Revisiting Nu-Muhammadiyah in Indonesia

Previous empirical studies on Indonesia have supported the claim that the reformist movement of Muhammadiyah led to a decline in local culture. The popular call of the the reformist movements is that Muslims should return to a pristine Islam. However, little has been studied about how reformist Muslims accommodated local culture. In my field research employing ethnographic methodology, I found that the reformists of Muhammadiyah in Bima support local rituals seen as complying with local wisdom (kearifan lokal). For example, the reformist Muslims actively participated in the celebration of Mawlid, the Prophet’s birthday, a ritual commonly associated with the traditionalists of Nahdlatul Ulama (NU). Historical records show that the two differing religious orientations have been anchored within the Bima sultanate. Bima’s dyadic leadership, comprising the Sultan and the Raja Bicara (sultan’s spokesperson), allowed for branches of both NU and Muhammadiyah to be established in Bima. This in turn places political stability as an impetus for religious harmony in the region. As the findings show, it is important for both traditionalist and reformist strands to accommodate each other. Accordingly, the Mawlid ritual has not disappeared as it is considered fundamental to the identity marker of Bima Muslims, for both NU and Muhammadiyah followers.