Muhammadiyah still lags behind in global education development

Muhammadiyah still lags behind in global education development

Muhamad Ali

The congress of the second largest Muslim organization,
Muhammadiyah, in the East Java town of Malang from July 3 to July
8, has a strategic role to play.

Nationally and internationally recognized as a moderate
organization, Muhammadiyah has the noble task of promoting
dialogue and cooperation to overcome religious and cultural
boundaries. The central theme of the congress, "Approaching one
century of Muhammadiyah, reforming the movement to enlighten
civilization", is relevant in promoting cross-cultural, global
education within all its education and social networks throughout
the country.

Why is it necessary for Muhammadiyah to promote global
education? It is true that the organization has not paid much
attention yet to global education. It has subscribed to
puritanism in relation to bid'ah, khurafat, takhayyul (un-Islamic
practices) and Ahlus-Sunnah wal-Jamaah (conservatism in relation
to theology).

Yet Amar maruf nahi munkar (moralism in relation to social and
political wrongdoings) and khalifah Allah fil ardh (the concept
of human beings as vicegerents of God on earth) could serve as
justifications for the development of cross-cultural, global
education.

Muhammadiyah as an organization committed to reform has taken
on the responsibility of disseminating knowledge on global
issues.

Muhammadiyah was founded in 1912 partly to confront what was
seen as Christianization. As Harry Benda, Alwi Shihab and other
scholars maintained, Muhammadiyah felt the need to strengthen
Islamization efforts at the time of Christianization and
colonialism. Such a sense of "anti-Christianization" remains an
obstacle among Muhammadiyah members today to adopting tolerant
attitudes toward Christians and others.

It is thus imperative to make contact and pursue dialogs with
Christians in coping with perceptions and misperceptions of
Christianization and Islamization now, and in the past. More
importantly, Muhammadiyah needs to be engaged in a more strategic
endeavor through a learning system.

Muhammadiyah's roles in the nationalist movement have been
recognized. However, its role as an international movement has
only begun, particularly in the aftermath of Sept. 11, 2001.
Amien Rais, M.Syafii Ma'arif, and Dien Syamsuddin have sought to
promote mutual understanding in international forums. The time is
ripe to develop this activism at the top level into a more
integrated education endeavor through global education.

Muhammadiyah needs to face the historical and contemporary
fact that every community has to live in a multi-religious,
multi-cultural, and multi-civilizational environment. A moderate
movement such as Muhammadiyah should not accordingly regard this
milieu as negative and destructive to Muslim lives. Global
problems such as violence, terrorism, human trafficking, illegal
migration, drug abuse, environmental destruction, human rights
violations, and so forth can affect any community. At the same
time, global problems require global cooperation.

Muhammadiyah has so far been the only organization in
Indonesia that has modern education resources. Apart from
hospitals, orphanages and companies, it has modern schools,
colleges, and universities throughout the country.

These institutions' resources and curricula, however, do not
stray from Islamic teachings, and the modern sciences are not yet
taught from a cross-cultural perspective.

But plans to incorporate ethnic, religious, and
civilizational diversity in the curricula have been made as
tolerance can only be learned through the understanding of other
cultures and religions.

How can Muhammadiyah implement such a global education
system? First, as a Muslim organization, Muhammadiyah must regard
the Koran and the Prophet's teachings as the main sources of how
Islam perceives diversity in ethnicity, culture, civilization,
and religion. It must conduct studies and research on the crucial
problem of allowing diversity under Islam.

The main challenge in dealing with pluralism is the matter of
aqidah (faith), which is the shared belief that Islam is the one
true path to salvation and true civilization stems only from
Islam. Nevertheless, there are examples in the Koran and the
Prophet's teachings, in which diversity is recognized, that have
not been explored and emphasized.

The problem is how to reconcile such seemingly contradictory
teachings. Can one be a Muslim, cross-culturalist and global-
minded at the same time?

Muhammadiyah needs to determine students' and members'
understanding of global issues. Students must be aware that
global issues are interrelated, complex and challenging and have
a direct impact on their lives.

They need to learn the skills to investigate a topic, solve
problems, analyze issues, interpret information and make a case
for a point of view through reasoned persuasion. They can develop
a sense of civic responsibility by identifying specific ways of
contributing to the resolution of a global issue.

In addition, cross-cultural and global perspective should be
included in curricular and extracurricular activities.

Muhammadiyah's school and university communities are
ethnically diverse, but this has not been realized and integrated
into a learning process. Ethnic and religious diversity should be
reflected in a school's curriculum.

Learning world languages is also an important part of global
learning. In addition, the opportunity must be there for students
to participate in international exchange programs. Such programs
would promote contact with other religions, cultures and nations.
Textbooks and materials, libraries, and internet facilities would
support such assignments.

As a result, millions of members of Muhammadiyah would develop
an understanding that the peoples of the world view things
differently, though some universals serve as cultural links.
Humans may identify with more than one culture and thus have
multiple loyalties. They can therefore tolerate cultural
diversity and can communicate and cooperate with people from
other cultures and religions in order to live in peace and
harmony in today's global village.

The writer is a PhD candidate in history and a lecturer at
Syarif Hidayatullah State Islamic University, Jakarta. He can be
reached at muhali74@hotmail.com