On 26 October 2017, Dr Haedar Nashir, general chairman of Muhammadiyah, Indonesia’s second-largest Islamic organisation, delivered his RSIS Distinguished Public Lecture in Singapore. The main thrust of his speech is to introduce the concept of Islam with Progress (Islam Berkemajuan), the organisation’s new platform, which was adopted during its 47th national congress (muktamar) in Makassar, Indonesia, in August 2015.

Dr Nashir argues that from Muhammadiyah’s perspective, Islam is a religion that is constantly progressing. The Qur’an and the Sunnah (Way) of the Prophet Muhammad – the principal sources of Islamic teaching – contain messages which exhort all human beings to think critically and rationally. The first revelation to the Prophet is iqra or read. “Read” has a broad definition: exploration, research, as well as to think about everything created by God. Dr Nashir adds that within the Qur’an, there are messages in the form of questions and orders that encourage humans to think rationally to resolve their worldly problems.

…Alexander R Arifianto PhD is a Research Fellow with the Indonesia Programme, S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.