Wasatiyyah in Nigeria and Indonesia: The Organization Muhammadiyyah and The Muslim Students Society of Nigeria As a Case Study

Abstract

The term ‘Wasatiyyah’ means balance, and the concept implies maintaining balance between any extremes we find ourselves in our daily lives. Philosophically, for anything to be in its perfect condition, there must be balance in it. For instance, the two legs Almighty God created in our body create balance in us. If one of the legs is missing or any of the legs is swapped with an artificial one, the balance in us, which makes us perfect, and as a complete human being, would be affected. That is why this paper intends to explore the concept ‘Wasatiyyah’, which is otherwise known as moderation. This paper seeks to describe and compare how the Muslim Student Society of Nigeria (MSSN) and the Indonesian organization, Muhammadiyah, were able to maintain religious moderation, specifically, their moderation towards pluralism, liberalism, and Islamism. This paper proves that Muhammadiyah’s organization and the Muslim Student Society of Nigeria are mostly similar in their inclination to moderate religious views in the context of Islamism and pluralism. However, their moderation differs in the context of liberalism. The reason why the two organizations are moderate is that they evade Islamist tendencies and focus on social services.