THE IDEA OF BIRGIVI RELIGION RENEWAL IN AL-TARIQAH AL-MUHAMMADIYYAH

Idea Pembaharuan Agama Birgivi dalam Al-Tariqah Al-Muhammadiyyah

Abstract

he Socioeconomic Situation of the Ottoman Empire in the 16th Century witnessed instability within societal systems. Birgivi Mehmet Efendi (1573 CE) was an Ottoman thinker who responded to these developments through religious reform ideas presented in his work titled al-Tariqah al-Muhammadiyyah fi Bayan al-Sirah al-Nabawiyyah al-Ahmadiyyah. This article aims to describe Birgivi's biography and outline the fundamental principles of religious reform in al-Tariqah al-Muhammadiyyah. The article uses text and document analysis methods to present the context of Birgivi's biography and milieu, and how he articulated religious reform in the text of al-Tariqah al-Muhammadiyyah. The findings show that Birgivi proposed three fundamental principles of religious reform in al-Tariqah al-Muhammadiyyah: commitment to the Quran and Sunnah, avoidance of innovation (bid’ah) and superstitions (khurafat), and making knowledge a primary strength, as a response to the socio-economic crisis and decline of the Ottoman Empire. The perspective of Birgivi's thought, which developed after his death, justifies that his reform ideas need to be mapped among reformist and revivalist thinkers in the Islamic world.