Arabic as an Instrument of Tajdid: Ahmad Dahlan's Reform of Language Education and Textual Authority in Early Muhammadiyah

Syahrul Ramadhan; Mohsen Miri; Kusen Kusen; Muhammad Fawwaz Syafiq Rizqullah

doi:10.31869/aflj.v6i1.8425

Arabic as an Instrument of Tajdid: Ahmad Dahlan's Reform of Language Education and Textual Authority in Early Muhammadiyah

Syahrul Ramadhan, Mohsen Miri, Kusen Kusen, Muhammad Fawwaz Syafiq Rizqullah

Abstract

This article examines the thought of K.H. Ahmad Dahlan (1868–1923), founder of Muhammadiyah, on the position of Arabic as an instrument of Tajdid (renewal) in Islam and its implications for the shifting authority over Islamic texts in early twentieth-century Indonesia. At that time, interpretive authority over religious texts was concentrated among traditional ulama who mastered Arabic through sanad (chains of transmission) and oral inheritance, while lay Muslims depended entirely on their explanations. Using a qualitative library-research approach combined with historical-hermeneutical analysis and source triangulation, this study traces how Ahmad Dahlan separated Arabic into an independent subject within the Muhammadiyah educational system, promoted the principle of interpreting the Qur'an through the Qur'an itself, and integrated Arabic instruction with general sciences. The findings indicate that active mastery of Arabic, rather than mere memorization of letter sounds, functioned as an instrument for democratizing religious authority: shifting it from a closed model resting on taqlid and clerical mediation toward an open model enabling direct textual access and contextual ijtihad. The article concludes that Ahmad Dahlan's reform of Arabic-language pedagogy was not merely a pedagogical policy but an epistemological strategy positioning language as a bridge between revelation and reason within the project of progressive Islamic renewal.

Keywords

Arabic Language; Tajdid; Ahmad Dahlan; Textual Authority; Islamic Education Reform

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.31869/aflj.v6i1.8425