Abdullah Ahmad (1878 - 1933) was an Islamic cleric (ulama) and reformist hailed from Padang Panjang, West Sumatra. He is a founder of Islamic mass organization based in West Sumatra, Sumatera Thawalib. [1] He also founded the Islamic magazine Al-Munir , the first Islamic mass media in the Indonesian archipelago. [2] Together with Abdul Karim Amrullah, he became one of the first Indonesians who received the honorable degree from Al-Azhar University in Cairo. [3]
Abdullah was born to Haji Ahmad, a renowned Minangkabau ulama and merchant, and a mother from Bengkulu. Abdullah completed his basic education in the public school, however, he also acquired religious education from his family. In 1895, Abdullah went to Mecca for pilgrimage and religious study and returned in 1889. [4] After return from Mecca, he immediately began teaching in Padang Panjang in order to purge the perceived religious non-orthodoxy such as bidah (religious innovation) and tariqa (Sufi order). As he was interested in propagating his idea through publication, later he became the agent of newly-founded Islamic magazines such as Al-Imam in Singapore and Al-Ittihad in Cairo. [3]
In 1906, he moved to Padang for becoming a lecturer, replacing his uncle after his death. In Padang, he held Tabligh Akbar (mass religious meeting), which eventually led to the founding of Jamaah Adabiyah, a religious circle which conducted Pengajian (religious mentoring). Pengajian was held twice every week, moving around different houses. [3] [4]
Seeing the insufficiency of systematic religious education upon all the youths in Padang, Abdullah decided to open a religious school in 1909. He was also an active author. Later he established Al-Munir magazine which modeled after Al-Imam in 1911 and became a journalist based in Padang in 1914. He also maintained tight network throughout the religious schools in Padang, Jakarta and able to extract support from the youth organization Jong Sumatranen Bond. Utilizing this network, he helped to establish Sumetera Thawalib, one of the first modernist mass organizations in West Sumatra. His depth in the religious knowledge was recognized among the Middle Eastern scholars, and he attended the Cairo Caliphate Congress in 1926 where people discussed the aftermath of the abolition of the Caliphate. During the time, he received the honorable degree from Al-Azhar University. [3] [4]
The Padri War was fought from 1803 until 1837 in West Sumatra, Indonesia between the Padri and the Adat. The Padri were Muslim clerics from Sumatra who wanted to impose Sharia in Minangkabau country in West Sumatra, Indonesia. The Adat comprised the Minangkabau nobility and traditional chiefs. They asked for the help of the Dutch, who intervened in 1821 and helped the nobility defeat the Padri faction.
Islam is the largest religion in Indonesia, with 86.7% of the Indonesian population identifying themselves as Muslim in a 2018 survey. Indonesia is the most populous Muslim-majority country as of 2018, with approximately 231 million adherents.
Muhammadiyah ; officially Muhammadiyah Society is a major Islamic non-governmental organization in Indonesia. The organization was founded in 1912 by Ahmad Dahlan in the city of Yogyakarta as a reformist socioreligious movement, advocating ijtihad - individual interpretation of Qur'an and Sunnah, as opposed to Taqlid - conformity to the traditional interpretations propounded by the ulama. Since its establishment, Muhammadiyah has adopted a reformist platform mixing religious and secular education, primarily as a way to promote the upward mobility of Muslims toward a 'modern' community and to purify Indonesian Islam of local syncretic practices. It continues to support local culture and promote religious tolerance in Indonesia, while a few of its higher education institutions are attended mostly by non-Muslims, especially in East Nusa Tenggara and Papua provinces. The group also runs a large chain of charity hospitals, and operated 128 universities as of the late 1990s.
Shaikh Ahmad Khatib al-Minangkabawi was a Minangkabau Islamic teacher. He was born in Koto Tuo, Dutch East Indies and died in Mecca, Ottoman Empire. He served as the head (imam) of the Shafi'i school of law at the mosque of Mecca. Many Indonesian Islamic reformist leaders learned from him, including Ahmad Dahlan, who became the founder of the Muhammadiyah Society and Hasyim Asyari, who founded Nahdlatul Ulama in the early 20th century.
Abdul Malik Karim Amrullah, better known by his pen name Hamka was an Indonesian ʿālim, philosopher, writer, lecturer, politician and journalist.
The Overseas Minangkabau is a demographic group of Minangkabau people of Minangkabau Highlands origin in Central Sumatra, Indonesia who have settled in other parts of the world. Over half of the Minangkabau people can be considered overseas Minangkabaus. They make up the majority of the population of Negeri Sembilan and Pekanbaru. They also form a significant minority in the populations of Jakarta, Bandung, Medan, Batam, Surabaya and Palembang in Indonesia as well as Kuala Lumpur, Malacca, Penang, Singapore and Brunei Darussalam in the rest of the Malay world. Minangkabaus have also emigrated as skilled professionals and merchants to the Netherlands, United States, Saudi Arabia and Australia. The matrilineal culture and economic conditions in West Sumatra have made the Minangkabau people one of the most mobile ethnic group in Maritime Southeast Asia.
Abdul Karim Amrullah, known as Haji Rasul, was a Muslim reformer who led reformation of Islam in Sumatra, Dutch East Indies.
Mahmud Yunus was an Indonesian Minangkabau Islamic preacher and teacher. He authored over seventy-five books, including Tafsir Qur'an Karim and an Arab-Indonesian dictionary. His books are used in madarsas and pesantrens. During his employment in the Indonesian Department of Religion, he promoted the incorporation of religious lessons into the national education curriculum. Yunus received an Honorary Doctorate in "tarbiyah" from IAIN Syarif Hidayatullah, Jakarta. A road to IAIN Imam Bonjol, Padang is named after him.
