Journal of Al-Islam and Muhammadiyah Studies

Ahmad Dahlan’s Vision of Social Justice: A Systematic Literature Review of the Theology of Al-Ma‘un

2026-08-06T10:17:26+07:00

This article examines how scholarship published up to 2020 constructs Ahmad Dahlan’s vision of social justice through the theology of Al-Ma‘un. Using a qualitative systematic literature review and thematic synthesis, it analyzes a verified core corpus of 15 peer-reviewed studies on Ahmad Dahlan, Muhammadiyah, Qur’anic social ethics, education, philanthropy, healthcare, and community empowerment. The review identifies four interconnected themes: Al-Ma‘un as a critique of socially detached religiosity; religious learning as transformative praxis; compassion institutionalized through schooling, healing, and feeding; and the expansion from charitable relief toward empowerment, advocacy, and structural justice. The synthesis shows that Ahmad Dahlan did not leave a formal theological treatise entitled the theology of Al-Ma‘un. The expression is better understood as a later interpretative category that systematizes his Qur’anic pedagogy and Muhammadiyah’s subsequent social institutions. The article proposes an integrative framework linking Qur’anic moral criticism, ethical consciousness, transformative pedagogy, institutionalized compassion, capability development, and critical accountability. It further argues that institutional expansion cannot be equated automatically with social justice; accessibility, participation, dignity, and the agency of vulnerable communities are necessary evaluative criteria. The study contributes to Muhammadiyah studies by distinguishing Dahlan’s documented practical legacy from later conceptual elaborations and by repositioning Al-Ma‘un as both a foundation for organized service and a critical standard for evaluating Muhammadiyah institutions.

From Disaster Fiqh to Humanitarian Governance: Muhammadiyah’s Social Jurisprudence and Disaster Response in Indonesia

2026-08-06T14:12:10+07:00

This article examines how Muhammadiyah transforms Islamic legal and ethical reasoning into an institutional system of disaster governance. Rather than conducting a systematic literature review, the study employs qualitative historical-doctrinal documentary analysis. Its principal corpus is Fikih Kebencanaan and its English edition, Coping with Disaster: Principle Guidance from an Islamic Perspective, read alongside the institutional development of the Muhammadiyah Disaster Management Center (MDMC) and triangulated with empirical studies of Muhammadiyah’s mitigation, preparedness, emergency response, and recovery practices. The analysis finds that disaster fiqh operates through a three-level normative architecture: basic values, general principles, and concrete guidance. This architecture reframes disaster from divine punishment into a condition shaped by hazard, exposure, vulnerability, human responsibility, and the regularities of creation. It also converts religious commitments—mercy, justice, mutual assistance, protection of life, and the rights of survivors—into operational principles such as needs-based aid, non-discrimination, professional competence, accountability, psychosocial care, and risk reduction. Muhammadiyah’s distinctive contribution lies in the institutional translation of collective ijtihad through MDMC, schools, hospitals, universities, mosques, volunteers, and cross-sector partnerships. The article conceptualizes this arrangement as resilience-oriented social fiqh: a form of public jurisprudence in which religious interpretation is tested and embodied across the disaster cycle. Its strength is the integration of doctrine, scientific knowledge, humanitarian standards, and organizational infrastructure. Its unresolved challenges include uneven local capacity, the risk of relief dependence, fragmented data, volunteer sustainability, and the need to connect emergency response with structural vulnerability reduction. The study argues that social fiqh becomes socially consequential only when normative reasoning is linked to institutions capable of protecting dignity before, during, and after disaster.

