Muhammadiyah has been perceived as
an example of a success blend of Islam and modernity in Indonesia. By adopting modern
ethics of discipline, equality, and hardworking, this organization has become a
rich and independent Islamic movement. Quantitatively, the number of
Muhammadiyah’s educational and health institutions is only surpassed by the
ones owned by Indonesian government. It has 177 colleges and university;
thousands of higher, middle, and elementary schools; and hundreds of hospitals
and other health institutions. Social, educational, and economic success of certain
organization, however, does not necessarily indicate that it also embraces
democratic value and religious tolerance. In the recent political dynamics, for
instance, some members of Muhammadiyah have inclined to support Islamist groups
or defended Islamist activists. This can be seen from their participation in
the Aksi Bela Islam (Defending Islam
Action), their defense of and protection for Ustadz Bachtiar Nasir, and their
opposition to the ruling of the Constitutional Court on Penghayat Kepercayaan (Believers of Faith).
This paper, therefore, intends to
explain Muhammadiyah’s position in the context of development, democracy, and
religious tolerance in Indonesia. This paper, firstly, overviews the
historically undisputed concern of Muhammadiyah on social services and then,
secondly, it moves to discern its cultural transformation since the Congress in
Aceh 1995, and based on that, thirdly, it analyses its responses on religious
issues that occurred in 2017: The banning of the Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia (HTI),
the recurrent controversy on PKI (Indonesian Communist Party), and the ruling
of the Constitutional Court on Penghayat
Kepercayaan.
This paper argues that
Muhammadiyah’s social position has been consistently guided by its long-held
theology of Al-Ma’un (kindness) which has inspired its tremendous social and
economic achievements. Muhammadiyah’s stand on religious issues, however, was
often steered by Islamist imagery of the domination of Islam in Indonesia which
has certain impacts on it position on democracy and tolerance towards religious
minorities. It is the hegemony of the theology of Al-Ma’un that has been able
to neutralize Muhammadiyah from Islamist inclination and fundamentalist
tendency. It brings the members of Muhammadiyah to be more realistic in seeing
the world and distancing themselves from utopic vision of caliphate or the
dream of sharia as the Messiah that will solve every problem or the temptation
to create an Islamic state.
Link: https://www.facebook.com/libertv.my/videos/1890325501042575/ or https://youtu.be/UPh_nPDW8lo
orcid.org/0000-0002-0333-8344
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