Sufism, Local Wisdom, and Institutional Identity: A Semiotic Interpretation of the UIN Saizu's Emblem

Suwito Suwito; Abdulcebbar Kavak; Ida Novianti; Zein Muchamad Masykur

doi:10.21580/tos.v15i1.29122

Authors

Suwito Suwito Universitas Islam Negeri Profesor Kiai Haji Saifuddin Zuhri Purwokerto, Indonesia
Abdulcebbar Kavak Karabuk University, Turkey
Ida Novianti Universitas Islam Negeri Profesor Kiai Haji Saifuddin Zuhri Purwokerto, Indonesia
Zein Muchamad Masykur Universitas Islam Negeri Profesor Kiai Haji Saifuddin Zuhri Purwokerto, Indonesia

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.21580/tos.v15i1.29122

Keywords:

Visual Semiotics, UIN Saizu’s emblem, Islamic Symbolism, institutional branding, local wisdom

Abstract

Institutional emblems in Islamic higher education are less studied empirically compared to the broader fields of Islamic architecture, manuscript illumination, and decorative arts. This research explores the philosophical, spiritual, and cultural significance of the emblem of Universitas Islam Negeri Prof. K.H. Saifuddin Zuhri Purwokerto (UIN Saizu) and details how these meanings form a unified visual identity. Using a qualitative descriptive approach, the study combines Peircean semiotics with modern visual-grammar theories. Data collection involved in-depth interviews with four key institutional figures responsible for designing, endorsing, and interpreting the emblem, along with document analysis, conducted from January to March 2021. Results reveal that each visual element, such as the term Allah depicted as a mountain, the paired Kudi blades, the green background, the yellow circle, the five-feathered wings, the prostrating figure, the paired feather roots, the book, and the blue gemstone, serves both as an institutional identifier and as a symbol embodying Sufi values like tawhid, tazkiya al-nafs, and ma'rifatulla>h. These elements also encode the civic principles of Pancasila and Banyumas local wisdom. The emblem functions as a visual dhikr, integrating religious devotion, civic duty, and cultural identity into a cohesive institutional symbol.

Contribution: This study contributes to the study of Sufism within the semiotics of institutional branding, offering a replicable model for interpreting emblems as condensed expressions of Sufi values and providing Islamic higher-education institutions with a framework for designing visually grounded, culturally rooted, and civically engaged visual identities.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

Akhlaq, Sayed Hassan. Intellectual and Spiritual Debates in Islam: A Comprehensive Guide to Islamic Discourse’s Intellectual Origins. Cluj-Napoca: Cluj University Press, 2023.

Al-Attas, Syed Muhammad Naquib. Prolegomena to the Metaphysics of Islam: An Exposition of the Fundamental Elements of the Worldview of Islam. Kuala Lumpur: International Institute of Islamic Thought and Civilization, 1995.

———. The Concept of Education in Islam: A Framework for an Islamic Philosophy of Education. Kuala Lumpur: International Institute of Islamic Thought and Civilization, 1980.

Al-Faruqi, Ismail Raji. Islamization of Knowledge: General Principles and Work Plan. Herndon, VA: International Institute of Islamic Thought, 1982.

Al-Ghazali. Ihya’ ’Ulum Al-Din [Revival of the Religious Sciences]. Vol. 3. Beirut: Dar al-Kutub al-’Ilmiyyah, 2005.

Azra, Azyumardi. The Origins of Islamic Reformism in Southeast Asia: Networks of Malay-Indonesian and Middle Eastern “Ulama” in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries. Southeast Asia Publications Series. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 2004.

Birren, Faber. Color Psychology and Color Therapy: A Factual Study of the Influence of Color on Human Life. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1950.

Blair, Sheila S., and Jonathan M. Bloom. The Art and Architecture of Islam, 1250–1800. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1994.

