RATIONALIZING REVELATION IN THE MALAY-INDONESIAN WORLD

THE DECONSTRUCTION OF FATALISM AND TAQLĪD IN OEMAR BAKRY’S TAFSIR RAHMAT

Abstract

The tension between theological fatalism (jabr) and modernist activism defined much of 20th-century Indonesian Islamic thought, shaping the socio-political trajectory of the post-colonial nation. Within this intellectual contestation, vernacular exegesis emerged as a crucial medium for reform, translating elite theological debates into mass pedagogy. While previous studies have predominantly highlighted the pedagogical and scientific features of Oemar Bakry’s Tafsir Rahmat (1983), the specific theological mechanisms he employs to dismantle deterministic logic remain underexplored. This article investigates how Bakry’s exegesis operationalizes a Theology of Progress to explicitly deconstruct traditionalist passivity and the epistemological stagnation caused by blind imitation (taqlīd). Employing a qualitative history of ideas approach within an adabī ijtimā‘ī (socio-literary) framework, the study utilizes a thematic data coding system to analyze Bakry’s interpretation of key verses regarding socio-historical agency, calamity, and cosmology. The findings reveal a tripartite strategy of rationalization. First, Bakry reinterprets Q.S. Ar-Ra‘d [13]: 11 to frame historical change as a mechanical consequence of human effort governed by sunnatullāh (God’s natural laws), unequivocally rejecting deterministic readings that paralyze social mobility. Second, he utilizes the Minangkabau reformist maxim reason before surrender (habis akal baru tawakal) to interpret Q.S. Ash-Shūrā [42]: 30, redefining natural disasters as verifiable consequences of human negligence and ecological mismanagement rather than inexplicable divine trials. Third, the exegesis purges unverifiable folklore (isrā’īliyyāt) while simultaneously integrating modern scientific terminology, notably translating al-samāwāt as space (ruang angkasa) to bridge scriptural revelation with the Space Age. The study concludes that Tafsir Rahmat serves as a critical instrument of deliberate social engineering. By translating the intellectual elitism of global Islamic modernism into an accessible vernacular pedagogy, Bakry successfully deconstructs the fatalistic mindset to reconstruct the Indonesian Muslim subject from a passive recipient of fate into an active, rational agent of post-colonial history and nation-building.

References

Aksa, Furqan I. “Islamic Perspectives in Disaster: An Alternative to Changing Fatalistic Attitudes.” Jàmbá: Journal of Disaster Risk Studies 12, no. 1 (2020): 4. https://doi.org/10.4102/jamba.v12i1.942.

Alekseev, Igor. “Appeal to History as a Method of Islamic Reformation: Marjani, Rashid Rida, and Ibn Khaldun.” State, Religion, Church in Russia and Abroad 41, nos. 3–4 (2025): 32–54. https://doi.org/10.22394/2073-7203-2023-41-3-4-32-54.

Aljunied, Khairudin. “Bringing Rationality Back: Harun Nasution and the Burden of Muslim Thought in Twentieth-Century Southeast Asia.” Journal of Islamic and Muslim Studies 6, no. 1 (2021): 29–55.

Asnawi, Aqdi Rofiq, Syukron Affani, and Zaenatul Hakamah. “Scientific Qur’anic Exegesis in Indonesia: Contributions by Scholars, Institutions, and the Government.” Australian Journal of Islamic Studies 6, no. 4 (2021): 25–46. https://doi.org/10.55831/ajis.v6i4.401.

Avivy, Ahmad Levi Fachrul, Jawiah Dakir, and Mazlan Ibrahim. “Isra’iliyyat in Interpretive Literature of Indonesia: A Comparison between Tafsir Marah Labid and Tafsir Al-Azhar.” Mediterranean Journal of Social Sciences 6, no. 3 S2 (2015): 401.

Bakry, Oemar. Tafsir Rahmat. Jakarta: Mutiara, 1983.

Bantanī, Muḥammad ibn ʿUmar Nawawī al-Jāwī al-. Marāḥ Labīd li-Kashf Ma‘nā al-Qur’ān al-Majīd. Edited by Muḥammad Amīn al-Dunnāwī. Beirūt: Dār al-Kutub al-ʿIlmiyyah, n.d.

Barton, Greg, Ihsan Yilmaz, and Nicholas Morieson. “Authoritarianism, Democracy, Islamic Movements and Contestations of Islamic Religious Ideas in Indonesia.” Religions 12, no. 8 (2021): 641. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel12080641.

