Muhammadiyah's educational philosophy and contextualization of Islamic moderation: Challenges to religious extremism

Part of the Muslim community in Indonesia understands the Muhammadiyah's movement of purification paradoxically. They regard this ideology as a foundation of thought that is anti-reform. This puritanical style of Islam is seen as the cause of a number of Muhammadiyah members being exposed to the ideology of terrorism in the last two decades. This study explains that this assessment is very baseless, because it ignores the characteristics of Muhammadiyah as a reform movement (tajdid). This article examines the basis of Muhammadiyah's Islamic moderation through the educational principles taught by Kiai Ahmad Dahlan contained in his speech and official Muhammadiyah documents. In detail, this paper focuses on two important research objects, namely studying the Muhammadiyah's educational philosophy and contextualizing the principles of Islamic moderation, as well as making it a foundation for resilience from the ideology of religious-based violent extremism. Thus, this article concludes that even though Muhammadiyah adheres to purification of Islam, Muhammadiyah has strengthened its movement ideology and religious thought through the renewal of the Islamic education movement which promotes rational, modern and scientific thinking.