Rara’s mystical approach to preventing rain but also some Indonesian Islamic groups and netizens. Their disapproval was mainly on theological grounds. Absent in their criticism was the fact that the stadium building had not considered any contingency plans for the possibility of natural disasters. The construction timeline could have been better adjusted to allow for delays, so that there would not have been a need to engage a mystic such as Rara.

By contrast, conservative religious authorities and netizens are not critical of the irrationalism that applies Islamic jargon, which remains widespread in Indonesia. To illustrate, they are tolerant towards Islamic shamanism, such as ruqyah, which applies the same mystical principles as Rara but using Islamic terminology. They are also not critical of this practice, which prevents people from seeking proper medical and mental health-related treatment. Some of these Islamic “dukun” (traditional healer or mystic) provide their services in Malaysia, where the treatment is rebranded as “alternative medicine”.

In the 1970s, Muslim intellectual Syed Hussein Alatas discussed the impact of such irrational religious orientation which he described as “collective representation”, and how this thwarted progress among Muslims in Southeast Asia. He contended that such views “inhibited self-confidence for the mastery of nature, entrepreneurship and invention”, for they remained passive to higher demonic and animistic forces. While Islam promotes the belief in the one and only supreme God and encourages the community to constantly seek help from the divine through rituals and prayers, it does not negate the significance of finding ways to rationally and systematically alleviate worldly problems, including health matters. Such scientific reasoning remains wanting in the Acehnese Muslims’ critique towards Rara’s mysticism.