Islam is the most adhered religion in West Sumatra, a province of Indonesia, embraced by 97.42% of the whole population. The Muslim population increases to 99.6% if it excludes the Mentawai Islands, where the majority of the non-Muslim (Protestant) West Sumatrans reside. Denomination among Islam in West Sumatra is predominantly Sunni Islam, and there is a small Shia Islamic pocket within the coastal city of Pariaman. Minangkabau people, indigenous to West Sumatra and comprise 88% of the West Sumatran population today, have historically played an important role within the Muslim community in Indonesia. Up until today the region is considered one of the strongholds of Islam in Indonesia.
Muhammad Jamil Jambek, or better known as Sheikh Muhammad Jambek, was one of the pioneers of Islamic modernist reformers in Indonesia, hailed from Bukittinggi, Minangkabau region in the late 19th century. He was also known as an astronomer. His works criticized the perceived deviation from the Islamic orthodoxy widespread in Minangkabau society, and inspired the subsequent expansion of Islamic modernist movements in West Sumatra.
Al-Munir was an Islamic magazine, written in Arabic-Malay, published in Padang from 1911 until 1915. Inaugurated by the initiative of Abdullah Ahmad in early April 1911, Al-Munir was listed as the first Islamic mass media in Indonesia. The magazine was often associated with Al-Imam magazine published under the direction of Sheikh Tahir Jalaluddin in Singapore during 1906-1909. In addition to Abdullah Ahmad, several religious figures such as Abdul Karim Amrullah, Muhammad Thaib Umar and Sutan Muhammad Salim were recorded in the ranks of the editorial board.
Ismail al-Khalidi al-Minangkabawi was an Islamic scholar who belonged to the Khalidiyya branch of the Naqshbandi tariqa in the 18th to 19th century. He hailed from today's Tanah Datar Regency, West Sumatra. He is regarded as the pioneer of the tariqa in Minangkabau region, as well as the whole Indonesian archipelago. He was also known as a scholar of Islamic jurisprudence, kalam theology and tasawwuf.
Tuanku Rao (1790-1833) was an Islamic cleric (ulama), leader and commander. He was known as a prominent padri, a group of Islamic reformists who advocated for the puritanical approach in Islam inspired by Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab in the early 18th century West Sumatra. He also contributed to the proselytization of Islam among Batak people. He died during the Padri War in 1833.
Burhanuddin Ulakan Pariaman, also known as Sheikh Burhanuddin Ulakan, was an Islamic cleric (ulama) from the Minangkabau region. He is regarded as the pioneer of Islamic propagators in West Sumatra. He is also known as a commanding figure of the Islamic movements against the Dutch colonization. Regarding his Islamic belief, he was a Sufi murshid belonging to the Shattari tariqa based in Minangkabau region.
Sumatera Thawalib was one of the earliest Islamic mass organizations in Indonesia, based in West Sumatra. Sumatera Thawalib represented the modernist school of Islam in Indonesia, an Islamic reform with heavy emphasis on the Qur'an, hadith, a modern scientific education, and abolishing of non-orthodoxy. Islamic Modernism was promoted by Muhammad Abduh. The term Sumatera Thawalib literally means "Students of Sumatra", and it was founded on January 15, 1919 as a result of meeting between the Muslim students of Padang Panjang, Parabek and Padang Japang. The aim of the organization was deepening of Islamic knowledge among the Muslim students. The organization had contributed substantially to the development of Islam in West Sumatra in the early 20th century.
Persatuan Muslim Indonesia, also abbreviated as PERMI, was a political party espoused Islamic-nationalism based in Padang Panjang, founded in 1930. The party was dissolved due to the crackdown by the Dutch East Indies colonial government in 1937. PERMI is regarded as a political party active against the colonial repression by the Dutch. Unlike other political parties, PERMI was unique in its embracing of both political Islam and nationalism and placed them two in a parallel position.
In the context of Muslim society in Indonesia, Modernism or modernist Islam refers to a religious movement which puts emphasis on teachings purely derived from the Islamic religious scriptures, the Qur'an and Hadith. Modernism is often contrasted with traditionalism, which upholds ulama-based and syncretic vernacular traditions. Modernism is inspired by reformism during the late-19th to early 20th century based in the Middle East, such as the Islamic modernist, Salafiyya and Wahhabi movements. Throughout the history of contemporary Muslim Indonesia, these movements have inspired various religious organizations; from the mass organization Muhammadiyah (1912), political party Masyumi Party (1943), to missionary organization Indonesian Islamic Dawah Council (1967).
Union of Islamic Education, also known as PERTI, is a Shafii-Ash'ari Islamic organization in Indonesia. The organization was founded by Sulaiman ar-Rasuli on May 5, 1928 in Candung, West Sumatra. In its development, PERTI had become a political party and gained four People's Representative Council (DPR-RI) seats and seven Constituent seats in 1955 general election.
Rahmah el Yunusiyah was a Dutch East Indies and Indonesian politician, educator, and activist for women's education. Born into a prominent family of Islamic scholars, she was made to leave school in order to get married as a teenager. After a few years of marriage, el Yunusiyah obtained a divorce and returned to her education.
Sheikh Sulaiman ar-Rasuli, known as Inyiak Canduang, was an Indonesian ʿālim and founder of Union of Islamic Education, a kaum tua (traditionalist) Islamic organization from West Sumatra. He was credited for popularizing the famous Minangkabau idiom, adat basandi syarak, syarak basandi Kitabullah.
