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Ahmad Syafii Maarif
Chairman Islamic Movement Muhammadiyah, Indonesia
As a largest Muslim nation in the world, Indonesia has its own unique experience in dealing with Islam. Greatly different from the North African encounter with Islam which was launched through conquests, there is no hard evidence so far that Islam�s penetration into the Indonesian archipelago around the 8th century A.D. was conducted by force. It took almost five hundred years before Islam firmly established its own sultanate in the northern part of Sumatera which also went through peaceful means. Now according to the 2000 Population Census, there are 88.22% out of 205, 843, 196 of total Indonesian population were Muslims. This means that at least quantitatively, the islamization process of the archipelago is almost complete. However, in term of quality, that process has been facing mounting problems from time to time. One of the indicators is that although Indonesia is a Muslim country, the quality of the people�s commitment to the moral values of Islam remains weak and superficial. Many of them are more interested in ritual and symbolic aspects of Islam, while its moral teachings have been for long put aside. Therefore, no wonder, for instance, that Indonesia is also classified by many as one of the most corrupt nations in this planet earth. Muhammadiyah as a socio-moral movement in Indonesia has worked hard to cure the situation, but there is still a long way to go. This brief paper is trying to delineate some important characteristics of Muhammadiyah�s social and humanitarian networks in its well-planned efforts to enlighten the soul and brain of the Indonesian people as a whole. Muhammadiyah and its humanitarian mission The raison d�etre of the Muhammadiyah movement lies primarily in its creative and positive response to the challenge of the time for the sake of accomplishing its social and humanitarian mission. Founded by Ahmad Dahlan (1868-1923), a broad-minded �alim of Yogyakarta, Java, on Dzulhijjah 8, 1330/Nov. 18, 1912, Muhammadiyah has since expanded tirelessly its social, educational, and humanitarian networks and activities throughout the islands. The non-mazhab doctrine of Islam has become the Muhammadiyah�s concept of theology and philosophy. Different from philosophy commonly understood as a pure speculative concept, Muhammadiyah�s philosophy is the philosophy of action, or call it, a social philosophy �which emphasizes �deed� rather than �idea�, as Iqbal rightly put it. In other words, for Muhammadiyah, faith and philosophy without being rendered into action are useless and meaningless. Muhammadiyah�s understanding of history Directly related to its social philosophy, history for Muhammadiyah, is not for pleasure, but as an intellectual and spiritual endeavor for digging guide for action and for understanding the authentic Islam. From history, particularly from the formative period of Islamic history, a Muslim, according to the Muhammadiyah�s view, should learn critically and creatively as to how to bring the eternal messages of the Qur�an down to the earth, to the reality of human life; to promote and enhance the moral quality and commitment of the people to truth and justice. True, from the very beginning Islam has been the driving force of a social reform for creating an ethically just society. Faith (iman), knowledge, good deed, and justice cannot be separated. In its historical career for almost a century, Muhammadiyah is consistent in holding this social and moral philosophy. Being aware of the importance of knowledge to fully realize its mission, amid a backward nation, Muhammadiyah in its first constitution of 1912 had strongly encouraged the establishment of schools in which the principles of elementary doctrine of Islam and other subject-matters were taught. Muhammadiyah maintained that without knowledge any movement, religious or other forms of movement, would go nowhere. At that time, more than 95% of the Indonesian people were not only poor but also illiterate. Poverty and illiteracy combined together were the real sociological phenomena of the colonized nation then called Indonesia. The founding fathers of Muhammadiyah were well aware of this unfortunate condition of the people. Beside being colonized, poor, and illiterate, they were also suffering from slavish mentality which was completely incompatible to the idea of freedom. The name Muhammadiyah itself stems from the word Muhammad, meaning the disciples of this last prophet. By declaring themselves as the true disciples of Muhammad, Muhammadiyah�s members wanted to return to the original sources of Islam as was well-documented in the Qur�an and in the authentic sunnah (model pattern of behavior or exemplary conduct) of the prophet. In the realm of �ibadah (service to God), this meant that a Muslim should strictly follow the prophet�s model and example, and any deviation from it was regarded as religiously intolerable and unlawful. At the moment of Muhammadiyah�s rise to the scene of history, the socio-religious environment of Yogyakarta and in other parts of Indonesia as well, in the eyes of Dahlan and his followers, was full of superstition deviating away from the true and authentic teachings of the Qur�an and the sunnah of the prophet. As reformers, for them the only way to divert the situation was to launch a religious revolution with all cost. The aim of this revolution was to enlighten the mind of the people by reintroducing the authentic Islam. For Muhammadiyah, this was the only way to liberate people from the unbearable burden of poverty, illiteracy, and superstition. Poverty, illiteracy, and superstition were the real enemy of human progress, according to the Muhammadiyah�s philosophy. Indeed, the revolution took place. First, in Yogyakarta, then gradually it penetrated into other parts of the country. Consequently, Muhammadiyah was accused and condemned as the initiator of a new and dangerous religion. Therefore, the conservative and traditionalist �ulama ( religious scholars) reacted openly and violently, maintaining that this movement had to be stopped, condemned, and cut off in the bud. Otherwise, they said, the social imbalance and eruption would inevitably break out. But as a man of action who firmly believed in the ultimate and golden goal of his mission, Dahlan never gave up and his reform movement had to be continued. He was firmly certain that once he gave up, the future of Islam in Indonesia would be gloomy and joyless, while the conservative were not able to read the real situation facing the Muslim. To support his mission, Dahlan never hesitated to take over western educational system as long as it was operated within the corridor of Islamic paradigm. According to him, there is nothing wrong in this case. However, Dahlan was completely upset since the conservative �ulama did not want to understand the severe condition afflicting the majority of the Indonesian people. Therefore, to mould history after his vision, Dahlan had no other alternative but to move and move forward to change the course and face of the history of Indonesian Islam. Otherwise, Islam would perhaps disappear from the soil of the