Page 298 - INDONESIAN ISLAMIC CULTURE IN HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVES

Capita Selecta, two the transfer of religious knowledge the special column on fatwa (question & Makkah community in Cairo like Thaher formation of a Southeast Asian modern
volumes, by Mohammad was the main factor in supporting the answer) the editor of al-Imam cited many had studied these tools and facilities social order, the traditional ulamas
Natsir (the first part advancement of the Muslims. Expanding quotations from al-Manar. To mention together with Abduh and Rida’s other were no longer considered as the sole
consists of articles he knowledge was one of al-Imam’s just one example, al-Imam followed al- reformist ideas. One of these modern authorities in religious matters and
wrote before 1941 and main concerns. In the editorial of its Manar in its response to a fatwa request aspects was the use of magazines and who, up to then, had monopolized the
the second part those he first edition, al-Imam underlined the (istifta) about the Sufi Naqsabandiyah newspapers in the Islamic reformist formulation of Islamic thought. New
wrote between 1950 and importance of knowledge, as “a weapon brotherhood in which al-Imam asserted: movement. The printing press, which the Muslim leaders, the writers of magazine
1955). The volumes were to attain victory in the battle field of life; “as explained by our colleague, al-Manar Muslim community had initially rejected and newspaper articles, began to
published in Bandung it is the connecting factor that leads magazine in Egypt, the practices of a because it was seen as using a secular become increasingly involved in defining
in 1954 and 1957 many people to their glorious goal and Muslim brotherhood must be based on means to spread the sacred teachings of Southeast Asian Islam.
respectively. supremacy. At the same time, al- the sharia.” Al-Imam then underlined that Islam, had become an inseparable part In additional to publications, educational
14
Source: National Archive Imam pointed out backwardness of the “there is no doubt about al-Manar’s legal of the reform movement in the Muslim reform was also becoming an important
17
of the Republic of Muslims in Southeast Asia because of explanation in this matter.” world. Just like for Muslims in South aspect of Islamic reformism. Muslim
Indonesia. their laziness in acquiring knowledge. It and Central Asia, printing machines had reformists would rather build modern
was in this context that the publication Introducing Printed Culture and turned into one of the main elements in educational institutions, schools, and
of al-Imam’s “Ilmu dan Ulama” gained Modernity the growth of Islamic reformism. 18 madrasahs than founding pesantrens
its socio-religious significance. It was The examples presented above show and suraus. Instead of generating
one of al-Imam’s reform strategies in that al-Imam played an important role in Al-Imam created the space for ulamas, schools and madrasahs
Southeast Asia, and, as in the case of connecting Cairo reformism and Muslims the growth of Islamic print culture preferred to create a new kind Muslim
its publications on tafsir, al-Imam took a in Southeast Asia. Thaher Djalaluddin in Southeast Asia. It initiated the leaders, called “educated Muslims”
scholar from Cairo as its source. was responsible for this connection. emergence of a new face of Islam and by Mukti Ali, a prominent figure of
of the Muslim “reformists” leaders and
It should also be added that apart from Moreover, al-Imam also initiated the simultaneously also identified a new the reformist Muslim organization
the two articles discussed above, al- emergence of a new kind of Islamic style of leadership different from that Muhammadiyah, as will be discussed
Imam’s edition of May 1907 published intellectual tradition by starting to use of the traditional ulamas in Javanese later. They were to become Muslim
the Malay translation of an article of the modern tools and facilities. The Jawi- pesantrens and Malay suraus and in leaders with a modern spirit and reformist
19
Egyptian nationalist Mustafa Kamil, al- in the Malay World’, Indonesia Circle 69, 1996, the use of their books. Because of the ideas. Different from pesantrens and
shams al-mushriqa, entitled “Matahari 156-175; Laffan, Islamic Nationhood…, 160-165. 18. On this see Francis Robinson, “Technology suraus, which concentrated on teaching
15
This indicates the rising influence of the Japanese
Memancar” (lit. Shining Sun). Also, in Meiji restoration in the formation of Indonesian and Religious Change: Islam and the Impact of religious knowledge only, schools and
16
nationalism, as also on the case of Cairo. For the Print”, Modern Asian Studies, 27, I, 1993, 229- madrasahs transferred knowledge in a
14. See al-Imam, vol. 1, July, 1906. Tokyo-oriented voices in al-Imam, see Barbara 351; Barbara D. Metcalf, Islamic Revival in British
15. Mustafā Kāmil, al-Shams al-Mushriqa (Cairo: Watson Andaya, “From Rūm to Tokyo: The Search India: Deoband 1860-1900, Princeton: Princeton wider sense including “secular subjects”,
1904). for Anticolonial Allies by the Rulers of Riau, 1899- University Press, 1982), 198-234. See also Adeeb 19. Mukti Ali, Interpretasi tentang Amalan-Amalan
16. For a discussion on this see Michael F. Laffan, 1944”, Indonesia 24, 1977, 123-156. Khalid, “Printing, Publishing, and Reform in Tsarist Muhammadiyah, (Jakarta: Pimpinan Pemuda
“Watan and Negeri: Mustafā Kāmil’s ‘Rising sun’ 17. See al-Imam, 5, October, 1908. Central Asia”, IJMES, 26, 2, 1994, 187-200. Muhammadiyah Daerah Djakarta, 1958), 28.

288 Indonesian Islamic Culture in Historical Perspectives Indonesian Islamic Culture in Historical Perspectives 289