Indonesian Islamic group eyes ‘soft power’ with Spanish church purchase

Indonesia’s second-largest Muslim organisation Muhammadiyah plans to buy and convert a church in Spain’s Alcala

Analysts say the purchase likely hopes to outcompete rival group Nahdlatul Ulama’s influence overseas. NU is Indonesia’s largest Islamic organisation with over 90 million members, more than Muhammadiyah’s 60 million

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Muhammadiyah plans to buy a “neglected” church in Spain’s Alcala, about a 15-minute drive from Madrid. File photo: Xinhua

Published: 7:30pm, 7 Nov 2022Updated: 7:33pm, 9 Nov 2022

Indonesia’s second-largest Muslim organisation is seeking to “enlighten the universe” with its teachings of moderate Islam by converting a Spanish church into a mosque, in what observers say is a bid for soft power over its rival.

Muhammadiyah’s plan was unveiled by its East Java branch during the organisation’s nationwide virtual conference on Saturday. Saad Ibrahim, leader of the branch, said the group was planning to buy an old church in Spain’s Alcala, about a 15-minute drive from Madrid.

“Hopefully, this will be a movement for all of us so that [Allah’s blessings] can be realised through us,” Saad said in a statement released by the branch following the conference.

Saad said the unnamed church, which used to be a mosque and sits on a land area of around 3,000 square metres, was on sale for around €3 million (US$2.9 million).

“We are in the process of negotiating with the management of the place of worship. They are offering a price of around €3 million or around 45 billion rupiah,” he told This Week in Asia.

According to Saad, the church was being sold as its parish had dwindled to 15 people.

Gold coins dating to the Abbasid Caliphate, unearthed during a press presentation of the discovery at an archaeological site near Tel Aviv in central Israel, on August 18, 2020. Photo: AFP

Saad told the conservative-leaning Indonesian publication Republika on Sunday that he was “deeply touched” with the discovery of a historical Muslim site.