Muhammadiyah’s Role in Indonesia’s Independence: A Historical Systematic Review

2026-08-06T14:39:55+07:00

This article systematically reviews how historical scholarship published up to 2020 explains Muhammadiyah’s contribution to Indonesian independence. Employing a qualitative historical systematic review, the study synthesizes nineteen analytical sources consisting of journal articles, academic books, and an institutionally produced edited volume. The review distinguishes direct organizational action from the activities of cadres whose political and military roles were formed within Muhammadiyah networks. Five pathways emerge. First, Muhammadiyah created pre-political foundations of independence through modern education, healthcare, philanthropy, print culture, and organizational discipline. Second, ‘Aisyiyah expanded women’s literacy, public leadership, and participation in national women’s networks. Third, youth formation through schools and Hizbul Wathan cultivated discipline, patriotism, and leadership, most visibly in General Soedirman. Fourth, Muhammadiyah leaders—including Ki Bagus Hadikusumo, Abdul Kahar Muzakkir, and Kasman Singodimedjo—participated in constitutional debates, the BPUPKI–PPKI process, and negotiations surrounding the state’s religious foundation. Fifth, Muhammadiyah cadres contributed to defending and consolidating the Republic after the proclamation. The synthesis argues that Muhammadiyah’s role cannot be reduced either to armed resistance or to the actions of several national heroes. Its principal contribution was infrastructural and cadre-based: it produced institutions, social capacities, moral vocabularies, and leadership networks that enabled Muslims to enter the national movement and sustain the new state. The literature nevertheless remains uneven, with excessive emphasis on elite male figures and limited independent evidence concerning local branches, women, ordinary members, and organizational coordination during the revolution. The review proposes a multidimensional framework connecting institutional nation-building, civic mobilization, cadre formation, constitutional negotiation, and republican defense.Muhammadiyah

The Concept of 'Islam Berkemajuan' (Progressive Islam): A Conceptual Systematic Review

2026-08-07T09:06:23+07:00

This article systematically reviews how scholarship and official Muhammadiyah texts published up to 2020 conceptualize Islam Berkemajuan, commonly translated as Progressive Islam. Using a qualitative conceptual systematic review, the study synthesizes 19 analytical sources comprising fourteen journal articles, three books, and two institutional documents. The review identifies five interrelated dimensions: a normative foundation in tawhid, the Qur'an, Sunnah, and Islam as mercy; an epistemology of tajdid, ijtihad, tarjih, and the integration of religious and modern knowledge; an ethical orientation toward enlightenment, justice, moderation, emancipation, and human dignity; an institutional praxis expressed through education, healthcare, philanthropy, community da‘wa, citizenship, and humanitarian action; and a civilizational horizon linking Indonesian progress with cosmopolitan responsibility. The findings show that Islam Berkemajuan is neither a new sect nor a simple synonym for modernization. It is a Muhammadiyah religious perspective that interprets progress as the balanced advancement of spiritual, intellectual, social, and material life. Its distinctiveness lies in joining scriptural fidelity with contextual renewal and in testing theological claims through organized public benefit. The literature nevertheless reveals unresolved tensions between purification and cultural openness, textual authority and contextual reasoning, organizational ideals and uneven implementation, and the universality of the concept and its strong Muhammadiyah identity. The review proposes an integrative architecture in which normative commitments are translated through epistemic mechanisms into ethical orientations, institutional practices, and a civilizational horizon, with critical accountability and renewal operating across all levels.Islam Berkemajuan

The Manhaj Tarjih of Muhammadiyah: A Methodological Systematic Review of Islamic Legal Reasoning

2026-08-07T09:32:26+07:00

This article systematically reviews the methodological structure of Manhaj Tarjih, the system used by Muhammadiyah to formulate Islamic legal and religious judgments. Drawing on sixteen analytical sources published no later than 2020, including official decisions, jurisprudential books, journal articles, and applied fiqh documents, the review examines how tarjih developed from the selection of stronger opinions into a comprehensive form of collective ijtihad. The synthesis identifies six connected layers: a methodological outlook characterized by tajdid, openness, tolerance, non-affiliation to a single legal school, and collective deliberation; normative reliance on the Qur'an and Sunnah al-Maqbulah; spiral integration of bayani, burhani, and irfani approaches; the use of semantic, causal, and public-interest methods; operational techniques such as qiyas, maslahah mursalah, 'urf, reconciliation, preference, abrogation, and suspension of judgment; and institutional procedures that transform research and expert consultation into rulings, fatwas, and practical guidance. The findings show that Manhaj Tarjih is neither an anti-madhhab textualism nor an unrestricted contextualism. It is a layered legal-reasoning system that seeks to preserve scriptural authority while incorporating scientific knowledge, social reality, maqasid al-shari'ah, and ethical conscience. Applied works on the Islamic calendar, disaster management, water governance, and traffic ethics demonstrate its capacity to move beyond ritual questions toward complex public problems. However, the literature also reveals terminological overlap between approach, method, and technique; uneven operationalization of the irfani dimension; limited publication of deliberative evidence; and a gap between formal methodology and reproducible case analysis. The review contributes an integrative architecture for understanding Manhaj Tarjih as epistemic governance for collective Islamic legal reasoning.Manhaj Tarjih