Islamic boarding schools against terrorism

Islamic boarding schools against terrorism

A. Chaedar Alwasilah, Lecturer, Indonesian University
of Education (UPI), Bandung, West Java

In Indonesian history, Islamic boarding schools, known as
pesantren, surau, dayah or pondok, have played
a significant role not only in education but also in preparing
the social and political leaders of this country.

The institutions function as a bastion for Muslim forces, a
center for Islamic studies and propagation and a center for the
development of Muslim society. During colonial times, they
functioned as a headquarters for mobilizing the people against
the Dutch and Japanese forces.

Since the deadly bomb blast in Bali on Oct. 12, which killed
over 190 people and injured more than 300 others, many foreign
analysts have been misled into believing that the schools are a
harbor for terrorists. The issue of terrorism is quite a recent
phenomenon, while pesantren are as old as the history of Islam in
Indonesia.

The pesantren are unique in many ways that are oftentimes
overlooked by educational and political observers with no
firsthand experience. As a former pesantren student, I want to
share my experience.

Indeed, the pesantren remain traditional. What I experienced
in the 1970s is similar to what my father experienced in the
1940s, which still holds true now in most of these schools. In
general, the pesantren have five components: The cleric, the
students or santri, the mosque, a boardinghouse and the classic
books, called kitab kuning, which literally means yellow books,
as the paper of most of the books are yellowed from age.

The kyai, or cleric, is charismatic and modest and is thus the
model to emulate in terms of knowledge, behavior and leadership.
The cleric-student relationship is close, informal, egalitarian,
and consultative.

Hence, the students grow to become the cleric's loyal and
faithful followers. Through continued silaturahmi, or
communication for brotherhood and common humanity, networking is
established between the cleric and his disciples, and among the
disciples.

Living on the same campus, the cleric oversees almost all of
the activities of the students. The students are taught to help
each other, to live modest and decent lives and more importantly
to live independently. While public schools and colleges are
continuously blamed for mass-producing unemployable graduates,
such blame is inappropriate for the pesantren.

All graduates have been taught literacy, honesty, devotion,
brotherhood, independence, mutual help and networking, all of
which are vital for any kind of employment.

The mosque is where communal prayers, classical learning,
tutoring and meetings are held. Clearly, the mosque on campus
symbolizes devotion to Allah the Almighty, commitment to learning
and responsibility for social harmony. It is the theological
laboratory where Islamic teachings are critically examined and
empirically put into practice.

Unique to the pesantren is reciprocal tutoring. Younger
students learn from the students in the class above them, who
learn from the class above them -- all the way up to the cleric.
This promotes reciprocal learning and teaching. It also maintains
a loose, informal and collegial management of learning and
brotherhood.

Depending on its size, a pesantren may have more than one
cleric, usually from the same family. The clerics teach the
students according to their areas of expertise, which mostly
comprise the recital of the Koran, Arabic syntax, morphology,
semantics, theology, jurisprudence, tafsir (interpretation of the
Koran), hadits (study of the Prophet Muhammad's sayings and
actions) and usul fiqh (methodology of Islamic jurisprudence).

Obviously, there is no specialization in politics, economics,
history and literature, let alone technology.

In 1988/1989 there were about 6,631 pesantren across the
archipelago, teaching 958,670 male and female students. Over the
years these numbers have increased considerably. Many parents see
the pesantren as a promising alternative for educating their
children. There are never any news reports about student brawls,
robberies, sex, homicide, suicide and drug abuse at pesantren.

Our national education system has produced intellectuals,
engineers, diplomats, lawyers, businesspeople, bankers,
politicians and legislators. However, it has failed to provide
many of them with a sense of honesty, integrity, morality,
devotion, brotherhood, independence, mutual help, virtue and
leadership.

To rectify this situation, the Ministry of National Education
could learn from the pesantren, including their features as
boarding schools. By preserving their traditions, Islamic
boarding schools have survived and succeeded in educating the
people.

It would be shamefully erroneous to conclude that the issue of
terrorism has tarnished the magnificent picture of such schools.
Some elements of extremist movements may wage holy war or jihad,
namely readiness to die for virtue and God, but that is totally
uncharacteristic of Muslims in Indonesia, famed for being
moderate and antiviolence. Until recently, we have never heard of
terrorism being connected to the pesantren here. Islam does not
condone terrorism.

A series of robberies reportedly committed by terrorists to
get funds for killing innocent people is un-Islamic, and
therefore contradicts the virtues, traditions and beliefs long
established, well propagated and highly regarded in the
pesantren. An evil-doer will use any means to justify his or her
ends, including the misuse of a linkage with any institution,
including the pesantren.