Monday, March 11, 2013

The Double-Edged Sword of Islamic Reform Movement: Muhammadiyah and the Dilemma of Tajdid within Indonesian Islam

Masdar Hilmy, (IAIN Sunan Ampel Surabaya) masdar.hilmy@gmail.com

Muhammadiyah is an organization that was, and still is, obsessed with how Muslims can achieve modern civilization through the adoption of modern science and technology. One of the motifs behind such an obsession is that Muslims should not left behind the West in advancing modern civilization. Muhammadiyah’s reform was translated at the praxis level by establishing “secular” schools which differ in nature from those of NU’s pesantren. It is thanks to tajdid, an instrumental reasoning, that Muhammadiyah can achieve such a remarkable achievement in Islamic reform. This reform movement, however, can be like a double-edged sword in that on one side Muhammadiyah can swing its reform pendulum into progressive interpretation of Islam. Its purificationist vision contained in the slogan “directly return to the Qur’an and Hadith” can nevertheless lead this organization to regressive interpretation of Islam. In case of the latter tendency, Muhammadiyah can risk its tajdid to be replaced by taklid, a version of religious interpretation dominated by uncritical imitation in understanding Islam. This paper seeks to analyze the extent to which the majority member of Muhammadiyah is struggling with the attempt to deal with the rise of conservative mode of interpretation within the body of this organization.

The 2nd Annual SEA Studies Symposium at the University of Oxford, 9-10 March 2013. http://projectsoutheastasia.com/academic-events/sea-symposium-2013/panels/panel-8

1 comment:

  1. Pak Najib, saya ingin mengakses artikel Masdar Hilmy di atas. Bagaiamana caranya geh? terima kasih

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