Darul Islam

Darul Islam ("abode of Islam", DI) was a militant Islamist/anti-colonial rebellion in Indonesia lasting from 1949 to 1962. The rebellion took place in West Java, Aceh, and South Sulawesi against the Indonesian government during the tumultuous period of the (1945-1949) from the Dutch colonial power. DI was led by the Javanese charismatic leader who militantly pursued the goal of establishing Islamic Indonesia. The movement was strengthened by the Indonesian government's attempt to hand over West Java to the Dutch occupational forces.

DI was ISIS 60 years ahead of the time: they successfully established a sharia-based Islamic state called the Islamic State of Indonesia (NII) in 1949 with the help of Islamic militias such as Hizbullah and Sabilillah and spread to outer islands such as Sumatra and Sulawesi. The insurgency went as far as making several assassination attempts on, the president of Indonesia. However, it was crushed later by the Indonesian army. Kartosuwirjo was executed in 1962, and the rebellion went underground.

Despite it being no longer a potent force, DI had caused profound and lasting damage to the Indonesian society by becoming a mother of all jihadist figures and organizations. Literally all the jihadism in Indonesia can be rooted back to DI. The following are known organizations and figures which were born out of this rebellion.

Figures

 * Kartosuwiryo (1905-1962): The founder of DI. Contrary to many Islamist figures, he was born in a wealthy family of government officials, educated in secular Western-style schools, and believed in mystical Sufism. Before the national revolution, he joined an Islamic political party but later resigned and pursued a militant approach. He served the imam of NII.
 * Abu Bakar Bashir (1938-): Joined DI around 1976. He became a propagator of DI and provided support to some of the early jihadist organizations such as Komando Jihad. He was imprisoned by the Suharto regime in the late 1970s. In 1982, he fled to Malaysia and there he recruited jihadists from Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, and the Philippines. This became a foundation of Jemaah Islamiyah (JI), the most active terrorist organization in Southeast Asia during the War on Terror era. Today he is essentially an Osama bin Laden of Southeast Asia and considered a spiritual leader of all jihadists in the region.
 * Abdullah Sungkar (1937-1999): Joined DI around 1976. Basically, a sidekick of Bashir and went through all the journey together with him from imprisonment, the trip to Malaysia, and the foundation of JI.
 * Aman Abdurrahman (1972-): A prominent ideologue among the new generation of Indonesian jihadists. He joined Jamaah Ansharut Tauhid (JAT), a splinter cell of JI, and later broke off and founded Jamaah Ansharut Daulah (JAD). He's among the strongest promoters of ISIS in Indonesia.
 * Abu Wardah (1976-2016): Former leader of East Indonesia Mujahideen (MIT), an offshoot of JAT in Poso, Sulawesi. Pledged allegiance to ISIS. Killed after hiding in the jungles for two years.
 * Dulmatin "the genius" (1979-2010): A bomb expert of JI, alleged mastermind of the . He attended the religious school founded by Bashir.
 * Abdul Rauf (?-2014): An ISIS member from Indonesia. He was part of DI's regional branch (DI Ring Banten) and imprisoned for his indirect involvement in the Bali bombing. After his release in 2011, he traveled to Syria in 2013 and became a contact person for Indonesians who wanted to enlist with ISIS. Killed in Iraq.
 * Mochammad Achwan (?-): Former leader of JAT, now the leader of Jamaah Ansharusy Syariah (JAS). He disagreed with Abdurrahman on view toward ISIS, and took al-Qaeda's approach of anti-ISIS stance.

