The division between "traditionalism" and "modernism" is widely used by both Indonesians and foreign academics to describe the chasm which has been existed among the contemporary Muslim society in Indonesia.
[1] Previously, Muslim society in Java in particular was analyzed through the division of abangan, santri and priyayi popularized by an anthropologist Clifford Geertz based on communal identity.
Local beliefs or practices of Hindu or animist origins were incorporated and became part of the traditions such as saint veneration known as Ziyarat, honorific title of kyai, or pesantren as an educational institution.
[1][5] From the late 19th to early 20th century, increasing numbers of Muslims have studied in the Middle East, where reformist thoughts such as Islamic modernism and Wahhabism were taking hold.
These Muslims with reformist mindset, mostly highly educated urban dwellers, established the modernist organization Muhammadiyah in 1912, and advocated for purification of such traditions based on puritanical teachings derived from the Qur'an and Hadith alone.