MUHAMMADIYAH.OR.ID, BRAZIL – The Secretary General of Muhammadiyah Abdul Mu’ti spoke at the 2024 G20 Interfaith Forum and PaRD Annual Forum on Religion and Sustainable Development conducted in Brazil on August 19-22, 2024. Mu’ti promoted Muhammadiyah as a modern Islamic organization.
Founded in 1912 in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, Muhammadiyah has branches throughout Indonesia and special branches in thirty countries. It is a non-profit organization that receives funding primarily from Islamic philanthropy, including zakat, infaq, sadaqah, waqf, grants, and prizes.
“Since its establishment, Muhammadiyah has had 167 higher education, 5346 primary and secondary education including 444 boarding schools, more than 20,000 kindergarten, 126 hospitals, 630 orphanages, and other social services,” said Mu’ti.
Mu’ti further explained that Muhammadiyah education is inclusive in which students have different religions, races, ethnicities, and cultures.
“Students in Muhammadiyah education have religious studies according to their religions taught by religion education teachers who have the same religions as students. It is a pluralistic religious education which aims at building a harmonious and inclusive society,” said Mu’ti.
Mu’ti emphasized that multicultural and inclusive religion is based on four foundations. The first is the theological foundation. Religion is a natural disposition and dignity of mankind. Mankind has freedom of or from religions.
“Therefore, there is no coercion in religion, la ikraha fi al-din,” said Mu’ti.
The second is the theoretical foundation, namely positive pluralism. Plurality of religions and cultures is the will of God (sunnatullah). Positive pluralism is based on four principles: believe in religion or faith, respect and acceptance, facilitation and accommodation, and cooperation among religions.
The third foundation is culture. Indonesians have a tradition of tolerance, openness, and harmony of religions. There are local traditions and wisdoms relevant to teaching religion.
The fourth foundation is politics. Indonesia is a Pancasila state which recognizes the existence of religions and cultures as treasures of the country. In line with the philosophy of Bhinneka Tunggal Ika (Unity in Diversity), unity is not uniformity. In this regard, the State respects, protects, and facilitates people to have and express religions and cultures of all citizens.
In practice, inclusive and multicultural religious education is developed according to three strategies. The first is head-to-head which purpose is to make students have knowledge and understanding about their own and others religions and cultures.
“Muhammadiyah with Leimena Institute and other partners organizes a workshop on Cross Cultural Religious Literacy (CCRL) as one example of how to build literacy about other religions and cultures,” said Mu’ti.
The second is a heart-to-heart which aims to build empathy, sympathy, and acceptance of others.
The third is hand in hand that aims at building common responsibility for common good based on common teaching of religions.
