The study examines the interpretation of the Coastal Javanese figure, Misbah Mustofa, who seems paradoxical to the traditionalist style of Islam which lies behind his socio-religious background. Misbah’s interpretation, indeed, shows the model of puritanical Islam. By using Hans Georg Gadamer’s hermeneutics, this article discusses Misbah’s interpretation of the QS. al-Baqarah [2]: 134, where he put his critics towards Javanese tradition, like tahlilan. The puritan style of Misbah’s interpretation is caused by several factors: First, the ideology of Coastal Javanese santri that makes Islamic sharia as a standard reference of religious teaching which tends to be more critical towards syncretic tradition of Javanese cults and rites. Second, Misbah’s pre-understanding of heresy and shirk. Third, the interpretation based on the general meaning, tends to be more textualist, and seems to ignore the virtue of socio-religious life of the community. The meaningful sense of Misbah’s interpretation is critical attitude towards religious teaching and proportionally locating permissive and conservative attitude in order to maintain the co-existance of religion and culture.