Muslim Activities in Java: Mohammadiyah and Sarikat Islam

Fermantash, M. 1925. "Muslim Activities in Java." Islamic Review, Xiii (9/September): 5-6.

Java, one of the most fertile countries in the world, is the most important island of the East Indies, thouhg not the largest. Borneo, Sumatra and Celebes are much bigger. The area of Java is fifty thousand square miles. It is about four times the area of Holland.

The Javanese are now making good progress. The Mohammadiyah, a purely religious institution (the Muslim Mission), is making great headway. In 1922 the movement took root at Djokja, a town in Central Java; and under the leadership of the late Kiai Haji Dachlan, and assisted by other indefatigable missionaris, it now has --after a period of thirteen years-- branches all over the island, and other islands in the East Indies-- that string of pearls in the Southern Seas, as described by Multatuli, a famous Dutch author. The Institution has proved a great handicap to the Christian mission; and at Djogja the attendance at the church is decreasing. This is quite contrary to the conditions in mosques, where Muslims in larger number attend daily, so much so that a new mosque is now in the course of building; the Mohammadiyah has now some forty schools and a few hospitals of their own.

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