Braun, Virginia, and Victoria Clarke. “Using Thematic Analysis in Psychology.” Qualitative Research in Psychology 3, no. 2 (2006): 77–101. https://doi.org/10.1191/1478088706qp063oa.

Burckhardt, Titus. Art of Islam: Language and Meaning. Bloomington: World Wisdom, 2009.

Chapleo, Chris. “Brands in Higher Education.” International Studies of Management & Organization 45, no. 2 (2015): 150–63. https://doi.org/10.1080/00208825.2015.1006014.

Chittick, William C. The Sufi Path of Knowledge: Ibn Al-ʿArabi’s Metaphysics of Imagination. New York: State University of New York Press, 1989.

Cirlot, Juan Eduardo. A Dictionary of Symbols. 2nd ed. London: Routledge, 2001.

Faujiah, Najla Sabira, and Ranti Saputri. “Sufism and the Qur’an: A Spiritual Interpretation.” International Journal of Islamic Studies and Social Sciences 3, no. 1 (2025): 22–36. https://jurnal.asrypersadaquality.com/index.php/ijiss/article/view/657.

Feisner, Edith Anderson, and Ron Reed. Color Studies. London: Bloomsbury Publishing, 2013.

Francis IV, Edgar Walter. “Islamic Symbols and Sufi Rituals for Protection and Healing: Religion and Magic in the Writings of Ahmad Ibn Ali Al-Buni (d. 622/1225).” University of California, 2005.

Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von. Theory of Colours. Edited by Charles L. Eastlake. London: John Murray, 1810.

Gupta, Jiya. “The Heuristic Nature of Hues.” The International Journal of Indian Psychȯlogy 9, no. 2 (2021): 1613–48. https://doi.org/10.25215/0902.163.

Habib, Habib, and Moh Habib. “Semiotic-Sufistic Interpretation of Imam Al-Ghazali: Case Study of ‘Verses of Light’ in the Holy Qur’an.” Indonesian Journal of Islamic Literature and Muslim Society 7, no. 2 (2023): 41–66. https://doi.org/10.22515/islimus.v7i2.7529.

Harmaini, Harmaini, Mohd Amin Kadir, Imam Hanafi, and Sofiandi Sofiandi. “The Spiral Andromeda Paradigm: An Interpretation on Science Integration of UIN Suska Riau.” Jurnal Ushuluddin 32, no. 1 (2024): 110–29. https://doi.org/10.24014/jush.v32i1.28627.

Hasanah, Istianatul, Hefniy Hefniy, and Abdul Wahid Zaini. “Strengthening Brand Identity: Embracing Local Wisdom through Character Education Management.” Indonesian Journal of Education and Social Studies 2, no. 2 (2023): 83–94. https://doi.org/10.33650/ijess.v2i2.3435.

Henderson, Pamela W., and Joseph A. Cote. “Guidelines for Selecting or Modifying Logos.” Journal of Marketing 62, no. 2 (1998): 14–30. https://doi.org/10.1177/002224299806200202.

Heryanto, Ariel. Identity and Pleasure: The Politics of Indonesian Screen Culture. Singapore: NUS Press, 2014.

Hooker, Virginia. “Seeing with ‘The Eyes of the Heart’: Dhikr and Fikr as Sources of Insight in Indonesian Islamic Art.” In Naẓar: Vision, Belief, and Perception in Islamic Cultures. Leiden: Brill, 2021.

Hussain, Tajammul. Roads to Paradise: The Art of Illumination of the Qur’an. London: The Matheson Trust, 2016.

Iqbal, Mohammad. The Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2013.

Kress, Gunther, and Theo van Leeuwen. Reading Images: The Grammar of Visual Design. 3rd ed. London; New York: Routledge, 2021. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003099857.

Kuehn, Sara. “Contemporary Art and Sufi Aesthetics in European Contexts.” Religions 14, no. 2 (2023): 196. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel14020196.

Lincoln, Yvonna S., and Egon G. Guba. Naturalistic Inquiry. Beverly Hills, CA: SAGE Publications, 1985.

