These contradictory features are sometimes very difficult to...

These contradictory features are sometimes very difficult to be understood by common people, but for those who know about history is not surprising because it can be put into order within the dialectical approach of thesis-antithesis-synthesis. Ibn Khaldun, a well-know Moslem historian, has proposed the law of history that the only still persisting thing in the world is continuing change itself.

The recent acceptance of Sufism, of course, is related to the changes of historical context, or to put into simple terms, the changes of situation and condition between the time of Muhammadiyah’s onset in 1912 until recent time. Now, materialism has deeply influenced Indonesian society so that Muhammadiyah’s followers feel great needs of a spiritual aspect which only can be fulfilled by Sufism. These trends have been a common feature amongst Moslem scholars in the West for long time before.

This is the case of Hamid Algar and Maryamm Jameelah, who bring up in the materialistic society in the West. They grew bored with the materialistic life and converted to Islam in the path of Sufism. Furthermore they criticize Moslem modernists such as Jamaluddin al-Afghani and Muhammad Abduh and accused them of selling the religion to secularism. They are more blatantly categorizing modernists as pragmatists (Madjid (ed.), 1984: 77).

Here I do not mean that we should be opposed to modern Islamic ideas, but we should take into account the spiritual aspect of our tradition. Some Muhammadiyah scholars have written books about Sufism. The first amongst them is Prof. Dr. Hamka who has written a book titled Tasauf Modern (Modern Sufi) and has been published several times.

The book resulted from a collection of articles written for Pedoman Masyarakat magazine (recently Panji Masyarakat magazine) so that it did not have an integrated structure about Sufism as a kind of creative thinking effort related to emotional aspects of human beings in their personal communication with God. Hamka gave his modern interpretation of Sufism by emphasizing the role of morals amongst the people so that it will be compatible to the modern era characterized by materialism.

Anther distinguished scholar is Prof. Dr. Simuh who has already written numerous books such as Mistik Islam Kejawen Raden Ngabehi Ranggawarsita, Suatu Studi Terhadap Serat Wirid Hidayat Jati (1988); Sufisme Jawa: Transformasi Tasawuf Islam ke Mistik Jawa (1999 cet-4); and Tasawuf dan Perkembangannya dalam Islam (1997cet-2).