Max Weber's remarks on Islam: The Protestant Ethic among Muslim puritans

This article takes a look at Max Weber's remarks on Islam compared with Calvinism with reference to the doctrine of predestination, the quest for salvation, inner-worldly asceticism and the concept of rationalization. The comparison shows that Weber regarded Islam as the polar opposite of the Protestant ethic, particularly in its Calvinist variant. The article then shifts its focus to Indonesian Islam in order to demonstrate that ‘Islam’ and ‘Muslim’ are not univocal but multivocal. Indeed, Indonesian Islam contrasts sharply with Weber's portrait of Islam in the Middle East. Finally, the article examines the extent to which the rise of Muslim puritans within the early Islamic reformist movement in the Muhammadiyah of Indonesia resembles ascetic Protestantism, particularly Calvinism.