Purifying the Faith

The Muhammadijah Movement in Indonesian Islam

By James L. Peacock

Purifying the Faith

Approx. 128 pp., 6 x 9, 17 halftones, 1 maps, bibl., index

  • Paperback ISBN: 978-1-4696-3515-6
    Published: January 1978

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Distributed for the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Retired Faculty Association

The Muhammadijah (or Muhammadiyah) movement was founded by Ahmad Dahlan in 1912 and evolved to emphasize religious and secular education, personal moral responsibility, and a tolerance for other faiths. It is the second largest Islamic organization in Indonesia with an estimated 30 million followers. In 1970, James L. Peacock spent eight months in Indonesia immersing himself in the thinking, religious practice, and daily lives of Muhammadijah followers. Published in 1978, this historical and ethnographic study was one of the first books about this major Islamic reform movement and is considered an insightful and relevant work to this day.

About the Author

James L. Peacock is emeritus professor of anthropology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He is the author or editor of more than fifteen books, including The Anthropological Lens and Identity Matters: Ethnic and Sectarian Conflict. In 2016, Suara Muhammadiyah, the official press of the organization, published Purifying the Faith in its second Indonesian edition.
For more information about James L. Peacock, visit the Author Page.