CHARISMATIC–EGALITARIAN DA’WAH LEADERSHIP AND NON-MILITANT MOBILISATION: A HISTORIOGRAPHY OF THE LASKAR DARUSSALAM MOVEMENT AND THE INTELLECTUAL LEGACY OF PESANTREN

Purpose – This study reconstructs the historiography of the Laskar Darussalam da’wah movement in Garut, West Java, and examines how the religious leadership of KH. Yusuf Tauziri and the intellectual legacy of Pesantren Cipari shaped a non-militant, community-based model of da’wah mobilisation. Design/methodology/approach – A qualitative historical design combined archival documentation (family manuscripts, the Catatan Cipari 1950 and archived lecture videos), in-depth interviews conducted between 2023 and 2025 with descendants, senior santri and local informants selected purposively, and limited participant observation (2023–2024). Data were analysed through source criticism, contextual reading and interpretive synthesis, complemented by reflexive thematic analysis, and validated through source, perspective and method triangulation. Findings – Laskar Darussalam evolved from pengajian circles into tariqa jamaah and then a village-defence laskar bound by three principles: never strike first, never oppose the state, and protect the people as fardu kifayah. Yusuf Tauziri’s charismatic–egalitarian leadership operated through the four da’wah management functions of planning, organising, directing and controlling, embedded in tariqa practices such as baiat, dhikr and manaqib, and it explains his refusal of the Darul Islam/TII project. Five intellectual legacies are identified. Research limitations/implications – The single-case design and the selectivity of archival and oral sources limit generalisation; the proposed model requires testing in other settings. Practical implications – The study offers pesantren, da’wah organisations and policymakers a historically grounded model of peaceful, locally rooted religious leadership. Originality/value – It documents an undocumented non-violent alternative to militant Islamic mobilisation and links da’wah management theory with Islam Nusantara historiography.