Danarta, Agung. “The Implementation of Disaster Mitigation Based on Qur’anic Interpretation: Muhammadiyah Case Study.” Jurnal Studi Ilmu-Ilmu Al-Qur’an dan Hadis 23, no. 1 (2022): 125–44. https://doi.org/10.14421/qh.2022.2301-07.

Demirel, Demokaan. “Sociological and Political Origins in Ibn Khaldun’s State Theory.” Sociology Lens 37, no. 3 (2024): 468–79. https://doi.org/10.1111/johs.12473.

Edis, Taner. “Modern Science and Conservative Islam: An Uneasy Relationship.” Science & Education 18, no. 6 (2009): 885–903. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11191-008-9165-3.

Faqihuddin, Achmad, Faisal Fauzan Ilyasa, Lu’lu’ Husniah, et al. “The Role of Islamic Religious Education Teachers in Transforming the Culture of Resignation Towards Natural Disasters in Indonesia.” E3S Web of Conferences 600 (2024): 02008. https://doi.org/10.1051/e3sconf/202460002008.

Fatah, Nasrul, Syarifah Laili, Muhammad Hafiz Saleh, and Hidayatullah Ismail. “The Qur’anic Exegesis as a Medium of Islamic Education in Indonesia: A Discourse Analysis of Tafsir Rahmat by H. Oemar Bakry.” Al-Aulia: Jurnal Pendidikan dan Ilmu-Ilmu Keislaman 11, no. 2 (2025): 133–43. https://doi.org/10.46963/aulia.v11i2.3298.

Ghozali, Mahbub. “Dialektika Sains, Tradisi dan al-Qur’an: Representasi Modernitas dalam Tafsir Rahmat karya Oemar Bakry.” AL QUDS: Jurnal Studi Alquran dan Hadis 5, no. 2 (2021): 843–58. https://doi.org/10.29240/alquds.v5i2.3394.

Gusmian, Islah, and Mustaffa Abdullah. “Criticism of Social, Political, and Religious Problems in Indonesia: A Study on Al-Iklīl Fī Ma‘ānī al-Tanzīl by Misbah Bin Zainil Mustafa (1917-1994).” Journal of Al-Tamaddun 18, no. 1 (2023): 215–30. https://doi.org/10.22452/JAT.vol18no1.18.

Hadler, Jeffrey. Muslims and Matriarchs. New York: Cornell University Press, 2008.

Halim, Asyiqin Abdul, Mohd Roslan Mohd Nor, Ahmad Zaki Berahim Ibrahim, and Faisal Ahmad Faisal Abdul Hamid. “Ibn Khaldun’s Theory of ‘Asabiyyah and Its Application in Modern Muslim Society.” Middle-East Journal of Scientific Research 11, no. 9 (2012): 1232–37.

Hamzah, Idil. “The Development of Exegesis in Indonesia.” The International Journal of Pegon: Islam Nusantara Civilization 9, no. 01 (2023): 51–68. https://doi.org/10.51925/inc.v9i01.77.

Haririe, Muhammad Ruhiyat. “Resonance of Reformist-Modernist Islamic Thought in Interpretation and Its Influence on The Development of Interpretation in Indonesia.” Madinah: Jurnal Studi Islam 11, no. 2 (2024): 313–36. https://doi.org/10.58518/madinah.v11i2.3079.

Hidayat, M. Riyan, Roma Wijaya, Muhafizah el-Feyza, Muh Alwi Hs, Muhammad Akmaluddin, and Nazarmanto Nazarmanto. “Virtual Da’wah Authority in Tafsir Rahmat H. Oemar Bakry: An Analysis of Intertextuality from Julia Kristeva.” An-Nida’ 47, no. 1 (2023): 91–105. https://doi.org/10.24014/an-nida.v47i1.23022.

Hurnawijaya, Auladi Auladi, Nur Fitriana, et al. “Dialectical Engagement with Biblical Narratives in Ibn ‘Ashur’s Tafsīr Al-Taḥrīr Wa Al-Tanwīr: Study of Aaron, Jesus, and Noah’s Wife Narratives.” Research Journal in Advanced Humanities 6, no. 3 (n.d.): 1–12. https://doi.org/10.58256/84c1wd64.

Ichsan, Muchammad. “Handling Natural Hazards in Indonesia Amid the COVID-19 Pandemic: Muhammadiyah’s Response and Strategy.” Jàmbá: Journal of Disaster Risk Studies 14, no. 1 (2022): 11. https://doi.org/10.4102/jamba.v14i1.1254.

