Abstract

Suhayib, Johari, Wahidin ,heepawi

This paper discusses the relationship between politicians and Sufis in building political communication. Sufi with its classical tradition has built a system of absolute hierarchy; therefore, obedience to the person is part of the religious principle of the Sufis. In the next span of time, Sufism developed into a Tariqat group. In this phase, a spiritual figure is born as the sole holder of the line of command who determines the direction of policy in all matters, including political affairs. It was for this purpose that two-way political communication was formed, with Sufi congregations and politicians. This paper aims to reveal the relationship between Sufi congregations and politicians in Pelalawan Regency, Indonesia. In order to solve this problem, an approach was made through observation and interviews with the congregation of the Tariqat and politicians. The results obtained from this study indicate that the role of the murshid towards the Sufi congregation is no longer significant as evidenced by the ineffectiveness of political communication. The factor that greatly influenced this failure was the growth of materialist and hedonistic attitudes among the Sufi congregation.