First, some of the followers are aware of the above stagnancies.

First, some of the followers are aware of the above stagnancies. Second, some of them are persisting in their previous tradition associated to NU. Furthermore Muhammadiyah try to make use of tradition to increase its followers in rural areas. It should not relieve its normative standard and follow the common Moslem, but instead should develop a dialectical approach to reform Islamic societies by considering sociologically Moslem societies.

It should cooperate with other Moslem groups to reform Islamic societies and develop constructive dialogues with them to understand more thoroughly the conditions of Moslem societies. This does not mean that they should fuse into one group because each group has its own social basis. It is not surprising that all the groups differ in their attention as well as their capabilities to reforming their Islamic societies.

About the necessity of pluralistic groups to fulfill the human being multi-faced demands, Nasr (1994: 147) argues convincingly that: Since every religion addresses a collectivity with varying psychological and spiritual temperaments, it must possess within itself the possibility of different interpretations. By bearing within itself, providentially, several modes of interpretation of the same truth it is able to integrate a multiplicity into unity and to create a religious civilisation.

Recently some Muhammadiyah followers such as Munir Mulkhan (2000), Thoyibi (2000), and Kuntowijoyo (1991) are consolidating themselves to address some stagnant features within Muhammadiyah. This started during its 42nd muktamar [^6] , held between 15-19 of December 1990, in Yogyakarta when they agreed to reform the organization and its leadership system.

Then in the 43rd muktamar in Aceh in 1995 they were able to reform the theological foundation s to accommodating both Islamic tradition and local tradition. This decision changed the most important organization body of the Committee of Religious Matters ( Majelis Tarjih ) into the Committee of Religious Matters and the Development of Islamic Thinking (Mulkhan, 2002: 31-32). As a result, Muhammadiyah tried to develop systematically an inclusive theology which respects other group ’s theologies.

Subsequently it formulate d a thematic interpretation categorizing all religions ahl al-kitab (people of knowledge, such as Jew s and Christian s ). Previous…