Organizations
Organizations are ordered chronologically based on their foundational year.
 * Komando Jihad (1970s-1980s): Claimed to follow Kartosuwirjo's mission of establishing NII. Perpetrator of hijacking incident in 1981. It was actually founded by the special forces of the Indonesian army (Kopassus), orchestrated by the chief of intelligence.
 * DI Ring Banten (?-present): An offshoot of DI in the Banten region. Founded by Kang Jaja, Abdul Rauf's uncle.
 * Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) (1993-present): Founded by Bashir and Sungkar by splitting from DI. Orchestrated the, 2002 Bali bombing, , , influenced the , , among countless others. At its height, it claimed a membership of 5,000. It has cells in Malaysia, Singapore, and the Philippines. JI was linked to Al-Qaeda, Taliban, and other regional organizations such as Abu Sayyaf and Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) of the Philippines. JI maintained a highly sophisticated institution that can carry out recruitment, training, indoctrination, and operation planning. It took a major hit in the late-2000s due to the crackdown by the Indonesian anti-terrorist squad,.
 * Mujahedeen KOMPAK (1998-2010): A splinter cell of JI in Sulawesi, based on the remnant of DI in South Sulawesi. KOMPAK broke off of JI as they grew impatient of JI's focus on indoctrination and prioritized immediate actions of terrorism. It played a huge role during the Muslim-Christian sectarian conflicts in Poso, Sulawesi and Ambon, Maluku island.
 * Tauhid Wal Jihad (2001-present): A small Jihadist group founded by Aman Abdurrahman before he joined JAT. They follow Abdurrahman's ideology and pledged allegiance to ISIS.
 * Tanah Runtuh (2001-present): A regional cell of JI in Poso.
 * Mujahidin Kayamanya (2001-2005): A regional cell of KOMPAK in Poso.
 * Indonesian Mujahideen Council (MMI) (2004-present): A voluntary organization founded by Bashir in the wake of which hit Aceh. It essentially acts as a vigilantist organization like the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) and a "socially acceptable" version of JI. They even occasionally participate in the congress held by the Indonesian Ulama Council (MUI), the highest Muslim clerical body in Indonesia.
 * Al Qaeda in the Malay Peninsula (Tanzim Qaedat al-Jihad) (2005-2009): Now defunct branch of Al Qaeda in Malaysia, developed from JI.
 * Jemaah Ansharut Tauhid (JAT) (2008-present): A splinter cell of JI founded by Bashir. The group has bases across Indonesia, including Aceh and Central Sulawesi.
 * East Indonesia Mujahideen (MIT) (2012-present): A pro-ISIS group founded by Abu Wardah, developed from Tanah Runtuh and JAT and based in Poso.
 * Jamaah Ansharusy Syariah (JAS) (2014-present): A group broke off of JAT, formed by Mochammad Achwan and Bashir's sons Abdul 'Iim Rohim and Rosyid Ridho due to disagreement over ISIS. JAS followed the steps of Al-Qaeda and took an anti-ISIS policy.
 * Jamaah Ansharut Daulah (JAD) (2018-present): A splinter cell of JAT founded by Abdurrahman. A group thought to be responsible for the 2018 and the  in the Philippines. Act as a regional assemblage of pro-ISIS jihadist.

Ideology
Darul Islam was a militant Islamist movement prior to the ideological development of Salafi-jihadism as known today. As such, their ideology was not exactly the same as contemporary examples of Islamic terrorist groups such as Al-Qaeda and ISIS. DI's rebellion needs to be understood in the context of Indonesian politics: the founding fathers of Indonesia wrote a constitution based on secularism which champions religious pluralism and they did not declare an Islamic state. As a response, DI aimed to establish Indonesia as a sharia-ordained state, just like many Islamic political parties at the time, and they justified the armed rebellion in the context of anti-colonial struggle. Naturally, DI did not have an idea of pan-Islamism like ISIS do, which means NII was specific to the Indonesian territory.

However, DI's offsprings are heavily influenced by Salafi-jihadism and pan-Islamism emanating from the Middle East. Bashir formed his ideology in the era of Islamic revival from the late 1970s, accelerated after the formulation of Qutbism as a prototype of jihadism, the decline of pan-Arabism and Arab nationalism, the Iranian revolution, and the international propagation of Salafism and Wahhabism by gulf Arab states through petrodollars. JI's development kept its pace with the era's most notorious terrorist organization, Al-Qaeda, and they were heavily influenced by Al-Qaeda's ideology of pan-Islamism and their goal of attacking "far enemy" (Western interests). Jamaah Ansharut Daulah (JAD), the most active offshoot of JI today, is a product of the post-Arab spring era exponential growth in Islamic terrorist activity after the Syrian civil war, Libyan civil war, Iraqi civil war, and the emergence of ISIS. Therefore, this new generation of extremists such as Aman Abdurrahman takes a note from ISIS and follow its examples of attacking "near enemy" ("corrupt" Muslim governments which do not follow their fundamentalism).