Chairman of Muhammadiyah Prof. Dr. M. Din Syamsuddin hoped that Muhammadiah will be an excellent Islamic organization. Muhammadiyah became an advanced Islamic organization last century, and in this second century Din expected that Muhammadiyah would grow an advanced and excellent Islamic organization.
He uttered the aforementioned statement as a keynote speaker in a seminar of the 47th Muhammadiyah Pre Congress “Muhammadiyah, Civil Society, and Nation: Thought and Movement Plans in the Second Century”. The congress was organized on Saturday (25/4) in Building of Postgraduate Program of UMY.
According to Din, the excellence was dealing with comparative, competitive, dynamic excellence. Tremendous Islam could answer all challenges and changes of era. “Thus, an advanced and excellent Islam is a dynamic factor. The term of advance refers to going through space and time to bring mission of Islam. For one reason, rahmatan lil ‘alamin is related to dynamics of era,” he elucidated.
Moreover, Prof. Dr. Syafi’i Ma’arif, a former chairman of Muhammadiyah, delivered a different idea. He noticed Muhammadiyah from political aspect. He contended that, as established, Muhammadiyah was not designed to focus on politics of this nation as a part of theology or political philosophy in modern perspectives.
Nevertheless, confronting political era in Indonesia, Muhammadiyah could maintain its identity to prevent over-changing political fluctuation. It means that Muhammadiyah could always be a non-political organization. “On contrast, Muhammadiyah could still be a significant assistance of this nation in social, educational, and humanity aspects,” he mentioned.
In this second century, Syafi’i Ma’arif recommended that Muhammadiyah remain thinking about its essential roles. It should be decided whether Muhammadiyah would persist as a state assistance or move further to be a determiner of Indonesian movement. “And, the decision relies on thoughts and considerations of the organization members,” he asserted.
