The rupture between the Muhammadiyah and the Ahmadiyya

Abstract

The Muhammadiyah is often mistakenly associated by outsiders with the Ahmadiyya1 according to the writers of the Muhammadiyah sebagai gerakan Islam (Kamal, Yusuf and Sholeh 1994:130-1). In this book, they want to explain to students attending the upper secondary schools of the Muhammadiyah, and also to ordinary members of the organization, what kind of organization the Muhammadiyah is and what it stands for. To define the character of the Muhammadiyah, they deal with, for example, the position of the organization in relation to other Islamic religious groups (Ar.: firqa) and the Islamic law schools (Ar.: madhhab) (Kamal, Yusuf and Sholeh 1994:126-36). The authors regard the differences between the Islamic religious groups as resulting from differences of opinion regarding essential elements of the Islamic creed (Ar.: ‘aqîda). However, in their view, the differences between the various Islamic law schools are connected with divergences of opinion not affecting the basic tenets of Islamic doctrine (Ar.: khilâfiyya). The the authors of Muhammadiyah sebagai gerakan Islam mention the Ahmadiyya while discussing some other Islamic religious groups.