THE SPIRITUAL ESSENCE OF TAWHID (ONENESS-PEERLESSNESS) IN ZAPIN DANCE PERFORMANCE BY THE BEHOLDERS OF THE TARIQAT NAQSABANDIAH IN SOUTHEAST ASIA

Tariqat Naqsabandiyah is one of Southeast Asia’s leading Tariqat or ‘ways’ of the shari’at. The word shari’at literally means “the road to the watering place,” symbolizing the broad way which mankind must travel in order to find God. A Sufi practice, the Tariqat Naqsabandiyah (from the Naqshabandis of Central Asia) utilizes dhikr (remembrance of the divine names or verses of the Qur’an), often accompanied by physical movement to achieve an ecstatic state. It plays an important role in sustaining Malay-Islamic traditional performance practices as a form of mute dhikr, essential in seeking the realm of the altered other. This paper discusses zapin as a form of Malay-Islamic traditional music and dance and as mute dhikr in Southeast Asia.