DARUL ARQAM: CREATING AN ISLAMIC ECONOMIC SYSTEM

Darul Arqam grew out of a religious study circle Ashaari Muhammad organized in Datok Keramat, a Malay suburb of Kuala Lumpur, in 1968. Ashaari was formerly a government religious teacher and member of PAS (Kamarulnizam 2003, 99).

Darul Arqam’s sharia economic model entails the notion that improvement of the individual by means of inner spiritual revival is entangled with, and essential for, economic improvement of the wider society. Their leaders stress that the basis for individual spiritual revival lies in the individual’s relationship with God (hablum-minallah), which nurtures Islamic values and ethics within members through worship (ibadah). The group adopts Sufi methods to attain iman (Islamic faith) and taqwa (Islamic piety) through eliminating unworthy attitudes (mazmumah) in oneself and replacing them with good attributes (mahmudah). Successful social and economic development, integral to relationships between humans (hablum-minannas), depends on proper attention to the domain of relations with God. Thus, the legitimacy of the outward forms of human sociopolitical and economic activities, according to Darul Arqam, is determined by the fulfillment of these basic guidelines: the intention is for the sake of God alone; compliance with sharia in their aims and implementation; positive consequences from the Islamic viewpoint; and not neglecting the basic tenets of Islam as expressed in the hablum-minallah. In their scheme of economic development, material and spiritual development are interdependent; yet its members place higher value on embracing amalan soleh aimed at the next world rather than seeking material success alone. They are taught that every one of their actions aimed at development—which results from integrating hablum-minallah and hablum-minannas and conforming to the basic guidelines above—can become an act of worship (ibadah) of God (Muhammad Syukri 1994, 31–32).

The economic principles of “Arqamnomics,” a term found in the writings of its members, include aiming to realize Islamic ethical goals rather than striving for excessive profits or the accumulation of wealth; basing the Islamic economy on taqwa, human energy, natural resources, istiqamah (steadfastness), and prayer; and keeping the Islamic economy free from riba, monopoly, haram sources, unpaid loans, fraud, and deception (Kamarulnizam 2003, 104–5).

Darul Arqam implanted its sharia economic model into production, consumption, and distribution activities. They established an extensive network of businesses in Malaysia and abroad beginning with the founding of the Darul Arqam Ummah Service in 1977, which started sundry shops, a wholesale store, and noodle factory and produced soya sauce and chili sauce. As their economic activities expanded they formed the Department of Economic Affairs, which concentrated on the fard kifayah economy by producing and distributing halal goods. Darul Arqam, similar to ABIM (Angkatan Belia Islam Malaysia; Malaysian Islamic Youth Movement), clearly promoted the consumption of halal products produced by Muslims under reliable conditions (rather than by non-Muslims) (Kamarulnizam 2003, 106). They also owned industrial factories, mini-markets, grocery shops, bookstores, tailor shops, workshops, restaurants, and taxis and express coaches. In 1993 they launched the Al-Arqam group that expanded their activities in the commercial and strategic economies of the Arqamnomics framework, with twenty subsidiaries dealing with groceries, mini-markets, food and beverages, clothes and tailoring, animal husbandry, medical services, and many other areas of business. Its technology company, Spectra Technology, provided services to ExxonMobil, Shell Oil, Petrolium Nasional Berhad, and Tenaga Nasional Berhad. While Darul Arqam’s state and department units continued to manage other economic projects, the Al-Arqam group operated under the central management of a board of directors led by Sheikul-Arqam Imam Ashaari Muhammad.

After the Malaysian state banned Darul Arqam and imprisoned its leader, Ashaari Muhammad, in 1994, the group’s businesses continued and its sharia economic model remained popular and influential among Malaysian Muslims. Kamarulnizam (2003, 110) notes that despite the alleged deviation of the group’s Sufi teachings, Darul Arqam’s successful Islamic economic projects were widely admired by the Malaysian public. Many of my Malay interlocutors in the 2000s expressed highly favorable views about how Darul Arqam organized economic activities, and some were also impressed with Imam Ashaari Muhammad’s charisma.

In July 2009 I had several discussions with two of the movement’s followers at a small shop in Alor Setar, Kedah. Abdul Latif, the shop operator, told me they are Arqam, but since it is forbidden to use the name they have changed theirs several times and are now using the name Global Ikhwan as a registered company rather than an official organization. Yet the movement continues and has progressed, Abdul assured me. He was critical of the way local Muslims were not practicing Islam, exhorting me to look at the way they were dressing and acting and how their parents were directing them to be doctors and lawyers rather than ulama because they valued high salaries more than religious knowledge. Abdul told me that the Islamic economy is not supposed to aim for making profit, but rather for doing good. Capitalists are always looking to make a profit, turning one dollar into one dollar and fifty cents, but a dollar is not just a dollar because Allah gives us these gifts. Abdul continued, telling me that “Abuya” (Father) Ashaari has developed an entire system for education, a complete system for establishing Islam in every area of life, and he pointed to the posters hanging around his shop on culture, politics, social affairs, education, health, and so forth, informing me that Ashaari has written lots of books on all these topics.¹⁰ Abdul Latif gave me a few of these books and allowed me to have some others photocopied at a nearby shop.

