Torn between Muhammadiyah and Ahmadiyah in Indonesia: Discussing Erfaan Dahlan’s religious affiliation and self-exile

Ahmad Najib Burhani

ABSTRACT

The Ahmadiyah in Indonesian Islam has often been seen as a deviant Muslim group, but there was a time when it had a cordial relationship with major Muslim organisations, particularly Muhammadiyah. The Ahmadiyah was once perceived as a highly respected revivalist and modernist Muslim movement, and became a model to be emulated by other Muslims. Erfaan Dahlan is a symbol of the dynamics of this religious relationship in the first half of the 20th century. Motivated by the spirit of Islamic revivalism, he was sent to an Ahmadiyah college in Lahore, British India, during the period of friendly relationship between Muhammadiyah and Ahmadiyah. But when he returned to Indonesia that relationship had deteriorated. As an alumnus of an Ahmadiyah missionary college, on the one hand, and a son of the founder of Muhammadiyah, on the other, he was in the midst of that difficult relationship. His religious identity has been a subject of controversy among competing Muslim communities. The fact that he chose to leave his country to live in Thailand after he completed his study in Lahore further raises curiosity about his religious affiliation. This article, firstly, intends to reveal the dynamics of Muhammadiyah’s relationship with Ahmadiyah in the 1920s. Secondly, it will discuss Erfaan Dahlan’s religious relation with Muhammadiyah and Ahmadiyah, and particularly, the controversy around the alleged heresy of the Lahori Ahmadiyah and persistent misunderstanding of Erfaan Dahlan’s religious affiliation. Finally, the article shows that the case of Erfaan Dahlan reveals the discordancy in a society which categorises its people on the orthodox-heterodox spectrum.

KEYWORDS: Ahmadiyah, Erfaan Dahlan, heresy, Islamic revivalism, Muhammadiyah, self-exile

Additional information

Acknowledgements

The author wishes to thank the family of Erfaan Dahlan in Thailand, particularly Dr Winai Dahlan, for their warm welcome and information. The Ahmadiyya community in Thailand was also helpful and generous during my fieldwork. Additional thanks to the two reviewers and to the IMW editorial team for their prompt and helpful feedback. Dr Kevin W. Fogg took time to read and suggest improvements to the draft of this article. The fieldwork in Thailand was partly supported by ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute, Singapore. A draft of this article was first presented at the symposium on ‘Religious Literature and Heritage - Cultivating Religious Culture for Nationalism’, in Bogor, Indonesia, 18–21 July 2017.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Note on contributor

Ahmad Najib Burhani is a Researcher at the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI), Jakarta, and currently, visiting fellow at ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute, Singapore. His research focuses on religious minorities and Islamic movements in Indonesia. Email: najib27@yahoo.com

ORCID

Ahmad Najib Burhani http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0333-8344

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13639811.2019.1663678?journalCode=cimw20