This current paper explores and analyzes the trend of Sufism discourses and practices among Indonesian Muslim modernist-reformer organizations with special reference to the Muhammadiyah movement. The public tends to categorize Muhammadiyah as an anti-Sufism movement. A close study, however, shows that the existence of Sufism discourse and practices is a clear religious phenomenon among its individual figures and members, although organizationally Muhammadiyah does not recognize the existence of Sufi orders (tarekat). Based on the data collected from subjective-ethnographic notes of the organization’s programs and activities as well as literature studies of the organization documents, this study implements Stephen Katz’s philosophical model. It shows that Muhammadiyah is searching for Islamic spirituality by promoting the authenticity of tasawuf aspects, namely tauh}id or monotheism and akhlaq al-karimah or noble characters as reflected in the concept of ih}san. In this regard, Sufism is defined as a system of values and spirituality, not involved in a particular Sufi order. Muhammadiyah interprets Sufism as ethical values and ethos to do virtuous actions in society.

This article examines the paradigm shift in the interpretation of the Qur'an. The main thesis in writing is that there is a paradigm shift in the approach to interpretation of contextualist figures and the need for a new paradigm to actualize interpretations. Therefore, this paper presents an explanation of how the construction and paradigm shift in the interpretation of contextualist figures; why the paradigm shift of contextual interpretation occurs, and what are the implications of this shift in the principles of the new paradigm of interpretation. This study is a literature review. As a sample of the data, there are five contextualist thinkers studied, namely Fazlur Rahman (Pakistan-America), Nasr Hamid Abu Zayd (Egypt-Netherlands), Farid Esack (South Africa), Abdullah Saeed (Maldives-Australia), and Sahiron Syamsuddin (Indonesia). Data were analyzed using comparative-relational analysis. This study concludes that the paradigm shift in interpretation cannot be separated from the influence of the sociopolitical and cultural context of each country. The paradigm of interpretation has shifted from a contextual approach to an actual-context approach. The latter approach emphasizes more on actual issues and solutions to national and state issues. This study also proposes a thesis that, different from the contextual paradigm that emphasizes the context of the Qur'an as a medium for understanding the text of the Qur'an, the actual-context approach emphasizes the text of the Qur'an as a medium for understanding the context of the Qur'an. It is because the text is actually a cultural representation of the reality of the time of revelation.   Artikel ini mengkaji pergeseran paradigma (paradigm shift) dalam penafsiran al-Qur’an. Tesis utamanya adalah ada pergeseran paradigma dalam pendekatan penafsiran tokoh kontekstualis dan perlunya paradigma baru untuk mengaktualkan panafsiran. Untuk itu, tulisan ini menghadirkan penjelasan bagaimana konstruksi dan pergeseran paradigma penafsiran tokoh kontekstualis; mengapa pergeseran paradigma penafsiran kontekstual terjadi, serta apa implikasi pergeseran tersebut dalam prinsip paradigma penafsiran yang baru. Studi ini merupakan kajian kepustakaan. Sebagai sampel data, ada lima pemikir kontekstualis yang dikaji, yaitu Fazlur Rahman (Pakistan-Amerika), Nasr Hamid Abu Zayd (Mesir-Belanda), Farid Esack (Afrika Selatan), Abdullah Saeed (Maladewa-Australia), dan Sahiron Syamsuddin (Indonesia). Data dianalisis menggunakan analisis komparatif-relasional. Penelitian ini menyimpulkan bahwa pergeseran paradigma penafsiran tidak terlepas dari pengaruh konteks sosiopolitik dan kultural negara masing-masing. Paradigma penafsiran mengalami pergeseran dari pendekatan kontekstual ke pendekatan aktual. Pendekatan yang terakhir lebih menekankan pada isu aktual dan solusi atas persoalan kebangsaan dan kenegaraan. Penelitian ini juga mengajukan tesis bahwa jika dalam paradigma kontekstual lebih menekankan konteks al-Qur’an sebagai media untuk memahami teks al-Qur’an, pendekatan aktual lebih menekankan teks al-Qur’an sebagai media untuk memahami konteks al-Qur’an, karena teks sejatinya merupakan representasi kultural atas realitas masa pewahyuan.

How have religious organizations responded to the COVID-19 pandemic? Why have some religious organizations responded to this outbreak from a scientific perspective, but many others have not? This paper explores the Muhammadiyah's proactive role in responding to the COVID-19 outbreak through an integration-interconnection perspective of religion, science, and culture. Apart from establishing the Muhammadiyah COVID-19 Command Center (MCCC), Muhammadiyah have been actively providing religious guidance amidst the pandemic. Through a review of organizational documents and an auto-nethnography study of the responses of Muhammadiyah members and their community, this paper examines the content and process of disseminating religious guidance, as well as the responses of the organization members and society generally. The dynamics of the response of Muhammadiyah members and sympathizers to religious guidance issued by the Central Board of Muhammadiyah will be read from the perspective of the religious authority in the VUCA (Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity, Ambiguity) era. This paper underlines that the Muhammadiyah have shown efforts to integrate religion, science, and culture through MCCC to deal with the outbreak. This confirms that the Muhammadiyah movement is both rational and pro-science and serves as a shred of evidence that religious organizations can be problem solvers, although authorities are potentially challenged in the VUCA era.