Page 281 - INDONESIA ISLAMIC CULTURE
P. 281

of tradition prevailed within the Muslim   teachings. With his tabligha ctivity, K.H.         At the time, the chairman of Jong      tried to distance themselves from
                                   community, especially in the pesantren   Ahmad Dahlan went against the habits of              Java, Samsul Rijal, proposed during a   two orientations: old-fashioned and
                                   milieu which was the only Islamic       the people who venerated Muslim clerics.              congress of the organization to make an   stagnant Islam, and the admirers of
                                   education institution at the beginning of   He showed that clerics were just ordinary         Islamic course program for Javanese    Western civilization, which was secular
                                   the 20 century. At the time no teacher   human being and the reform movement                  youth in Surakarta, but the congress   and only saw religion as an individual
                                         th
                                   would go to visit his students as that   meant to abolish the clerical monopoly on            rejected his proposal. When Samsul     phenomenon.
                                   would be seen as degrading his clerical   religion. (Kuntowijoyo, 2000: xiv-xv). Thus,        Rijal consulted Agus Salim, the latter   The reform movement led the
                                   status. Girls also did not get religious   the challenges posed by traditionalism             suggested him to establish his own     Indonesian Muslim community to split
                                   instruction except from their parents   should be faced by prioritizing amar                  organization for Muslim youth. Rijal   into modernists and traditionalists.
                                   at home. At the time, no girls went to   ma’ruf (commanding goodness) by                      then founded the Jong Islamieten Bond   Modernists were those who supported
                                   boarding schools to study religion.     offering good examples and not by nahy                (JIB- Young Islamic Association) and he   the reform movement, characterized by

                                   Facing this condition, K.H. Ahmad Dahlan   munkar (forbidding evil) that causes               appointed Agus Salim as advisor of this   thinking independently, being inclusive,
                                   gave a tabli gh (admonitory warning). At   discord within community.                          organization. During its first congress,   and most crucially, they selectively
                                   that time, tabligh were not used in Islamic   After Haji Agus Salim had joined                Salim saw that a curtain (hijab) made of   accepted Western modernism.
                                   propaganda. Ahmad Dahlan was an ‘alim   the Sarekat Islam (SI), he always                     an unfolded fabric separated the men   Traditionalists were those who accepted
                                   who taught about Islam in his mosque    accompanied its chairman H.O.S.                       from the women and he ordered the      the teachings of orthodoxy, were closer
                                   and he delivered Friday sermons in the   Tjokroaminoto wherever he went. Salim                curtain to be pulled down.             to the source of Islam, the Haramain
                                   Grand Mosque of Yogyakarta and thus he   was amazed by the way the people                                                            due to their intense relationship with
                                   occupied an exalted position in the Muslim   cheered the chairman’s arrival when              The Implications of                    the area since the beginning of the
                                   community. Yet, he did not act out his   ever he visited an area. Thousands                   Modernization                          last century, and they were also close
                                   role as a privileged figure. Even though   of people greeted him by bowing and                It was mentioned that within the Muslim   to local traditions. Both groups in fact
                                   he was an ‘alim, Ahmad Dahlan executed   kissing his feet. “Seeing this, Salim told           societies of the Western colonies a sort   shared an orientation to the teachings
                                   his tabligh to convey his teachings on   Tjokroaminoto that allowing himself to be            of secularization process took place   of orthodoxy; however, the modernists
                                   Islam by visiting his students, something   venerated like that might be dangerous.           because of the influence of Western    were also selectively oriented to
                                   that was still taboo at the time. Doing so,   Responding to Salim’s critical remark,          education both for those who studied   Western modernism, where as the
                                   he changed the public perception that   Tjokroaminto did not get angry his                    in their homeland and those who were   traditionalists did not reject traditionalism.
                                   Muslim clerics occupied high positions   relation with Salim became even more                 sent overseas to study in Western      The modernist group organized itself
                                   and that they possessed spiritual       intimate. Its parked a deal between the               countries. The reformer group of Islam,   in the Muhammadiyah, Persis, and
                                   advantages unattainable to ordinary                                                           like the Western reformists, was open   al-Irsyad while the traditionalist group
                                   people and therefore they thought that   two to help each other.”(Tempo, August               to accommodation and assimilation.     reacted by establishing the Nahdlatul
                                   visiting students was too much below    12 to 18, 2013: 52)                                   They wanted to produce a new synthesis   Ulama. For several decades, from
                                   them. Dahlan went to various places while   The Indonesian Muslim community also              between Islam and modern sciences      the 1930s until the 1960s, there were
                                   he traded batik and to deliver his religious   remembered Agus Salim’s conduct.               and technology. So, the reformers      conflicts between the two groups which,



          272  Indonesian Islamic Culture in Historical Perspectives                                                                                                                    Indonesian Islamic Culture in Historical Perspectives  273
   276   277   278   279   280   281   282   283   284   285   286