page_title: Minangkabau people
section_title: Customs and religion
hierarchical_section_title: Minangkabau people / Customs and religion
caption_attribution_description: English: Minangkabau mosque
context_page_description: Minangkabau people, also known as Minang, are an ethnic group native to the Minangkabau Highlands of West Sumatra, Indonesia. The Minangkabau's West Sumatran homelands was the seat of the Pagaruyung Kingdom, believed by early orientalists to have been the cradle of the Malay race, and the location of the Padri War.
  Minangkabau are ethnic majority in West Sumatra and Negeri Sembilan. Minangkabau are also recognised minority in other parts of Indonesia as well as Malaysia, Singapore and the Netherlands.
context_section_description: Animism had been an important component of Minangkabau culture. Even after the penetration of Islam into Minangkabau society in the 16th century, animistic beliefs were not extinguished. In this belief system, people were said to have two souls, a real soul and a soul which can disappear called the semangat. Semangat represents the vitality of life and it is said to be possessed by all living creatures including animals and plants. An illness may be explained as the capture of the semangat by an evil spirit, and a shaman (pawang) may be consulted to conjure invisible forces and bring comfort to the family. Sacrificial offerings can be made to placate the spirits, and certain objects such as amulets are used as protection.
  Until the rise of the Padri movement late in the 18th century, Islamic practices such as prayers, fasting and attendance at mosques had been weakly observed in the Minangkabau highlands. The Padri were inspired by the Wahhabi movement in Mecca, and sought to eliminate societal problems such as tobacco and opium smoking, gambling and general anarchy by ensuring the tenets of the Koran were strictly observed. All Minangkabau customs allegedly in conflict with the Koran were abolished. Although the Padri were eventually defeated by the Dutch, during this period the relationship between adat and religion was reformulated. Previously adat (customs) were said to be based upon appropriateness and propriety, but this was changed so that adat was more strongly based upon Islamic precepts.
  The Minangkabau strongly profess Islam while at the same time also following their ethnic traditions, or adat. The Minangkabau adat was derived from Animist and Buddhist beliefs before the arrival of Islam. The present relationship between Islam and adat is described in the saying "traditions [adat] are founded upon the [Islamic] law, and the law founded upon the Qur'an" (adat basandi syara', syara' basandi Kitabullah).
  With the Minangkabau highlands being the heartland of their culture, and with Islam likely entering the region from coast it is said that "custom descended, religion ascended" (adat manurun, syarak mandaki).
caption: A Minangkabau mosque circa 1900.
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