When thinking about a fight in the name of Islam to establish an Islamic polity in Indonesia during the revolution (and afterward), many Indonesians would automatically think of the so-called Darul Islam rebellion in West Java, led by a man called S. M. Kartosuwirjo. This case is well known, both because it grew as a rebellion throughout the 1950s and spread to other areas of Indonesia,1 and because it birthed or inspired the radical Islamists engaged in violent actions against the Indonesian state and non-Muslim groups since the 1990s.2 The ongoing impact of this movement after the revolution has brought it attention of all kinds – military, political, academic, social – so that it has been conceived of as an exceptional case and a cautionary tale about the dangers of Islamic struggle. The idea that this negative example was the epitome of Islamic struggle in the Indonesian Revolution has framed national discourse to suggest that all Islamic struggle was bad and opposed to the Indonesian state.3