Religious and Political Narratives in Islamic Iconization: The Case of Kyai Kholil of Madura

AbstractThis article examines how Kyai Kholil became an iconic figure in Indonesian Islam in a setting where saintly veneration, pesantren authority, and electoral politics intersect. It aims to explain how the appropriation of revered religious leaders contributes to role-model formation across devotional, scholarly, and political arenas. The study combines anthropological fieldwork on pilgrimage practices and kyai–pesantren networks in Madura and Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) milieus with analysis of historical and biographical sources. Findings show that many Muslim communities continue to view Kyai Kholil as a saint whose barakah can still be accessed through tomb visitation; that numerous NU kyai position him as an indirect guru to legitimize contemporary religious lineages; and that politicians tied to NU, including descendants, can convert symbolic proximity to Kyai Kholil into credibility and electoral advantage. The article concludes that iconization is a dynamic process that links past authority to present needs, shaping historical knowledge, community boundaries, and political constellations. It contributes a critical framework for reading mystical narrative, institutional memory, and political mobilization as mutually reinforcing dimensions of Islamic icon-making. The implications suggest that scholarship should compare multiple narratives of saints across regions and communities beyond NU and examine social, economic, and digital dynamics that influence pilgrimage, charisma, and political authority to better map the diverse logics of iconization in Indonesia and the wider Muslim world.