Skip to main navigation menu Skip to main content Skip to site footer

Weaving Modernity in Salafism: A Comparative Study of Muhammadiyah and Izala Movements

Abstract

This study examines the parallels between Muhammadiyah, the oldest and largest modernist Islamic movement in Indonesia, and Jama’atu Izalatil Bid’a Wa Ikamatus Sunnah, also known as Izala, the most significant Islamic reformist movement in West Africa, which originated in northern Nigeria. Concurrently, these groups share a common focus on socio-religious reform and a commitment to puritan Islam. It is undeniable that various Islamic movements/groups have existed and continue to exist outside the Arab world, but relatively few studies have focused on Islamic groups operating in West Africa or Southeast Asia, for example. This study highlights the importance of examining Islamic movements in regions beyond the Arab world, particularly in West Africa and Southeast Asia. The large Muslim populations in Indonesia and Nigeria offer a rich context for exploring the dynamics of Islamic movements. The research reveals, despite the groups’ Salafi-inspired ideologies, they mediate socio-religious reform, indicating the modernising rather than conservative aspects of Indonesian and Nigerian Islam. Within their respective contexts, these groups represent forms of reconstructed alternative modernity, or distinctly Islamic interpretations of modernity, which they define through executing their reform activities within Islamic frameworks. They navigate the complexities of modernity by balancing adherence to traditional values with adaptation to contemporary developments. Notably, the study is driven by a belief that comparative studies across different Salafi-inspired groups in distinct contexts could provide broader understanding of the evolving relationship between Salafism and modernity.