nation, though would prevail in the rest of the globe. Dahlan died at the age of 55. Not until one decade after his death, Muhammadiyah had become a national phenomenon. Schools, madrasahs, hospitals, orphanages, and other forms of social work were established everywhere in the archipelago. Up to now, we have already had more than 14 thousand schools and madrasahs, from kindergarten to university level. There are also hundreds of hospitals, clinics, polyclinics, orphanages, units of family planning, family care centers, community development centers, and etc. From this fact, Muhammadiyah is, perhaps, the biggest Muslim NGO (Non-Government Organization) in the Muslim land. So far there is no hint whatsoever that Muhammadiyah will stop the expansion of its gigantic social works and welfare for the benefit of all people, regardless of their religious, cultural, and racial background. Since the past few years, particularly since the September 11, 2001 tragedy, followed by Bali (Oct. 12, 2002) and Marriot or Jakarta (August 5, 2003) tragedies, Muhammadiyah together with other religious movements have actively taken the initiative to promote the inter-faiths� cordial relations. Any religious and social problem faced by the nation has to be solved through the inter-faith dialogues, and the results have so far been very positive, fruitful, and enlightening. The future: challenge and opportunity Now Muhammadiyah after passing its career for over nine decades with its huge social, educational, and humanitarian networks, not only as an Indonesian phenomenon, but its sphere of influence has spread out into the neighboring countries, such as Singapore, Malaysia, and Thailand. Even in Cairo, it just recently established a special branch for the benefit of the Indonesian students in Egypt. This means that Muhammadiyah has become more than an Asean (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) phenomenon, though the Cairo Muhammadiyah is part of Indonesian Muhammadiyah. For the purpose of exchange of experiences and ideas between them, the Asean Muhammadiyah movements have sometime organized joint-meetings respectively in Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore since the past few years. For your information, these three Asean Muhammadiyahs have no formal organizational relations with their counterpart in Indonesia, yet their philosophy has no difference in substance. Though they consist of four separate bodies and entities, their soul is interestingly one. The non-mazhab understanding of Islam is their common theology and philosophy. This means that Indonesian Muhammadiyah has been taken over as their model and pattern in their activities. Hopefully, this Muhammadiyah�s Asean network will become stronger and more fruitful in the effort to offer more service to humanity at large in this region. Although we are very proud of the Muhammadiyah�s success in many fields of human endeavor, we are fully aware that the future challenge will be more complex and uncertain. Therefore, the Muhammadiyah�s strategy should adapt itself creatively to the ever-changing situation, provided its basic philosophy of understanding Islam remains unchanged. For Muhammadiyah, the future is not only a challenge, but an opportunity as well. This movement believes that the future is certainly open for every one. In term of quality, for instance, Muhammadiyah still has to work harder. It has to be honest to itself and ready to admit the fact that the real condition of many of its social and educational activities is still far from satisfactory. One of the important agendas of the Muhammadiyah�s 44th congress is to formulate and direct the strategy and programs in order to hold up a level of international standard quality as a real modern Islamic movement. Of course, to move to the projected direction is not an easy way. It badly needs a great number of highly qualified human resources of which Muhammadiyah until now still lacks. In order to win the future, the problem of quality is indeed the problem of to be or not to be for this movement. Because of this long-term consideration, full attention has to be paid seriously to finding out the proper and realistic solution of this urging problem. Otherwise, the future might not side with Muhammadiyah. In the realm of politics, Muhammadiyah as a social and moral force, since 1971, has had no formal relations with any political party. Since then, it has taken a position as being independent from involving itself in practical politics. The experience it has had in dealing with contemporary politics did not always come to a happy end. In politics, many things could happen beyond the control of moral principles, of which Muhammadiyah has to be absolutely careful and concerned. But in the dynamic process of current reform movement in Indonesia since the last five years, it has contributed to it significantly. Professor M.A. Rais, 58, one of the most important and talented pioneers of the reform, is former Muhammadiyah�s president. His attractive personality and fighting spirit to a very great extent were shaped and inspired by Muhammadiyah�s philosophy of action. But once he was directly involved in practical politics, he voluntarily left his Muhammadiyah�s chairmanship. But to be honest to what has been happening in sociological reality, although Muhammadiyah is not a political party, many of its cadres have been the true initiators and movers of important political discourses and events in this country for decades. But they have done all this as ordinary citizens as the integrated part of their individual and moral responsibility to the nation. Aware of the economic weaknesses of the movement, the Muhammadiyah�s economic council under the lead of well-known economist Professor M. Dawam Rahadjo, has since the last three years made a feasible and workable studies and strategy to cope with the problem. Now the architects who engineer the economic awakening of Muhammadiyah are working very hard to empower the movement economically. It is hoped that within a few years to come, the concrete result of this strategy will become visible and tangible. I know very well that the architects, though they are professional in their own right, this field is new for Muhammadiyah. Therefore, more time and patience still need to see the result. In fact, for many decades in the past, Muhammadiyah was not very serious in handling the economic activities for supporting its mission. A concluding remark As a third and new millennium has dawned, Muhammadiyah as a modern and moderate Islamic movement has no other alternative but to cope with the rapid and dramatic change of history, nationally and globally. The one who can survive is the one who has the ability to adjust himself to the dictum of change, provided his own cultural and religious identity remains firm and solid. Muhammadiyah is now on the march to consolidate and solidify itself to response creatively to the challenge of the time. As the future is open for every one, Muhammadiyah wants to enter the gate of new millennium optimistically, despite the Indonesian nation is still under severe multidimensional crises.
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