Islam in Java (First Thoughts)

I will probably change my mind about this several times before the ten months are over, but now I think that Indonesian Muslims wear their Islam more lightly than say, those in the Middle East.  That is, they do not bother to learn extensively the Arabic language of the Qur'an, for example.  They do know what they recite in the prayers (salat) that many say faithfully.  Yet, they take their Islamic faith very seriously.  It permeates every aspect of life here, from the call to prayer that occurs not only at the beginning of the five periods (starting at 4 AM) but often too at the end, to the everyday aspects of life, like food and animals. 
  Having said that, I have to add that here in Java there is another still very vibrant dimension of religious experience, and that is the mystical aspect.  I learned about it the very first week in the neighborhood, when our new friend, Mira, told us about JFK who was given the "kris," the sword or dagger carried by the Sultans.  It had mystical power, she told us, and only someone of Kennedy's stature could hold or pick it up.  "We have many mystical things here in Java," she told us.  A more intellectual version of this case was put by an anthropologist we are getting to know:  "The back stage is mysticism," he said, "and the front stage is Islam."  I am pondering and absorbing all that this means, as I navigate between the scholarly accounts (often conflicting!) of all this.