MUHAMMADIYAH.ID, JAKARTA – Head of Majlis of Tabligh of Muhammadiyah Fathurrahman Kamal stated that Indonesian Muslims confront solemn and great problems even though development of Islam looks better due to massive a movement of ‘hijrah’.
In an online National Gathering of Muhammadiyah Young Preachers on Saturday (26/9), Fathurrahman encouraged them to disseminate long-term dakwah seriously, strategically, and structurally.
He is concerned about secular movements which are recently getting stronger and causes nativism and a clash with Islam. The secularism includes cultural liberalization, permisivism, radicalism, terrorism, and discordance among Muslims.
Besides, data on growth of religions of Indonesia revealed that the percentage of Islam lessens each year.
“If we are defensive, we are done. In my point of view, millennial dakwah on media rarely talks about this issue. (A theme of the gathering) Millennials are communal, historical romanticism. Their movement is not structured. In a long-term context, we cannot rely on the hijrah movement,” criticized Fathurrahman.
Thus, he heartened Muhammadiyah preachers to reinforce their internal capacity, including understanding reality, contexts, and needs of dakwah objects.
“Preachers should think various life values holistically. Deep critical thinking is not sufficient. We need to take a responsibility to make a change,” asserted Fathurrahman.
It is necessary an approach in line with contexts. Indeed, this digital era has shift religious views which move authority of ulema. For instance, Millennials now prefer gain information from non-authoritative sources such as search engines.
“We do not have any choice, but play roles in dakwah media. In 2025, it is predicted that 80 percent of the world will have internet access,” he informed.
At the end of his remark, Farhurrahman quoted the late Chairman of the Central Board of Muhammadiyah Yunahar Ilyas expecting that Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) and Muhammadiyah have been recognized in international levels to reimage Islam in the Middle East.
“It is potential for NU and Muhammadiyah. Thus, Majlis of Tabligh should be a catalyst,” he asserted.