Alamanahjurnalis.com. From the history of Islam in the archipelago, we can find out how Islam entered and developed rapidly in almost all regions of Indonesia. Starting with the emergence of the Islamic kingdom in the archipelago, namely the Samudra Pasai Kingdom in Aceh in the 13th century and after that one by one Islamic kingdoms appeared on other islands.
During the colonial period, on November 18 1912 AD, the Muhammadiyah organization was founded, which was founded by a pious, intelligent and reforming kyai, namely Kyai Haji Ahmad Dahlan in Yogyakarta. With his attitude, thoughts and steps, he was able to combine Islamic understanding which wanted to return to the Qur'an and Sunnah of the Prophet with a tajdid orientation which opened the door to ijtihad for progress.
Muhammadiyah, with its unique characteristics, has the ideal of liberating Muslims from backwardness and building a progressive life through tajdid (reformation) which includes aspects of monotheism ('aqidah), worship, mu'amalah, and understanding of Islamic teachings and the lives of the people Islam, by returning to its original source, namely the Al Qur'an and the authentic Sunnah of the Prophet, by opening ijtihad.
Muhammadiyah pioneered "modern" education that combined religious and general lessons. The idea of education pioneered by Kyai Dahlan was able to integrate aspects of "faith" and "progress", resulting in a generation of educated Muslims who were able to live in modern times without having their personalities divided. This monumental step is called "transformative theology", where Islam is not just a set of ritual-worship teachings / "hablu min Allah" (relationship with Allah) alone, but also cares about and is involved in solving concrete problems faced by humans by " theology of charity”. The pioneering of the 'Aisyiyah women's movement in 1917 was a unique Islamic attitude and vision from Kyai Dahlan regarding the position and role of women.
In the early 1920s, where the people were still poor and ignorant, educated traditional Muslim kyai who lived in the villages, began to establish Islamic boarding schools to educate village people from illiteracy and lack of knowledge. With the existence of Islamic boarding schools, many villagers who previously could not read and write became able to read and write, but in the form of Arabic pegon and from there the transformation of knowledge, insight and literacy occurred.
Starting from the awareness of the importance of jam'iyah as quoted by K.H Hasyim Asy'ari in Muqadimah Qanun Asasi NU, the kyai at that time agreed to form an organization with the name Nahdhatul Ulama on January 31 1926 AD. NU shows enthusiasm in fighting for freedom of sect in Islam. NU appears as a moderate Islamic organization in Indonesia that is able to accept local traditions and adapt to changing times. In NU, the maqolah is widely known "Almuhafadhoh alal qodimis solih wal akhdu bil Jadidil aslah" or "Keeping the good old and taking the new, better".
NU does not conflict between nationality and Islam by being aware of the diversity that exists. NU accepts Pancasila and does not demand that Islamic law be formally implemented, therefore NU is often referred to as one of the pillars of the Indonesian nation-state. NU's open attitude towards diversity and differences is not surprising, apart from being influenced by the eclectic culture of the archipelago, it is also because NU has the principles of moderation (tawasut), tolerance (tasamuh) and proportionateness (tawazun) in responding to various issues, both social, political and religious. This principle underlies and at the same time protects NU so that it does not fall into radical or extreme attitudes (tatharruf). At NU, debate and differences are something normal and accepted, often with laughter. In NU meeting forums or bahtsul-masail, the kyai can argue very fiercely, but when the situation gets very heated, there are those who throw jokes that make the forum congregation laugh together.
Muhammadiyah and NU show that with the inspiration of the Al-Qur'an and Hadith, they want to present Islam as a dynamic force for social transformation in the real world of humanity through the Modern Islamic and Traditional Islamic movements, which are actualized as the Earthly Religion of Heaven in the Archipelago.
Editor: Ninik Qurotul Aini
