K.H. Ayat Dimyati and the Consolidation of Muhammadiyah in West Java, 2010–2015

Abstract

This article examines the relationship between the formation of K.H. Ayat Dimyati's thought and his work as Chair of the West Java Regional Board of Muhammadiyah (PWM) in 2010–2015. Previous studies have generally presented Ayat Dimyati as a figure of qoul bil hal dakwah or discussed Muhammadiyah's regional leadership from the perspectives of management, cadre development, and servant leadership. Little attention has been paid to the relationship among the idea of Tauhid Ilmu, Muhammadiyah's collective and collegial structure, and institutional processes during one regional leadership term. The research uses the historical method through heuristics, external and internal criticism, interpretation, and historiography. Primary sources include Ayat Dimyati's works, Muhammadiyah archives and decrees, Tanwir documents, interviews with family members and West Java PWM officers, and audiovisual recordings. The results show that his thinking was shaped by Garut's diverse religious environment, Islamic education, literacy experience, and Muhammadiyah cadre formation. The relationship among tawhid, divine guidance, knowledge, and action became the ethical foundation of his educational and leadership ideas. At the organizational level, the available record supports institutional consolidation more than structural transformation: it documents regional personnel changes, decisions concerning educational and health institutions, and a Study Team for Universitas Muhammadiyah Bandung. His role in the university was not as its sole originator, but as an agent who advanced the previously recorded university agenda by establishing a Study Team in 2011. This article offers a reading that avoids figure-centered historiography: Ayat Dimyati's significance lies in his ability to connect ideas, organizational structures, and collective work that helped sustain an institutional agenda beyond his term.