The Epistemological Foundations of Nahdlatul Ulama: Religious Authority, Scholarly Tradition, and Muslim Unity
Abstract
Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), the largest Islamic organization in Indonesia, plays a significant role in establishing and preserving Sunni religious authority through the framework of Ahl al-Sunnah wa al-Jamā‘ah, which integrates the Qur’an, the Sunnah, ijmā‘, and the scholarly tradition of Muslim jurists and theologians. This study analyzes Ahl al-Sunnah wa al-Jamā‘ah's epistemological framework in Nahdlatul Ulama as the foundation for constructing religious authority, transmitting Islamic knowledge, and preserving Muslim unity. Employing a qualitative approach based on library research, the study finds that NU’s religious framework is founded upon several fundamental principles: (1) adherence to the collective path of the believers (al-jamā‘ah), namely following a religious methodology grounded in the consensus of the mainstream Muslim scholarly tradition while maintaining a balance between scriptural texts, reason, and social realities; (2) the preservation of communal cohesion (ijtimā‘) through a strong commitment to Muslim unity and a highly cautious approach to takfīr (excommunication) of fellow Muslims; (3) adherence to the teachings of the Prophet, the Companions, the Tābiʿīn, and subsequent generations of scholars, recognizing their epistemic role in transmitting the Qur’an, hadith, tafsīr, and fiqh through an unbroken chain of scholarly transmission (sanad); and (4) the understanding of jihād as an ethical and methodological instrument for safeguarding the integrity of faith, promoting the public good (maṣlaḥah), and preserving Muslim unity, rather than as a justification for terrorism or indiscriminate violence.
References
ʿĀshūr, Ibn. Maqāṣid al-Sharīʿah al-Islāmiyyah. Kairo: Wizārat al-Awqāf li al-Syuʾūn al-Islāmiyyah, 2004. Google.
ʿĀshūr, Muḥammad al-Ṭāhir ibn. Al-Taḥrīr wa al-Tanwīr. Tunis: al-Dār al-Tūnisiyyah, 2007. Google.
ʿAdnān, ʿAbd al-Mujīb. Adab al-Ṭālibīn. Surabaya: Markaz Maʿhad al-Jāmiʿah, 2014. Google.
Ahlan, and M. Ragap Redho. “Konsep Jihad dalam Al-Qur’an (Kritik Hermeneutika Otoritatif Khaled Abu El Fadh).” Al-Dzikra: Jurnal Studi Ilmu Al-Qur’an dan Al-Hadits 16, no. 1 (2022). https://doi.org/10.24042/al-dzikra.v16i1.10428.
Ahmad Soleh Sakni. “Sunni dan Syi’ah dalam Harmoni,” 2016. Google.
al-Asfarāyīnī, Abū al-Muẓaffar Syahfur ibn Ṭāhir. Al-Tabṣīr fī al-Dīn. Beirut: Dār al-Kutub al-ʿIlmiyyah, 1988. Google.
al-Baghawī, Abū Muḥammad al-Ḥusayn. Maʿālim al-Tanzīl. Beirut: Dār al-Kutub al-ʿIlmiyyah, n.d. Google.
al-Baghdādī, ʿAbd al-Qāhir ibn Ṭāhir. Al-Milal wa al-Niḥal. Beirut: Dār al-Masyāriq, 1970. Google.
al-Būṭī, Muḥammad Saʿīd Ramaḍān. Al-Salafiyyah Marḥalah Zamāniyyah Mubārakah Lā Madhhab Islāmī. Damaskus: Dār al-Fikr, 1990. Google.
al-Ḥararī, ʿAbd Allāh. Al-Maqālāt al-Sunniyyah fī Kasyf Ḍalālāt Aḥmad ibn Taymiyyah. Beirut: Dār al-Masyāriʿ, 2007. Google.
al-Harawī, ʿAlī al-Qārī. Mirqāt al-Mafātīḥ. Jamāl ʿAytā. Dār al-Kutub al-ʿIlmiyyah, 2001. Google.
al-Ḥarrānī, ʿAbd Allāh. Al-Maqālāt al-Sunniyyah fī Kasyf Ḍalālāt Aḥmad ibn Taymiyyah. Beirut: Dār al-Masyāriʿ, 2007. Google.
