Al-Irshad Al-Islamiya Association () is an organization in

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...

engaged in educational and religious activities. The organization was established on September 6, 1914 (15 Shawwal 1332 H). The date refers to the establishment of the first Al-Irshad school in Batavia. The organization had its own legal recognition from the Dutch colonial government on August 11, 1915.

History

According to Majlis Da'wah al-Irshad (al-Irshad Department of Preaching), the name ''Irshad'' referred to the name (; the Association for Propaganda and Guidance) of the founder

Rashid Rida Sayyid Muhammad Rashīd Rida Al-Hussaini (; 1865 – 22 August 1935) was an Ulama, Islamic scholar, Islah, reformer, theologian and Islamic revival, revivalist. An early Salafi movement, Salafist, Rida called for the revival of hadith studies and ...

who was from

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

. Al-Irshad Al-Islamiya is an Indonesian national

Islam Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...

ic organization. In terms of membership, as stated in the Articles of Association of Al-Irshad: "Citizens of the Republic of Indonesia who are Muslims who have grown up." The central figure of the establishment of Al-Irshad is Sheikh Ahmad as-Soorkati al-Ansari, a Sudanese scholar living in

Mecca Mecca, officially Makkah al-Mukarramah, is the capital of Mecca Province in the Hejaz region of western Saudi Arabia; it is the Holiest sites in Islam, holiest city in Islam. It is inland from Jeddah on the Red Sea, in a narrow valley above ...

who came to Indonesia at the request of the Jamiat Kheir organization to become a teacher. The founders are as follows: *Shaykh Ahmad Surkati *Umar Mangush *Sa'id bin Salim Mash'abi *Salih 'Ubayd 'Abdat *Salim bin 'Iwad Balwa'al In its first period of development, the Irshadi movement was under the chairmanship of Salim bin 'Iwad Balwa'al and its administrative included Sheikh Muhammad 'Ubayd 'Abbud as secretary and Sa'id bin Salim Mash'abi as treasurer. All the founders but Ahmad Surkati were rich merchants and businessmen in Jakarta. Soon after the foundation of Irshadi movement Surkati handed over his school to this movement and became the principal of al-Irshad school. He was joined by one of the scholar of Hadramaut in Indonesia, Sheikh Muhammad 'Ubayd 'Abbud, and all his friends from abroad. In 1913 the Irshadi movement established the following schools: # A three-year primary school (Awwaliyah) # A four-year elementary school (Ibtida'iyah) # A two-year secondary school (tajhiziyah) # A four-year school of teachers (mu'allimin) Among the native Muslims supporting the effort were Haji

Ahmad Dahlan Kyai Hajji, Haji Ahmad Dahlan (born as Muhammad Darwis;‎ ;‎ 1 August 1868 – 23 February 1923), often abbreviated to K.H. Ahmad Dahlan, was an Indonesian Islam in Indonesia, Muslim Kyai, religious leader and Islamic revivalism, revival ...

and Haji Zamzam. Ahmad Dahlan was the member of Jamiat Kheir who then founded

Muhammadiyah Muhammadiyah (), officially Muhammadiyah Society () is a major Islamic non-governmental organization in Indonesia.A. Jalil HamidTackle the rising cost of living longer New Straits Times, 30 October 2016. Accessed 1 November 2016. The organization ...

in 1912 and Haji Zamzam later built PERSIS (Organization) in 1923. This trio organizations basically have the similar spirits and efforts. In the early days of the schools, most taught subjects were mostly related to Islamic sciences and

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

language. The first Irshadi school of Jakarta had eleven teachers from abroad and only one Indonesian teacher (who teaches

Indonesian language Indonesian (; ) is the official language, official and national language of Indonesia. It is a standard language, standardized variety (linguistics), variety of Malay language, Malay, an Austronesian languages, Austronesian language that has ...

). In 1917 two branches were open outside Jakarta, one in

Surabaya Surabaya is the capital city of East Java Provinces of Indonesia, province and the List of Indonesian cities by population, second-largest city in Indonesia, after Jakarta. Located on the northeastern corner of Java island, on the Madura Strai ...

and another one in Tegal. The branch in Surabaya was run by Abu al-Fadl al-Ansari (Surkati's brother). This school hired two Egyptia teachers, Muhammad Murshidi and 'Abd al-Qadir al-Muhanna. In 1922 'Abd al-Qadir al-Muhanna was replaced by 'Umar b. Salim Hubays. The branch school of al-Irshad in Tegal was opened and run by a student of Surkati, 'Abd Allah b. Salim al-Attas together with Shaykh Muhammad Nuh al-Ansari and another graduate of al-Irshad Jakarta, 'Ali Harharah. Shaykh AbÜ al-Fagl was also one of its teachers.

Organization

The Al-Irshad movement is based on the following five principles: # To hold the doctrine of God's Unity by purifying devotions and prayers from their contamination by

polytheistic Polytheism is the belief in or worship of more than one Deity, god. According to Oxford Reference, it is not easy to count gods, and so not always obvious whether an apparently polytheistic religion, such as Chinese folk religions, is really so, ...

elements # To realize equality among Muslims and to seek the legal judgements found in the

Qur'an The Quran, also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation directly from God ('' Allāh''). It is organized in 114 chapters (, ) which consist of individual verses ('). Besides ...

and

Sunnah is the body of traditions and practices of the Islamic prophet Muhammad that constitute a model for Muslims to follow. The sunnah is what all the Muslims of Muhammad's time supposedly saw, followed, and passed on to the next generations. Diff ...

, and to follow the way of

salaf Salaf (, "ancestors" or "predecessors"), also often referred to with the honorific expression of al-salaf al-ṣāliḥ (, "the pious predecessors"), are often taken to be the first three generations of Muslims. This comprises companions of the ...

in solution to all disputed religious matters # To combat the so-called taqlid a'ma (blind acceptance) which conflicts with both aql (reason) and naql (the Qur'an and Hadith) # To spread Islamic sciences and Arab culture as approved by God # To attempt to create mutual understanding between Indonesian Muslims and the Arabs Some of the efforts of the organization are to establish of schools, orphanages, nursing homes and hospitals.

References

{{Islam in Indonesia 1914 establishments in the Dutch East Indies Indonesian National Awakening Islamic organizations based in Indonesia Islamic organizations established in 1914 Islamic education in Indonesia