MThe thoughts of Muhammad Abduh
a. Position of Reason and function of revelation
Muhammad Abduh argued that the way to know God was not through revelation but with reason. With the power of reason that exists in humans, humans try to know about the existence of God. The knowledge that has been obtained by reason is then strengthened by the revelation to humanity through the intermediaries of Allah's messengers, the Prophets and Apostles. Meanwhile, the function of revelation according to Muhammad Abduh is to give confidence to humans that the soul will continue to live after the physical body is destroyed, help the mind to know the state of human life in the hereafter and provide guidance on how to give thanks to the procedure of worship.
b. Scrape old-fashioned attitudes and khurafat According to Muhammad Abduh, the cause of the decline of Muslims at the end of the Middle Ages was the old-fashioned attitude. In this attitude implies the attitude of freezing, static, adhering to custom. Because it is influenced by the attitude of the old Muslim people do not want to accept change. [2] The emergence of old-fashioned attitudes originated from the traditions of non-Muslims who later converted to Islam while still carrying customs and carrying customs and animistic understandings.
c. The door of ijtihad is not closed Muhammad Abduh initially started the Maliki school, but in al-Azhar he studied the Hanafi School. He respects all schools of thought, but he does not want to be bound to any of them. Schools in his opinion are the paths taken by past scholars in understanding the Qur'an and Hadith.