MUHAMMADIYAH.ID, YOGYAKARTA – General Chairman of the Central Board of Muhammadiyah Haedar Nashir stated that Former General Chairman of the Central Board of Muhammadiyah Ahmad Syafi’i Ma’arif, turning to 85, possesses tremendous personalities which we can emulate.

“Buya Syafi’i is a significant figure in both Muhammadiyah and this nation. He is a statesman due to his love, thoughts, behaviors, and ways of life,” conveyed Haedar in a discussion conducted by Jaringan Intelektual Berkemajuan (JIB) on Saturday (30/5).

Haedar highlighted that one of Syafi’i greatest traits is his effort to maintain Muhammadiyah’s position as a dakwah movement with its culture and being free of political interests.

“Politics is essential. However, when politics goes to a fight for practical political power and partisans, Muhammadiyah does not get engaged. The tradition is a continuance of a chain of Muhammadiyah khittah (basic strategies) from 1968, 1969, 1971 to date. The culture is Muhammadiyah’s characteristic and portrays it a ‘dakwah wal hikmah’ movement,” asserted Haedar.

He added that Syafii’s intellect has brought Muhamamdiyah getting out of an ambiguous position by assigning Khittah Muhammadiyah 2020 in Denpasar and cultural dakwah notions.

“In a context of Muhammadiyah, Buya thoroughly comprehended how to accommodate views in a system to yield a collective perspective as an idea that Muhammadiyah has a cultural image instead of a political image,” emphasized Haedar.