A report of Sang Pencerah movie

Name Subject Lecturer

: R. Lungguh Halira Vonti : Philosophy of Muhammadiyah : Dr. Abdul Mukti

The movie was started by the born of the founder of Muhammadiyah, Ahmad dahlan. Dahlan, born in 1868 at the Kauman, Yogyakarta (Java) as Muhammad Darwis, was son of Abu Bakar, the official khatib (Friday prayer summoner) of the Sultan s mosque in the town. Ahmad Dahlan was born in a quite prosperous and religious family. Dahlan went to Mecca to perform pilgrimage in 1890 where he stayed and deepened his knowledge about Islam for a year. Then around 1903 he again visited the Holy City where he lived and studied Islam more deeply for two years. Very probably during this period, he was imbued with reformist Islamic ideas and interpretations. From the movie, I can conclude some point of view about Muhammadiyah based on these four context: y Social context In social context, in the movie we can find that there were still differences of level of the society. In the age of Ahmad Dahlan started the movement, there had been already structure of Yogya society. There were three classes of society; first is aristocrate (priyayi), middle class, and common people. When the people speak, they have to use proper acceptable language (words/expressions) which are relevant to these levels. The differences are not only among the languages, but also the live of the society. There were gaps between the priyayi and the common people in the way of life; where the poor live among the wealthy levels, without any attention from the higher classes. This condition that made Ahmad Dahlan wanted to change the way of people thought of themselves. He wanted to decrease the gaps. He tried to do it by implicating the meaning of surah Al Maun in Al Quran which told us to take care of poor people, especially around us. He also believed that education could decrease the gaps that was why he built school and wanted the children who were not be able to go to school to study in his school. y Cultural context The cultural context in this movie, related to the thought of Ahmad Dahlan, according to my opinion, is that it is very clear that in the midst of a predominantly Hindu mixed with Islamic culture around the Sultan s palace of Yogyakarta, he wanted to show the true of Islam that he had known and learnt from Mecca to the society. He started with the common traditions such as tahlil, sesajen, and some other Islamic rituals which actually were taken from some Hindi and Budhist religion mixed with Islam. He tried to convince the people that those rituals were not necessary to do if that were too much cost to pay.

Of course, that would raise the rebuttals and criticism from the previous and other religious leaders. Indeed Dahlan toughly defended the purity and authencity of Islamic teachings at all cost besed solely on the Qur an and the sunna of the prophet Muhammad and refused any innovative form in the ibada (Islamic ritual services) like holding the feast of the dead after seven, forty, or after one hundred days, as commonly practiced by most Muslims of his time. y Religious Context The most shocking movement that KH. Ahmad Dahlan had made was his finding about the incorrect qibla (direction of prayer to Mecca) he found in the Sultan s mosque of Yogyakarta which straightly pointed to the west. As an expert in astronomy ( ilm alhisab), Dahlan was soon aware of the problem. Though there were many who sharply opposed him, Dahlan was firm and finally successful in his correction to change the qibla direction to an accurate and fixed point.

y Political context From the beginning Muhammadiyah has,indeed, prefered the term Islamic society instead of Islamic state. This does not mean that Muhammadiyah is anti-political, but rather, it participates in politics indirectly. In the beginning of the foundation of Muhammadiyah, KH. Ahmad Dahlan joined the first political organization organized by the youth. He actually just wanted to know how to build an organization. He always taught that we could take the goodness of everything that gave us benefits. K.H.Ahmad Dahlan was joined the Budi Utomo with expectation that his contacts with the Budi Utomo members, who predominantly teachers at the governmental school or were government officials, would enable him to give religious instruction on his reformist ideas in the schools and was teaching in the KweekSchool which was the Nederland school. In the school, he projected that the Islam education should be taught there. He also joined the national organization Budi Utomo that had the same visions in education and health.