Guidance into modernities Indonesia's al-Irsyad in colonial times and in the present

Abstract

In 1914 Hadhramis in Indonesia founded a reformist organisation: the Jam'iyyah al-Islah wa'l-Irshad al-Arabiyyah (Arab Association for Reform and Guidance). Having changed its name from al-Irshad al-Arabiyyah to al-Irsyad al-Islamiyyah after Indonesia's independence, the organisation is usually referred to shortly as al-Irsyad, aa practice I will follow in this paper. Today al-Irsyad counts 105 branches all over Indonesia and runs 131 educational institutions, from kindergarten to high school, as well as two hospitals. Its present chairman claims that the organisation has around 500 000 members." Compared to the second half of the 20th century, al-Irsyad's beginning and its development until Indonesia's independence in 1945 has been well studied. However, it is not the task of this short paper to cover al-Irsyad's development in post-independence Indonesia. Rather I shall concentrate on al-Irsyad's recent developments by using the past as a means of comparison.