Muhammadiyah's Role in the Socio-Religious Life of Minority Communities in Indonesia
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.32506/p2r9z742Keywords:
Muhammadiyah, minority communities, religious tolerance, Islamic civil society, inclusive educationAbstract
This article examines Muhammadiyah's role in the socio-religious life of minority communities in Indonesia by distinguishing between Muslim minorities living in predominantly non-Muslim regions and non-Muslim minorities participating in Muhammadiyah institutions. It employs qualitative comparative document analysis rather than a systematic literature review. The corpus consists of Muhammadiyah ideological and organizational documents, institutional publications, and empirical studies published no later than 2023, with particular attention to Papua, West Papua, East Nusa Tenggara, and selected Muhammadiyah higher-education settings. The findings identify four interconnected roles: institution-building for Muslim civic survival, inclusive provision of education and social services, mediation of interreligious coexistence, and formation of a public Islamic identity through da'wa bil-hal. Muhammadiyah's schools, universities, clinics, charitable bodies, and local branches create durable infrastructures through which minority Muslims gain religious continuity and social mobility, while non-Muslim participants encounter Islam through professional service rather than coercive proselytization. However, inclusion remains uneven. Tensions persist around Islamic institutional identity, compulsory religious formation, local cultural recognition, leadership asymmetry, and the gap between central normative commitments and local practice. The article argues that Muhammadiyah contributes most effectively to minority life when it treats institutional presence as reciprocal civic participation rather than demographic or confessional expansion.
Downloads
References
Ali, M., et al. (2023). Implementasi nilai Al-Islam dan Kemuhammadiyahan pada mahasiswa non-Muslim. Jurnal Pendidikan dan Studi Keislaman.
Arif, M., et al. (2023). Religious harmony in East Nusa Tenggara: Insights into local wisdom and religious coexistence. Analisa: Journal of Social Science and Religion.
Azra, A. (2006). Indonesia, Islam, and Democracy: Dynamics in a Global Context. Equinox Publishing.
Barton, G. (2014). The Gülen Movement, Muhammadiyah and Nahdlatul Ulama: Progressive Islamic thought, religious philanthropy and civil society in Turkey and Indonesia. Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations, 25(3), 287–301.
Burhani, A. N. (2019). Between social services and tolerance: Explaining religious dynamics in Muhammadiyah. Trends in Southeast Asia. ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute.
Bush, R. (2009). Nahdlatul Ulama and the Struggle for Power within Islam and Politics in Indonesia. ISEAS Publishing.
Hamzah, I. F., et al. (2021). Social identity of non-Moslem students in Muhammadiyah higher education. Halaqa: Islamic Education Journal, 5(1).
Hefner, R. W. (2000). Civil Islam: Muslims and Democratization in Indonesia. Princeton University Press.
Hefner, R. W. (2011). Civil Islam and minority citizenship in Indonesia. In R. W. Hefner (Ed.), Shari'a Politics: Islamic Law and Society in the Modern World. Indiana University Press.
Hilmy, M. (2013). Whither Indonesia's Islamic moderatism? A reexamination on the moderate vision of Muhammadiyah and NU. Journal of Indonesian Islam, 7(1), 24–48.
Maarif, A. S. (2009). Islam dalam Bingkai Keindonesiaan dan Kemanusiaan. Mizan.
Menchik, J. (2016). Islam and Democracy in Indonesia: Tolerance without Liberalism. Cambridge University Press.
Muhammadiyah. (2015). Negara Pancasila sebagai Dar al-'Ahdi wa al-Shahadah. Pimpinan Pusat Muhammadiyah.
Muhammadiyah. (2022a). Risalah Islam Berkemajuan. Pimpinan Pusat Muhammadiyah.
Muhammadiyah. (2022b). Isu-Isu Strategis Keumatan, Kebangsaan, dan Kemanusiaan Universal. Pimpinan Pusat Muhammadiyah.
Mu'ti, A., & Haq, F. R. U. (2009). Kristen Muhammadiyah: Konvergensi Muslim dan Kristen dalam Pendidikan. Al-Wasat Publishing House.
Nakamura, M. (2012). The Crescent Arises over the Banyan Tree: A Study of the Muhammadiyah Movement in a Central Javanese Town, c. 1910s–2010 (2nd ed.). ISEAS Publishing.
Nashir, H. (2015). Muhammadiyah: A Reform Movement. Muhammadiyah University Press.
Nashir, H. (2019). Indonesia dan Keindonesiaan: Perspektif Sosiologis. Suara Muhammadiyah.
Peacock, J. L. (1978). Muslim Puritans: Reformist Psychology in Southeast Asian Islam. University of California Press.
Rusdi, R. (2020). Sang Surya di wilayah minoritas Muslim: Eksistensi gerakan pendidikan Muhammadiyah di Papua Barat. Transformasi: Jurnal Kepemimpinan dan Pendidikan Islam.
Sidel, J. T. (2006). Riots, Pogroms, Jihad: Religious Violence in Indonesia. Cornell University Press.
van Bruinessen, M. (Ed.). (2013). Contemporary Developments in Indonesian Islam: Explaining the 'Conservative Turn'. ISEAS Publishing.
Wekke, I. S., Arif, B., Zubair, A., & Wardi, M. (2019). The role of Muhammadiyah institution towards Muslim minority in West Papua. Jurnal Ilmiah Peuradeun, 7(1), 21–42. https://doi.org/10.26811/peuradeun.v7i1.311
Wekke, I. S., et al. (2020). Fostering religious tolerance in West Papua: A case study of Muhammadiyah higher-educational institutions. Walisongo: Jurnal Penelitian Sosial Keagamaan.
Wekke, I. S., Siddin, S., & Kasop, I. (2017). Pesantren, madrasah, sekolah, dan panti asuhan: Potret lembaga pendidikan Islam minoritas Muslim. At-Tajdid: Jurnal Ilmu Tarbiyah, 6(1), 129–144.
Yusuf, M. Y. (2013). Muhammadiyah's philosophy of social action. In N. N. Noor & A. Azra (Eds.), Islam in the Indonesian World. Mizan.
