SUNAN KUDUS' STRATEGIC APPROACH TO CULTURAL ADAPTATION IN THE SELF-OTHER PERSPECTIVE

Abstract

Sunan Kudus is one of the Walisongo (the nine revered saints of Islam in Indonesia) figures with a particular way of delivering his teachings. To adapt to the community when conveying the teachings of Islam, he employed art and culture as a medium, established architectural foundations, and established social harmony, so much so that the people of Kudus became relatively untouched by horizontal conflicts. This article aims to explore the cultural adaptation models carried out by Sunan Kudus, find the underlying life principles he utilized, and analyze the thoughts and value principles he maintained within the conceptual framework of self-relationship and self-other relationship. The current research is a field study supported by literary data. The research results of this study indicate that he carried out approaches to the community by emphasizing attitudes of mutual respect, humility, and capacity to benefit the surrounding environment. He demonstrated ways of gaining public sympathy through caution and gradual progress. He entered the community’s life, approached the community members, and understood the things they needed. He applied a cultural approach and technology to help the community fulfil its needs. Prioritizing fostering tolerance among them, he highly encouraged the promotion of community approach that avoided the use of violent means. This study complements the literature on Sunan Kudus about the concept of self-other. This is a new finding concerning the life concepts of Sunan Kudus in his relationship with others, with these concepts functioning as a means for him to win the hearts and minds of the people of Kudus to follow the teachings of Islam and to consider him as a role model. The study results have yet to reveal the concept of self-other in terms of the relationship between human beings (Sunan Kudus) and other creatures.