al-Kāsmīrī, Muḥammad Anwar Shāh. Ikfār al-Mulḥidīn fī Ḍarūriyyāt al-Dīn. Karachi: Majlis ʿIlmī, 2004. Google.
al-Qurṭubī, Abū ʿAbd Allāh. Al-Jāmiʿ li Aḥkām al-Qurʾān. Beirut: Muʾassasat al-Risālah, n.d. Google.
al-Sālimī, Yāsīn. “The View of Muʿtazilah on the Doctrinal Difference Which Exists among the Islamic Sects.” Nama Journal, no. 1 (2016): 18–41. https://doi.org/10.59151/.vi1.230.
al-Suyūṭī, Jalāl al-Dīn. Al-Sirāj al-Munīr Sharḥ al-Jāmiʿ al-Ṣaghīr. Egypt: Maktabat al-Amīrah, 1876. Google.
al-Ṭabarī, Abū Jaʿfar Muḥammad ibn Jarīr. Jāmiʿ al-Bayān ʿan Taʾwīl Āy al-Qurʾān. Kairo: Dār al-Hijr, n.d. Google.
al-Ṭabarī, Muḥammad ibn Jarīr. Jāmiʿ al-Bayān ʿan Taʾwīl Āy al-Qurʾān. Edited by Maḥmūd Syākir Muḥammad. Makkah: Dār al-Tarbiyah wa al-Turāth, n.d. Google.
al-Wāḥidī. Tafsīr al-Wasīṭ. Beirut: Dār al-Kutub al-ʿIlmiyyah, 1994. Google.
Asyʿarī, Hāsyim. Terjemah Kitab Risalah Ahlussunnah Wal Jamaah. Edited by Hāsyim Asyʿarī. Bekasi: Al-Muqsith Pustaka, 2021. Google.
Azra, Azyumardi. Jaringan Ulama Timur Tengah dan Kepulauan Nusantara Abad XVII dan XVIII. Jakarta: Kencana, 2004. Google.
Baidan, Nashruddin. Metodologi Khusus Penelitian Tafsir. Yogyakarta: Pustaka Pelajar, 2016. Google.
Bruinessen, Martin van. Kitab Kuning, Pesantren dan Tarekat: Tradisi-Tradisi Islam di Indonesia. Bandung: Mizan, 1996. Google.
Coppens, Pieter. “Jamāl al-Dīn al-Qāsimī’s Treatise on Wiping over Socks and the Rise of a Distinct Salafi Method.” VU Research Portal 62, no. 2 (2022): 154–87. https://doi.org/10.1163/15700607-61040014.
Feillard, Andrée. NU Vis-à-Vis Negara: Pencarian Isi, Bentuk dan Makna. Yogyakarta: LKiS, n.d. Google.
Haikal, Muhammad Hasanaini. “Rekonstruksi Narasi Jihad dalam Media Digital Islamis di Indonesia: Studi Sosiologis terhadap Peran Media dalam Militerisme Kontemporer.” 10, no. 1 (2025): 19–34. https://doi.org/10.14421/mjsi.v10i1.4058.
Ibn Ḥajar. Fatḥ al-Bārī. Kairo: al-Salafiyyah, n.d. Google.
Hallaq, Wael B. Authority, Continuity, and Change in Islamic Law. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004. Google.
Haqq, Muḥammad Valiyyul. “Weighing ‘Islam Nusantara’: A Lexical and Historical Critique of the Terminology of Islamic Moderation in Indonesia,” 2025. Google.
Hikami, Jurnal. “Iman dan Amal Perspektif Murji’ah dan Ahlussunnah wal Jama’ah” 1, no. 1 (2020): 1–15. https://doi.org/10.59622/jiat.v1i1.1.
Husna, Nurul, Mohd Pidrus, Mohd Hasrul Shuhari, Norhashimah Yahya, and Mohd Amirul Zakir. “The Methodology Employed by Ahl al-Sunnah wa al-Jamāʿah When Confronting Contemporary Challenges to Islamic Thought” 15 (2022). Google.
Iskandar, Nuzul. “Jihad dan Terorisme dalam Tinjauan Alquran, Hadis, dan Fikih.” Al-Qisthu 17, no. 1 (2019): 1–10. https://doi.org/10.32694/010650.
Ibn Kathīr. Tafsīr Ibn Kathīr. Kairo: Dār al-Fajr, 2013. Google.