Maḥallī, Jalāl al-Dīn Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad al-, and Jalāl al-Dīn ‘Abd al-Raḥmān ibn Abī Bakr al-Suyūṭī. Tafsīr al-Qur’ān al-‘Aẓīm. Jakarta: Al-Ḥaramayn Jaya Indonesia, 2007.

Millie, Julian, and Dede Syarif. “The Public Politics of Supplication in a Time of Disaster.” Indonesia 113, no. 1 (2022): 111–24.

Mohd, Nor Syamimi, Haziyah Hussin, and Wan Nasyrudin Wan Abdullah. “Scientific Exegesis in Malay Qur’anic Commentary.” Asian Social Science 10, no. 10 (2014): 236–42. https://doi.org/10.5539/ass.v10n10p236.

Mujiburrahman, Mujiburrahman. “Islamic Theological Texts and Contexts in Banjarese Society: An Overview of the Existing Studies.” Southeast Asian Studies 3, no. 3 (n.d.): 611–41. https://doi.org/10.20495/seas.3.3_611.

Nazhifah, Dinni. “Tafsir-Tafsir Modern dan Kontemporer Abad Ke-19–21 M.” Jurnal Iman dan Spiritualitas 1, no. 2 (2021): 211–18. https://doi.org/10.15575/jis.v1i2.12302.

Rasyad, Abdul, Ahmad Tohri, Hasan Basri, and Hasanuddin Chaer. “Islamic Education in the Transitional Era: The Educational System of Nahdlatul Wathan in Lombok, Indonesia, 1936–1960.” Multidisciplinary Science Journal 8, no. 4 (2026): 2026272–2026272. https://doi.org/10.31893/multiscience.2026272.

Saifullah, Muhammad. “Kritik Oemar Bakry Terhadap Terjemahan Puitis H.B. Jassin.” SUHUF 12, no. 2 (2019): 347–71. https://doi.org/10.22548/shf.v12i2.480.

Setiawan, Hendy, Nanang Indra Kurniawan, and Purwo Santoso. “The Ecotheological Movement of the Muhammadiyah Environmental Council in Response to the Environmental Governance Crisis.” Millah: Journal of Religious Studies, October 13, 2022, 639–70. https://doi.org/10.20885/millah.vol21.iss3.art2.

Shavit, Uriya. Scientific and Political Freedom in Islam: A Critical Reading of the Modernist-Apologetic School. London: Routledge, 2017.

Supena, Ilyas. “Epistemology of Tafsīr, Ta’wīl, and Hermeneutics: Towards an Integrative Approach.” Journal of Islamic Thought and Civilization 14, no. 1 (2024): 121–36. https://doi.org/10.32350/jitc.141.08.

Takdir, Mohammad, and Akhmad Sirojuddin Munir. “Genealogy and Orientation of the Islamic Modernist Movement in Indonesia: Case Study of the Muhammadiyah Renewal Movement.” Journal of Al-Tamaddun 20, no. 1 (2025): 81–96. https://doi.org/10.22452/JAT.vol20no1.6.

‘Umar, Abū al-Fidā’ Ismā‘īl ibn. Tafsīr al-Qur’ān al-‘Aẓīm. Edited by Muḥammad Amīn al-Dunnāwī. Beirūt: Dār al-Kutub al-ʿIlmiyyah, n.d.

Widigdo, Mohammad Syifa Amin, and Awang Azman Awang Pawi. “Muhammad Abduh’s Reformist Thoughts and Their Reception in Indonesian and Malaysian Islamic Reform Movements.” Journal of Al-Tamaddun 20, no. 2 (2025): 361–74. https://doi.org/10.22452/JAT.vol20no2.25.

Wijaya, Aksin, and Shofiyullah Muzammil. “Maqāṣidi Tafsir: Uncovering and Presenting Maqāṣid Ilāhī-Qur’anī into Contemporary Context.” Al-Jami’ah: Journal of Islamic Studies 59, no. 2 (2021): 449–78. https://doi.org/10.14421/ajis.2021.592.449-478.

Yazan, S., and A. Arwemi. “Land-Use Guidelines in Tambo Minangkabau Oral Literature.” IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science 145, no. 1 (2018): 012029. https://doi.org/10.1088/1755-1315/145/1/012029.

Zulkarnaini, Zulfikri, and Mohammed A. F. Badawi. “The Relevance of Muhammad Abduh’s Thought in Indonesian Tafsir: Analysis of Tafsir Al-Azhar.” Millah: Journal of Religious Studies 21, no. 1 (2021): 113–48. https://doi.org/10.20885/millah.vol21.iss1.art5.