Keywords

Indonesia, Izala, Modernity, Muhammadiyah, Nigeria, Salafism, Tajdid/reform

PDF

References

  1. Al-Ansi, Abdullah M., Ishomuddin Ishomuddin, Tri Sulistyaningsih, and Rinikso Kartono. “Rational Choice of Following Muhammadiyah and Nahdlatul Ulama and Their Social and Political Role in Indonesian Society.” Open Access Library Journal 6, no. 11 (2019): e5829. https://doi.org/10.4236/oalib.1105829.
  2. Ali, Muhamad. “Between Faith and Social Relations: The Muhammadiyah and Nahdlatul Ulama’s Fatwas and Ideas on Non-Muslims and Interreligious Relations.” Muslim World 110, no. 4 (2020): 458-80. https://doi.org/10.1111/muwo.12363.
  3. Aliyu, Nura. “Agents of Social and Intellectual Change in Contemporary Northern Nigeria: The Case of the Jama’atu Izalatil Bidi’a Wa Iqamat as-Sunnah (JIBWIS aka the Izala Movement).” Lapai Journal of Humanities 11, no. 4 (2020): 1-16.
  4. Al-Wasewi, Ibrahim Haruna Hassan. Introductory Notes on the Writings of the Fodiawa, 2nd ed. Jos Nigeria: al-Wasewi schools, 2022.
  5. Amara, Ramzi Ben. “Sharīʿa in Africa Today.” In Sharīʿa in Africa Today, edited by John A. Chesworth and Franz Kogelmann, 125-45. Vol. 15 of Islam in Africa. Brill, 2014. https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004262126.
  6. Amara, Ramzi Ben. “The Izala Movement in Nigeria: Its Split, Relationship to Sufis and Perception of Sharīʿa Re-Implementation.” PhD diss., Universität Bayreuth, 2011.
  7. An-Na’im, Abdullahi Ahmed. “Viable Theory of Islamic Reform is Necessary but Insufficient for Political Stability and Social Justice.” IEMed. Mediterranean Yearbook (2017): 75-80.
  8. Bachtiar, Hasnan. “Dār al-‘Ahd wa al-Shahādah: Muhammadiyah’s Position and Thoughts on Negara Pancasila.” Studia Islamika 27, no. 3 (2020): 485-514.
  9. Baidhawy, Zakiyuddin. “The Role of Faith-Based Organization in Coping with Disaster Management and Mitigation: Muhammadiyah’s Experience.” Journal of Indonesian Islam 9, no. 2 (2015): 167-94.
  10. Bamyeh, Mohammaed A. Lifeworlds of Islam: The Pragmatics of a Religion. Oxford University Press, 2008.
  11. Bevington, Douglas, and Chris Dixon. “Movement-Relevant Theory: Rethinking Social Movement Scholarship and Activism.” Social Movement Studies 4, no. 3 (2005): 185-208. https://doi.org/10.1080/14742830500329838.
  12. Biyanto, Biyanto. “Promoting and Practicing Religious Pluralism: Muhammadiyah Experience.” Journal of Social Studies 16, no. 2 (2020): 197-210.
  13. Biyanto, Biyanto. “The Typology of Muhammadiyah Sufism: Tracing its Figures’ Thoughts and Exemplary Lives.” Indonesian Journal of Islam and Muslim Societies 7, no. 2 (2017): 221-49. https://doi.org/10.18326/ijims.v7i2.221-249.
  14. Brown, Gustav. “Civic Islam: Muhammadiyah, NU and the Organisational Logic of Consensus-Making in Indonesia.” Asian Studies Review 43, no. 3 (2019): 397-414. https://doi.org/10.1080/10357823.2019.1626802.
  15. Burhani, Ahmad Najib. “Muhammadiyah.” Oxford Islamic Studies Online, 2019.
  16. http://www.oxfordislamicstudies.com/article/opr/t343/e0296.
  17. Burhani, Ahmad Najib. “The Ideological Shift of Muhammadiyah.” Jurnal Masyarakat Dan Budaya 8, no. 1 (2006): 1-22.
  18. Cahoone, Lawrence. “From Modernism to Postmodernism: An Anthology.” Philosophy East and West 49, no. 1 (1999): 95. https://doi.org/10.2307/1400125.
  19. Chitwood, Ken. “Book Review: Muslim Modernity in Postcolonial Nigeria: A Study of the Society for the Removal of Innovation and Reestablishment of Tradition (2015): 5365.
  20. Fanani, Ahwan, Achmad I. Hamzani, Nur Khasanah and Aji Sofanudin. “Muhammadiyah’s Manhaj Tarjih: An Evolution of a Modernist Approach to Islamic Jurisprudence in Indonesia.” HTS Teologiese Studies/Theological Studies 77, no. 4 (2021): a6942. https://doi.org/10.4102/HTS.V77I4.6942.
  21. Fuad, Muhammad. “Civil Society in Indonesia: The Potential and Limits of Muhammadiyah.” Journal of Social Issues in Southeast Asia 17, no. 2 (2002): 133-63. https://doi.org/10.1355/sj17-2a.
  22. Geertz, Clifford. Islam Observed: Religious Development in Morocco and Indonesia. London, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1968.
  23. Ham, Kikue. “Conservative Turn? Religion, State and Conflict in Indonesia.” Pacific Affairs 87, no. 4 (2014): 815-26.
  24. Hasan, Noor Haidi. “Salafism in Indonesa: Transnational Islam, Violent Activism, and Cultural Resistance.” In Routledge Handbook of Contemporary Indonesia, edited by Robert W. Hefner, 246-56. Routledge, 2018.
  25. Kane, Ousmane. Muslim Modernity in Postcolonial Nigeriaː A Study of the Society for the Removal of Innovation and Reinstatement of Tradition. Vol. 1 of Islam in Africa. Brill, 2003.
  26. Lapidus, Ira M. “Islamic Revival and Modernity: The Contemporary Movements and the Historical Paradigms.” Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient 40, no. 4 (2009): 444-60.
  27. Loimeier, Roman. “Islamic Reform and Political Change in Northern Nigeria.” Choice Reviews 35, no. 2 (1997): 35-1046. https://doi.org/10.5860/choice.35-1046.
