Revisiting Purification: Muhammadiyah, Local Culture, and Pluriversal Islam in Indonesia
Convener: Hyung-Jun Kim
Co-convener: Muhammad Adlin Sila
Muhammadiyah is widely understood as an Islamic reformist organisation committed to the purification of religious belief and practice. In both scholarly and popular accounts, this orientation is often interpreted as an effort to eliminate local religious traditions in favour of a universal, “pristine” Islam, commonly associated with Middle Eastern norms and textual orthodoxy. Such interpretations portray Muhammadiyah as a force of religious universalism, positioned in tension with Indonesia’s cultural and religious plurality.
This panel proposes a critical re-examination of this dominant narrative by focusing on Muhammadiyah’s actual engagement with local traditions and lived religious practices. While Muhammadiyah has consistently promoted religious reform, it has not pursued systematic programs aimed at eradicating local beliefs or cultural forms. Instead, its approach has been shaped by an ideological orientation that emphasises rational interpretation of religious teachings, individual moral responsibility, equality among Muslims, and a pluralistic engagement with social realities.
Situating this discussion within the symposium theme of pluriversal futures in a multipolarising world, the panel argues that Muhammadiyah exemplifies how Islamic reform movements in the Global South negotiate universal religious ideals within diverse local contexts. Rather than reproducing a singular model of Islamic modernity, Muhammadiyah’s practices reveal a dynamic process in which reformist ideas are interpreted, adapted, and lived alongside local cultural logics.
By foregrounding Indonesia as an active site of religious knowledge production, this panel contributes to anthropological debates on how global religious discourses are lived, negotiated, and contested in everyday life. It challenges binary oppositions between purification and tradition, universalism and particularism, and instead highlights the coexistence of multiple Islamic futures. In doing so, the panel positions Muhammadiyah as a key actor in shaping pluriversal religious trajectories within an increasingly multipolar global landscape.