During one of my visits to Abdul Latif’s shop I had an opportunity to speak with Ustaz Othman, a higher-ranking member of their movement, who was visiting from Bandung, Indonesia, for some meetings on agricultural business. Ustaz Othman said they have a school up north in the direction of Perlis, and that they produce the bottled prayer water, Air Ikhwan, in Kuala Lumpur and Kelantan and the bread and cakes in factories in Kedah. Abdul invited me to visit their economic enterprises in Jitra, Kedah, informing me that they have lots of students and workers there, living and working in simple conditions. Ustaz Othman exclaimed that Global Ikhwan is truly universal like Islam, and that there are no national or ethnic boundaries in their organization. They are all over Malaysia; in Sumatra, Java, Makassar, Sulawesi, Kalimantan, and Lombok in Indonesia; in Singapore, Brunei, the Middle East, Australia; and hope to establish themselves in the United States in the future. He informed me that a recently aired television program on Astro stated that Global Ikhwan was the only group following the method of education as established by Rasulullah.¹¹ One of the main differences between their Islamic education and secular education, he noted, is that the students who study making bread, cakes, sauces, and other products maintain a relationship with their teachers throughout their lives. Global Ikhwan is like a family all over the world. The fact that they are saudara (brothers and sisters) is also reflected in the way they marry across ethnic categories. He has four wives: one from Malaysia, and three from different regions in Indonesia, and one of his wives was about to give birth to his twentieth child. Ustaz Othman assured me that their members have happy and harmonious families, and that their polygamous families can live in the same houses as one happy family without any problems. Some people criticize them and assume that the women must be forced to accept polygamy, but this is not the case, he asserted. Othman added that women in their movement believe in Islam and see the beauty in it, so why would they not accept something beautiful?¹²

Ustaz Othman and Abdul Latif both spoke to me about the special role they believe Global Ikhwan will play in the last days of human existence (zaman akhir). They believed that it was prophesied that the Imam Mahdi (savior), a man wearing a blue turban, and his followers would emerge in the East, and both of them tried to convince me that Malaysia is the perfect place for this to happen. These members of the movement believed “Abuya” Imam Ashaari has been given supernatural abilities and that he is the most amazing leader of our time. They stated that Allah would determine and select the leaders, the Mahdi and Mujaddid (Renewer), for the last days, and the pious Muslims will recognize these leaders by their characteristics. For these followers, “Abuya” fulfills the characteristics of a divinely selected leader of zaman akhir.¹³ In contrast to prophets, Ashaari has been blessed with ilham (divine inspiration) rather than wahyu (divine revelation). Moreover, since Rasulullah will return to the world in this period without his companions, it is the special role of the ikhwan to fight for the second coming of Islam in the last days through love, serving as living models of the complete practice of Islam, rather than by way of violence. Therefore, they have to be on a very high spiritual plain. There will only be fifty thousand ikhwan around the world that will develop and help in the second coming of Islam.

Although their sharia economic model still enjoys much public support, I perceived that followers of Global Ikhwan were having problems attracting new members; furthermore, I sensed that they felt persecuted. Abdul Latif mentioned several times in our discussions that they have been haramkan (banned), and many consider them to be sesat or to have deviated from Islam. He told me that they have many enemies. Observing their interactions with local Malays, I noticed that they have very few local supporters in the city. In one exchange with a Malay man that Abdul called an “old friend,” the man disputed the movement’s interpretation that smoking and selling cigarettes were haram rather than makruh (reprehensible), and questioned the quality of Air Ikhwan prayer water they sold in their shop. The following statement was written on the water bottles: Untuk mensucikan dan menye-jukkan hati, minumlah air ikwan (For purifying and cooling the heart, drink ikhwan water). His “old friend” asked him if this Air Ikhwan were so good, then why don’t they sell it to the vendors in the food court? Abdul literally backed up, leaned against the wall, and stopped ranting about the spiritual benefits of drinking their prayer water. I perceived this man was making a veiled accusation that there was something unsavory about the nature of Air Ikhwan.

After the passing of “Abuya” in May 2010, I have not had an opportunity to visit the brothers of Global Ikhwan in Kedah. However, there are media reports that Global Ikhwan Holdings Sdn. Bhd. is expanding on the halal businesses formerly part of the Al-Arqam group. Ashaari Muhammad’s wife, Hatijah Aam (also known as Ummu Jah), continued the group’s “business empire” and is famous for starting the Obedient Wives Club. She and nine other group members were detained at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport upon their return from Saudi Arabia and accused of trying to revive the banned religious group. She pleaded guilty to violating the fatwa outlawing Darul Arqam. Later that year she renounced all past beliefs in a public ceremony and apologized to the Selangor Department of Islamic Religion, the National Fatwa Council, JAKIM, and all the Muslims in Malaysia. Hatijah Aam made a statement to the media explaining that Global Ikhwan Holdings Sdn. Bhd. was in the process of securing halal certification from JAKIM; furthermore, she stated that Global Ikhwan planned to encourage “all Muslims to unite and defend Islam through economic activities according to the al-Quran and Hadith,” and that they needed a series of interconnected projects that cover “all aspects of the life of a Muslim” (Hasbullah 2014). It appears they are publicly distancing themselves from the group’s unorthodox teachings about supernatural powers while continuing to promulgate their popular sharia economic model and ideas about Islam as a total way of life, which are widely shared in Malaysian Muslim society.