  28. Loimeier, Roman. “Patterns and Peculiarities of Islamic Reform in Africa.” Journal of Religion in Africa 33, no. 3 (2003): 237-62.
  29. Maimori, Romi, Susi Herawati and Indra Efendi. “Muhammadiyah’s Contribution in the Renewal of Islamic Religious Education in Indonesia.” Darussalam: Journal of Psychology and Educational 1, no. 2 (2022): 12-22.
  30. Maishanu, Abubakar Ahmadu. “JIBWIS Refutes Report Linking its Members with Extremism, Vows Legal Redress.” Premium Times Nigeria, May 5, 2022.
  31. Marrone, Pierpaolo. “Structuring Dialogue.” Etica e Politica 15, no. 2 (2013): 380-85.
  32. Meijer, Roel. Global Salafism: Islam’s New Religious Movement. Oxford University Press, 2014. https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199333431.001.0001
  33. Muhtarom, Ali. “The Study of Indonesian Moslem Responses on Salafy-Shia Transnational Islamic Education Institution.” Jurnal Ilmiah Islam Futura 17, no. 1 (2017): 73-95. https://doi.org/10.22373/jiif.v17i1.1645.
  34. Nakamura, Mitsuo. The Crescent Arises Over the Banyan Tree: A Study of the Muhammadiyah Movement in a Central Javanese Town, c.1910s-2010. 2nd ed. Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, 2012.
  35. Nashir, Haedar. Muhammadiyah: A Reform Movement. Muhammadiyah University Press, 2016.
  36. Nasir, Muhammad Muhammad. “Establishing Female Religious Authority; Zainab Ja’afar Bringing Women to The Fore in Northern Nigeria.” Paper presented at the Graduate Forum 2023 at KMP Universitas Islam Negeri Kalijaga, Yogyakarta, October 30, 2023.
  37. Pribadi, Yanwar. “Sekolah Islam (Islamic Schools) as Symbols of Indonesia’s Urban Muslim Identity.” TRaNS: Trans-Regional and -National Studies of Southeast Asia 10, no. 2 (2022): 203-18. https://doi.org/10.1017/trn.2021.15.
  38. Rodríguez, Juan Pablo. “Social Movements Studies and Social Critique.” In Resisting Neoliberal Capitalism in Chile: The Possibility of Social Critique, 88-105 . Palgrave Macmillan, 2020.
  39. Samrin, Syahrul, St. Fatimah Kadir and Dewi Rafiul Lukluil Maknun. “Pengaruh Kondisi Sosial Ekonomi terhadap Motivasi Belajar Siswa” [The Effect of Socio-Economic Conditions on Student Motivation]. Shautut Tarbiyah 26, no. 2 (2020): 250-71.
  40. Sounaye, Abdoulaye. “Heirs of the Sheikh Izala and its Appropriation of Usman Dan Fodio in Niger.” Cahiers d’Etudes Africaines 52, no. 2–3 (2012): 427-47. https://doi.org/10.4000/etudesafricaines.17066.
  41. Sulistiyanto, Priyambudi. “Muhammadiyah, Local Politics and Local Identity in Kotagede.” Sojourn 21, no. 2 (2006): 254-70. https://doi.org/10.1355/SJ21-2F.
  42. Syamsiyatun, Siti. “A Daughter in the Indonesian Muhammadiyah: Nasyiatul Aisyiyah Negotiates a New Status and Image.” Journal of Islamic Studies 18, no. 1 (2007): 69-94. https://doi.org/10.1093/jis/etl044.
  43. Szombathy, Zoltán. “A Trust from the Ancestors: Islamic Ethics and Local Tradition in a Syncretistic Ritual in East-Central Sulawesi.” Welt Des Islams 61, no. 4 (2021): 448-74. https://doi.org/10.1163/15700607-61020004.
  44. Tanthowi, Pramono Ubaid. “Islam, Civil Society and Democratization: A Case of Muhammadiyya and Nahdlatul Ulama in Post-Suharto Indonesia.” Master’s diss., University of Hawaii, 2008.
  45. Umar, Muhammad S. “Education and Islamic Trends in Northern Nigeria: 1970s-1990s.” Africa Today 48, no. 2 (2001): 126-50. https://doi.org/10.2979/AFT.2001.48.2.126.
  46. Umar, Muhammad S. “Review of Izala and Muslim Modernity by Ousmane Kane.” Sudanic Africa 14 (2003): 153-57.
  47. Umar, Musa Kabir, Muhammad Ainuddin Iskandar Lee bin Abdul and Kamarul Zaman Bn Hajj Yusouf. “Towards Addressing the Challenges Bedeviling the Strategies of Jama’atu Izalatil Bid’a Wa’iqamatis-Sunnah in the Democratization Process of Katsina State-Nigeria.” Asian Research Journal of Arts & Social Sciences 8, no. 3 (2019): 1-15. https://doi.org/10.9734/arjass/2019/v8i330100.
  48. van Bruinessen, Martin. Contemporary Developments in Indonesian Islam: Explaining the “Conservative Turn.” Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, 2013.
  49. Viké, Rita. “New Social Movements: Theories and Approaches.” In Rural Economic Developments and Social Movements: A New Paradigm, 13-43. Palgrave Macmillan, 2021.
  50. Wekke, Ismail Suardi. “Muhammadiyah and its Movement Through Interfaith Education on Minority Muslim Society of Indonesia.” Paper presented at the EuroSEAS conference, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Germany, September 10-13, 2019.
  51. wisevoter. “Number of Muslims in the World.” Accessed June 10, 2023. https://wisevoter.com/country-rankings/number-of-muslims-in-the-world/.
  52. Woodward, Mark, Muhammad Sani Umar, Inayah Rohmaniyah and Mariani Yahya. “Salaf Violence and Sufi Tolerance? Rethinking Conventional Wisdom.” Perspectives on Terrorism 7, no. 6 (2018): 58-78.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.