‘Islamic’ Bawean Cultural Identity in Tradition

Bawean is an island inhabited by several settled tribes. One of its unique phenomena of worthy observed is on their recognition as a unit that calls themselves Bawean people and Muslims. Bawean people who bear their population as only Islam assumes the developed Islamic culture in Bawean thickly nuances the people’s traditions. This study seeks to explore on how Bawean people’s attitudes in interpreting their tradition as a hallmark of Islamic cultural identity. The ethnographic method was followed by the 'thick description' technique were used in this study to formulate the Bawean people in interpreting the Islamic cultural identity in such tradition. The findings showed that Islam and culture are integrated in people’s lifeviews, socio-cultural practices, and practical doings of Islamic teachings. Reciting the Qur'an has been part of the people’s main ritual. The Bawean people interpret their traditions as their typical expressions of Islamic culture. The entire ritual of carrying out the traditions in Bawean is based on Islamic religious practices which show that Islam has one God, the one perfected holy book called al-Qur’an, and one last Prophet, the Prophet Muhammad. Islamic culture in tradition becomes a place of friendship and kinships, a means of building identity, a sense of unity in Bawean locality..