Torn between Muhammadiyah and Ahmadiyah in Indonesia

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.