Internationalization of Muhammadiyah in Andalus, Spain

Internationalization of Muhammadiyah: A Magnificent Message

Kiai Saad Ibrahim, Former Chairman of Muhammadiyah East Java Region, on a day in Ramadhan 1436 Hijri, shocked me with a statement. In one section of Ramadhan Study at the Faculty of Islamic Religion, Muhammadiyah University of Malang, he states, “I am disappointed seeing Pradana Boy returned. You should stay oversea. With your knowledge, teach global citizens in various world universities. Give global citizens appropriate explanation about Islam, so Islam no longer misunderstood.” At that time, I just graduated from a doctoral degree at the National University of Singapore (NUS).

The expression of Kiai Saad may not be exactly like that. After that, in 2018, I was involved in a research consortium with several universities in Europe and Asia. Only three Asian countries are joined, namely Indonesia, India, and Malaysia. In addition, more than fifteen research collaborators were from Europe.

At a meeting session in Florence, Italy, a researcher from Bulgaria asked me a lot of things about Islam. All of these questions came from misconceptions of Islam, due to the inaccurate portrayal of Islam, not only caused by unclear learning but also prejudice (suudzan).

I casually answered those questions during the dinner with a proportional academic approach with the researcher. At the same time, another researcher from Albania joined. This last person asked about women’s position in Islam, the core of the Quran, the jihad, etc. One of them concludes that “Islam is so much misunderstood in our society”. When he said “our society”, he referred to Europeans.

After the meeting, I suddenly remembered the statement from Kiai Saad above. Perhaps this was what he meant. Due to this occurrence, I knew that when Kiai Saad stated that message, he actually showed his global vision about Muhammadiyah and Islam. Nowadays, the Muhammadiyah public was shocked by the plan of Muhammadiyah East Java Region to purchase a former church building in Spain. Immediately, I remembered Kiai Saad’s magnificent message above.

Internationalization of Muhammadiyah: Strategic Plan

Some people perceive that this is a strategic plan. Nowadays, in this context, Muhammadiyah insists on doing the internationalization program. Purchasing a former church building will be a great milestone for more obvious Muhammadiyah internationalization. While some people think that this plan is too hasty.

Among the views that objected to the plan, referring to Muhammadiyah’s local issues such as teacher salaries and schools that are hard to grow. Then why do we have to reach something far away? Both of these conflicting views should not be taken for granted. Actually, in these both contradicting views, there is truth.

In this plan to purchase, I consider three things. First, substantialization of Muhammadiyah internationalization. Second, global vision of Islam. Third, revitalization of the glory of Islam. Meanwhile, these three are connected, associated, and can’t be separated even though they can be gradually reached.

I perceive the first thing (substantialization of Muhammadiyah internationalization) because Muhammadiyah internationalization is still in the organizational existence step. The existence of the Special Branch of Muhammadiyah (Pimpinan Cabang Istimewa Muhammadiyah, PCIM) is the pillar. On the other hand, we realize that PCIM is established by Muhammadiyah students abroad. Thus, we have to reflect on continuity. Students have a limited time. In addition, the scope of this internationalization is limited to “from us to us”.

Reclaiming Spain from Isabella

Greg Fealy, my supervisor when I studied in Australia, mentioned in his book that any Islamic seeds that come from Arabia and its environs will easily grow in the land of Indonesia. Yet, a similar question has to be asked: how about Islamic views that come from Indonesia? Can it easily grow overseas? By and large, the answer is no. In this context, internationalization must be improved, especially in the strategy section.

In light of that, I perceive the global vision and global strategy in that plan. We can obviously see that vision from the Kiai Saad’s magnificent message. Setting up the means to achieve the global vision by purchasing a former church building makes sense. But, the facility will stop being a means, when no one is running it. In this case, preparing global movement actors is extremely important. This is a big deal because we will connect with Europe, a land with great history. So it will be a little bit hard, especially something related to identity and ideology.

Certainly, all of us know, Spain is a battlefield for Islam and Christianity. For hundreds of years, Islam ruled Spain and left a great history. It’s not easy to get rid of Islam’s existence, as hard as disappearing the glory of Islam from some Muslim’s perspectives. Christian reign, at the same time, did not will the glory of Islam in Andalus. Subsequently, they tried to seize Spain. This venture was called Reconquista. That long venture, at the last, succeeded under the reign of Queen Isabella from Kastila and King Ferdinand from Aragon in the 15th century and was marked as disappearing Islam from Andalus.

I believe, the plan to purchase the former church building is just the beginning. If the purchasing is happening, that will be followed by continuous harder strategy formularization to obtain the global vision. Therefore, as Islam needs a long time to build a civilization in Spain, and Christian needs a long time to grab Spain from Islam, if this purchasing means the revitalization of Islamic glorification in the West, then that is how long it will take. By and large, every long time certainly has a beginning. And this is the beginning.

Toward Global Without Missing Local

In the context of the 48th Muktamar Muhammadiyah with “enlightening the universe, advancing Indonesia” (Mencerahkan Semesta, Memajukan Indonesia) theme, it means that global vision and local problem-solving must be balanced. Thus, to conclude, purchasing the former church building has a big goal. On the other hand, the disagreements of this purchasing have to be proportionally answered. The lesson from this view is that before thinking globally, we have to consider local problem-solving. Before “enlightening the universe”, we have to consider “advancing Indonesia”.

The aspiration of locality must be considered and understood due to the differences between local and global are thinner nowadays. Local can be global, otherwise, a global thing is never released from local. Moreover, the glory of Islam in the medieval, not only because of military movement, but also Muslim intellectual capability. So, preparing intellectual actors is the most important.

Remarkably, the icons of Andalus Islamic civilization, such as Ibn Khaldun, Averroes (Ibnu Rusyd), Avenzoar (Ibnu Zuhri), and Ibn Firnas, even though got a global reputation, but actually they were locally bornt, locally grown. This is what we have to mix. Think globally, at the same time, make local power as a pillar to pursue that global vision. Therefore, the venture to seize again Spain from Queen Isabella is not just imagination.

Editor: Yusuf