Kurnia, Anggun, and Robbani Rosita. “Islam Nusantara Menurut Nahdlatul Ulama” 2, no. 2 (2025). Google.
Lauzière, Henri. The Making of Salafism: Islamic Reform in the Twentieth Century. Edited by Karen Barkey. Columbia University Press, 2016. https://doi.org/10.7312/columbia/9780231175500.001.0001.
Manurung, Agil Shodiki. “Sir Sayyid Ahmad Khan’s Theological Thought and Its Selective Reception in Contemporary Indonesian Pesantren,” 2025. Google.
Moleong, Lexy J. Metodologi Penelitian Kualitatif. Bandung: Remaja Rosdakarya, 2014. Google.
Navis, Abdurrahman, Muhammad Idrus Ramli, and Faris Khairul Anam. Risalah Ahlussunnah Wal-Jama’ah. Surabaya: Khalista, 2012. Google.
Nurhanisah, and Afrizal Tjoetra. “The Dialectical Relationship Between Religious.” Jurnal Ar-Raniry 5, no. 1 (2025): 31–44. https://doi.org/10.22373/jpi.v5i1.31388.
Nurmansyah, Aldi, Annisa Nur Azizah, Yuri Hamidah, Syifa Mawarni Putri, Siti Nuraeni, and Jafar Amirudin. “Peran Teologi Al-Asy’ariyah dan Al-Maturidiyah dalam Islam / The Role of Al-Ash’ariyah and Al-Maturidiyah Theology in Islam,” 2025, 1670–77. Google.
Qomar, Mujamil. “Islam Nusantara: An Indonesian Translation to Practice Islam,” 2019, 131–50. https://doi.org/10.21274/epis.2019.14.1.131-150.
Qureshi, Nasrullah, and Hadi Bux Chhijan. “Sahaba; Their Ijitihad and School of Thoughts in Understanding Quranic Text and Its Academic Importance.” Al-Aijaz Research Journal of Islamic Studies & Humanities 4, no. 1 (2020): 22–39. https://doi.org/10.53575/A3.v4.01.22-39.
Rashidi, Mohammad Qasim, and Habiburrahman Rizapoor. “The Phenomenon of Al-Takfir: Impacts on Unity within the Islamic Ummah” 1, no. 3 (2023): 56–72. https://doi.org/10.61806/al-tatawur.v1i3.6.
Ricklefs, Merle Calvin. Sejarah Indonesia Modern 1200–2008. Jakarta: Palgrave, 2008. Google.
Riḍā, Muḥammad Rashīd. Tafsīr al-Manār. Dār al-Kutub al-ʿIlmiyyah, n.d. Google.
Santoso, Dri. “The Dynamics of Muslim Interpretation of Jihad Verses: Between Morality and Military.” Al-Tahrir 22, no. 1 (2022): 49–70. https://doi.org/10.21154/altahrir.v22i1.3802.
Saumantri, Theguh. “The Dialectic of Islam Nusantara and Its Contribution to the Development of Religious Moderation in Indonesia,” 2020. Google.
Ibn Taymiyyah. Muwāfaqah Ṣarīḥ al-Maʿqūl. Beirut: Dār al-Kutub al-ʿIlmiyyah, n.d. Google.
Umam, M. Syafiqil, Hasbi Ash-Shiddiqi, Sekolah Tinggi Ilmu Syariah, and Nurul Qarnain. “Journal of Pesantren and Diniyah Studies” 2, no. 1 (2025): 39–50. https://doi.org/10.63245/jpds.v2i1.45.
Wolfgang, Simon, and Simon Wolfgang Fuchs. “Casting Aside the Clutches of Conjecture: The Striving for Religious Certainty at Aligarh” 27, no. 4 (2020): 386–410. https://doi.org/10.1163/15685195-00260A15.
Zein, Ibrahim M. “The Question of Takfir from the Sunni Perspective: A Theological and Jurisprudential Inquiry” 53, no. 2 (2025): 211–30. https://doi.org/10.22452/usuluddin.vol53no2.8.
Copyright (c) 2026 Ardelia Nihlah Ilahi, Mohamad Saofi, Nur Shofiyah Ramadhani, Maulana Ikhsanun Karim, Muhamad Haikal Husaini
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
