Modernization and Purification of Islam

LEYAKET ALI MOHAMED OMAR

History of Religion Part 2- Prof Bernard Adeney- Risakotta and Prof Margana

Readings are from : Andi F. Bakti- “Collective Memories of the Qahhar Movement”
Nurkholish Madjid, In Search of Islamic Roots for Modern Pluralism, The Indonesian Experiances.
Robert Hefner- “The Modernist Travail” in Civil Islam

In the 1960s, the struggle of ideology among Muslims, communists and nationalists was so intense that Soekarno attempted to combine nationalism, religion, and communism which however came to a failure due to lack of support. Soekarno’s statement that religion is a basic element of the nation and character-building failed to convince the religious groups to collaborate with the communists.

Communists, nationalists, Christians, and Muslims were so divided in ideological and political lines that none emphasized the urgency of development. During this period (1945-1966) indeed it was a new insight for to learn about the conflicts between the Javanese and the separatist movements in south and north Kalimantan, north and west Sumatra and so forth. Details of Qahhar Mudzakkar militant movements to create a Darul Islam somehow bring the question of the early Muslims that Islamised the majority Hindu-Buddhist society to me. As Nurkholish Madjid puts it ‘ Islam did not supplant the existing religion by military conquest; the method of Islamization of the nation is known as ‘peaceful penetration’. In contradiction to the example taken from the early Muslim, Qahhar took a so call the other ways to realised his dream of Darul Islam. It also interesting to see the inspiring issue on Qahhar’s death by the fanatics to keep the ideology alive by having versions of his where being.

The data given for the perspective of people on Qahhar’s identity and movements, (p.134) I think the distribution of data was not even. Perhaps, it should include those who are still with his ideology as that would bring to a balance understanding of its movements and the ideology astutely.

Robert Hefner work however suggested that Soeharto’s consistent attempt to introduce development ideology was generally well received by the Muslims because many of the Muslim organizations and leaders had understood that Islam is not an impediment to economic development. Both national and local Islamic institutions carried out their own economic activities according to their circumstances, or sought cooperation with other communities, or obtained the government’s support. It suggests that the collaboration between the Muslims and the Soeharto’s government during the New Order era seemed to have been motivated by both religious and pragmatic considerations, as the Muslims seemed to see no contradiction between material and spiritual needs.