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The Muhammadiyah has long been widely acknowledged as a religious reform movement within Indonesian Islam. My experience as a movement insider in the 1990s has led me to reconceptualize the early picture of the Muhammadiyah in the light of the Protestant Reformation. The tenets of Islamic reform in the early stages of the Muhammadiyah resemble to some extent those of the Protestant Reformation. They share a few elements of the Protestant ethic, and may appropriately be called a Protestant type of Islamic reform. Since the term ‘puritanism’ is closely associated with both Calvinism and the Muslim puritans of the Muhammadiyah, at least some similarities are to be expected.
First, both Calvinists and Muslim puritans have indeed preached the doctrine of scripturalism, reliance upon scripture alone (the Bible or the Qur’an). ‘Back to the scripture’ has been the clarion call of reformist-puritan movements in both religions. Calvinism relied heavily on the strict reading of the Old and New Testaments, whereas Muslim puritans want to return to the original sources of Islam (al-ruju ¯c ila ¯ al-qur’a ¯n wa-al-sunna). Both the Bible and the Qur’an are seen as a primary source of authority and legitimacy. As a consequence, all believers should have equal rights to access and interpret scripture, just as religious clerics have had for years.
Second, as a consequence of the slogan ‘back to scripture’, both the Calvinists and Muslim puritans stand directly before God. ‘The Calvinist’, as Weber asserts, ‘also wanted to be saved sola fide’ (Weber, 2005, p. 68). The doctrine of ‘justification by faith alone’ (sola fide) has been at the core of Calvinism with its ascetic action in thisworldly activity. There is no such thing as a religious intermediary in the divine relationship between God and humans. In Calvinism, the absence of religious intermediaries is visible in, for example, the dismissal of sacramental grace, the exclusion of priests and the rejection of church hierarchy. There is indeed no priesthood in Calvinism.
The Muslim puritans have shared basic tenets of Calvinist reform. No priesthood stands between the Muslim puritans and Allah. Believers are held to be in direct and personal relationship with Allah. Just as for Calvinists, the belief in Allah for Muslim puritans must be proved by ascetic action in this-worldly activity (explained further in the next section). Muslim puritans grew up in the milieu of Javanese syncretism. Their reformist-puritanical style can be seen in their struggle for the purification of Islam and the abolition of saint and spirit worship in Java.
Third, both Calvinists and Muslim puritans have pursued, using Weber’s own terms, the ‘disenchantment of the world’ (ibid., pp. 61, 178). This process began in ancient Jewish prophecy, influenced by Hellenistic scientific thought. It culminated in Calvinistic theology and practice, which rejected all magical-sacramental means in the quest for salvation (ibid., p. 61). The revival of Muslim puritans in the early development of the Muhammadiyah was basically a response to bidca (innovation), takhayyul and khura ¯fa ¯t (superstition). All these magical elements were anti-rational, and, to use Weber’s thesis, must be excluded from both the practice of Islam and the conception of the world. In short, the Muslim puritans have struggled for two main objectives: the exclusion of those magical elements from the practice of ‘pure Islam’ and the demystification of the conception of the world in favor of rational calculation and behavior.
Fourth, as a consequence of the ‘disenchantment of the world’, Muslim puritans have fully shared several similarities with Calvinism in terms of rationalization. Islamic doctrine was rationalized by purifying the faith of the mystic form of Hindu-Javanese Islam. Uncritical acceptance of clerical authority (taqlı ¯d), which is regarded as a source of conservatism and stagnation, has been abandoned in favor of rational-independent thinking (ijtiha ¯d). Commitment to rational interpretation of Islam has been for Muslim puritans the key to progress and prosperity in the modern world.
The rationalization developed by the Muhammadiyah as a reformist-modernist organization can further be seen in the shift from charisma to modern bureaucracy. The Muhammadiyah has become a highly organized and bureaucratized movement, with more capable and efficient administration. It contains functional divisions, a central office, district and local branches and a coordinated network. The creation of a modern organization and bureaucracy has been an effective means of social transformation.
Similar to what may be observed in Calvinism, the rationalization of the conduct of life can be seen in the re-interpretation of Islamic doctrines in accord with modern rationality and progress. To Muslim puritans, Islam and progress can certainly be reconciled. The spirit of ijtiha ¯d as a source of rationality and progress has always been linked with the habits of entrepreneurship (explained further in the next section).
Finally, both Calvinists and Muslim puritans have adopted what Weber called a stance of ‘innerworldy asceticism’. Ascetic Protestantism, particularly Calvinism, used ascetic means to transform the external world. The spirit of modern capitalism emerged as a result of the so-called ‘elective affinity’ between asceticism and self-discipline among Calvinists. Aptly enough, Muslim puritans have engaged in Islamic asceticism without escaping from the world (explained further in the next section). In fact, they have regarded ascetic means as the driving force toward world transformation.
SUMBER: SUKIDI, “Max Weber’s Remarks on Islam: The Protestant Ethic among Muslim Puritans” , Islam and Christian–Muslim Relations, Vol. 17, No. 2, 195–205, April 2006, 200-201.
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