ভূমিকা

Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books Dialectical Relations of Modernity and Tradition C. Dialectic with Traditional Realities KH Ahmad Dahlan (1912-1923) had accomplished momentous jump in raising man power qualities by establishing an organization of socio-religious activities, not an Islamic political party.

He tried to choose organization as a means of spreading Islamic views because the impediment of political parties, as this tended to divide the people and the Dutch government tended to encounter its development. His decision to adopt modern ways of living was due to not having studied a lot about religion. That is why he did not produce numerous religious books because he emphasized practical efforts to fulfill the worldly life. Prof. Dr. M.

Amin Abdullah (1995: 27) argues that: …this choice was not based on the in-depth studies on classical Islamic literatures and he did not got inspiration in the conceptual framework of theology which already well-developed in the classical intellectual literatures. KH Ahmad Dahlan tried to criticize S ufi establishment with social activities, by transforming Sufi with social ethics.

Zikir or wirid , kinds of rememberance of the God, which was common amongst students in the traditional religious schools was replaced with serious thinking such as how to help the poor, to cure the ill, and giving religious advice. All activities promulgated into a grand concept of “ amar ma’ruf nahi munkar” (to encourage to the proper behaviors and protect from improper behaviors) (Abdullah, 1996: 156).

Ahmad Dahlan’s criticism to the malpractices of Sufism were very essential of Muhammadiyah, based on the theology of monotheism. However he was very tolerant to the existing tradition in society because he wanted to conduct wise religious teaching. It was fact that some years after his death, that Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), the countering organization of traditionalism, was established in 31 January 1926 (Ricklefs, 1994: 269-270).

Furthermore critics to Sufisms’ malpractices, were not monopolized by modernist group of Muhammadiyah. KH Hasyim Asy’ari, one of the founders and the leader of NU, also criticized Sufi’s malpractices which had paralyzed Moslem society. However, he did not want to discard Sufism and tried to reform it from within.