Machin, David. Introduction to Multimodal Analysis. London: Bloomsbury Academic, 2007.

Mahnke, Frank H. Color, Environment, and Human Response. New York: Wiley, 1996.

Maryati, Sri, Abdul Basit Atamimi, and Athoillah Islamy. “The Paradigm of Social Sufism in Pancasila Ideology.” Paradigma 20, no. 2 (2023): 247–60. https://doi.org/10.33558/paradigma.v20i2.7061.

Melewar, T.C., and Elif Karaosmanoglu. “Seven Dimensions of Corporate Identity: A Categorisation from the Practitioners’ Perspectives.” Edited by John M.T. Balmer. European Journal of Marketing 40, no. 7/8 (2006): 846–69. https://doi.org/10.1108/03090560610670025.

Mohyuddin, Anwaar, and Nasra Khan. “Symbolic Representation of Color Green among Muslims.” IAHRW International Journal of Social Sciences Review, no. 3 (2015): 374–78.

Murata, Sachiko, and William Chittick. The Vision of Islam. St. Paul, Minnesota: Paragon House, 1994.

Namiri, Mahsa Esmaeili, and Rafooneh Mokhtarshahi Sani. “Symbolic Meaning of Colours in Safavid and Ottoman Mosques.” Journal of Shi’a Islamic Studies 10, no. 1 (2017): 91–123. https://doi.org/10.1353/isl.2017.0003.

Nasr, Seyyed Hossein. Islamic Art and Spirituality. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1987.

———. Knowledge and the Sacred. New York: State University of New York Press, 1989.

———. The Garden of Truth: The Vision and Promise of Sufism, Islam’s Mystical Tradition. New York: HarperOne, 2007.

Necipoğlu, Gülru. The Topkapi Scroll: Geometry and Ornament in Islamic Architecture. Santa Monica: Getty Center for the History of Art and the Humanities, 1995.

Patton, Michael Quinn. Qualitative Research and Evaluation Methods. 4th ed. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, 2015.

Peirce, Charles Sanders. The Essential Peirce: Selected Philosophical Writings. Vol. 2. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1998.

Rabbat, Nasser. “The Meaning of the Umayyad Dome of the Rock.” Muqarnas Online 6, no. 1 (1988): 12–21. https://doi.org/10.1163/22118993-90000230.

Refinal, Mahyudin Ritonga, Rusydi, and Riki Saputra. “Epistemology of Knowledge: Bridging Western and Islamic Thought.” Solo International Collaboration and Publication of Social Sciences and Humanities 3, no. 01 (2024): 95–110. https://doi.org/10.61455/sicopus.v3i01.250.

Ryan, Natasha. “Tauhid and Tasawwuf: Indonesian Sufism in Search of Unity.” Edith Cowan University, 2003.

Sandelowski, Margarete. “Whatever Happened to Qualitative Description?” Research in Nursing & Health 23, no. 4 (August 2000): 334–40. https://doi.org/10.1002/1098-240X(200008)23:4<334::AID-NUR9>3.0.CO;2-G.

Schimmel, Annemarie. Calligraphy and Islamic Culture. New York: New York University Press, 1984.

———. Mystical Dimension of Islam. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1975.

Schuon, Frithjof. Sufism: Veil and Quintessence. Bloomington: World Wisdom, 1984.

Shafiq, Joud. “An Islamic Perspective on the Epistemological Significance Of a Scientifically Induced Spiritual Experience.” Hamad Bin Khalifa University, 2017.

Zain, Muhammad, Mukhammad Ilyasin, and Mustakim, eds. “Integration of Religious and Civic Values in Islamic Education.” In Proceedings of AICIS XIV. Yogyakarta: Digilib UIN Sunan Kalijaga, 2014.

Zuhri, Saifuddin. Guruku Orang-Orang Dari Pesantren. Yogyakarta: Pustaka Pelajar, 1985.