Indonesian Islamic Movement

2441 Words10 Pages
This essay aims to discuss Islam as a religious movement in Indonesia and what if anything this tells us about the religious and political life of Indonesia due to these movements. The majority of the population in Indonesia is Muslim and for a time prior to the twentieth century was a relatively peaceful religion in the region. This period of religious and cultural unity will be briefly examined along with the religious movements that occurred during the twentieth century, paying particular attention to the two largest Islamic groups in Indonesia: the Muhammadiya and the Nahdlatu Ulama. Using a frame work of Jeffery K Hadden’s article on religious movements, the doctrines that these Islamic groups hold central to their group and how these fit into the Hadden’s proposal of religious movements will be considered. Furthermore the effects of these movements will also be examined by considering the Islamic culture in Indonesia due to these religious movements including the division of Muslims and the persecution of the Ahmadiyya Islamic sect residing in Indonesia. Based on these examinations this essay will argue that both Islamic parties aimed to some degree to change the environment in which Islam exists by using Islam to fight against cultural, religious and political affairs that were considered unsatisfactory to the Islamic groups. Additionally the internal character of Islam has also been altered by excluding branches of Islam such as the Ahmadiyya who did not fit into either branch of the Islamic religious movement in Indonesia, creating an un-unified population of Indonesians not only from different religious beliefs but from Islam itself. Indonesia is home to many ethnic groups and as such many different religions, the majority of the population following the Islamic faith. Islam did not reach the shores of Indonesia until the twelfth century via trade with
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