Long-haired students live a plain life

Long-haired students live a plain life

By Agus M. Yon

PURWOKERTO, Central Java (JP): The squeeze of the protracting
monetary crisis has forced cutbacks in daily spending, especially
if your income is just enough to make both ends meet. Many people
readily eat less, cutting down from three meals to two, and when
the price of frying oil is no longer affordable, they will be
happy with only boiled dishes.

This is the kind of life that one can find among the students
in an-Nur pesantren, a boarding school of Koranic studies, in
Pasir Wetan, Karanglewas, Banyumas, Central Java.

However, the way of life of these santri, or boarding school
students, is not in any way related to the pinch of the monetary
crisis.

Here they have only two meals a day, one before dawn and one
after sunset, and they also deny themselves any delicious food.
They also stay in simply made cabins, without any iron or glass,
and sleep on a board with a just a mat on it.

The boarding school is led by a kyai, a respectable Islamic
scholar and teacher, KH Muhammad Thohirin.

Some of the approximately 200 santri staying at this boarding
school come from outside Java, Sumatra for example, but most of
them are from various areas in Central Java. They come from both
well-off and poor families.

These santri have chosen the hard way of life because they are
tempering themselves in preparation for challenges in their
future. They are training themselves mentally and physically so
that they will never be tempted by any earthly pleasures. They
fast regularly so that they can enjoy life even when only the
barest of facilities are available.

"I have not ordered the students to opt for a harsh life,"
Thohirin said.

He said he simply brings them the Islamic teaching that one
must not rely on or have avarice for material things and must not
depend on other people.

"It is up the students themselves to take the initiative in
implementing this teaching in their daily lives," he said.

So they have built the cabins they live in by themselves
without any material help from the kyai.

Do these santri feel sad at having to lead a life resembling
that in quarantine? Certainly not. Their faces express peace of
mind and happiness, far from any trace of sadness or any
impression of being coerced.

Day after day they pore over the Holy Koran and al-Hadith, a
collection of traditional stories relating the words or deeds of
Prophet Mohammad. In addition, they also have a pile of books
known as kutubul asfar, the yellow books which usually are
compulsory study at pesantren, especially those managed by
Nahdlatul Ulama.

Thohirin explained, though, that accepting this teaching does
not necessarily mean that a santri must deny himself all worldly
matters. A santri may be a rich man, but must not idolize his
riches or consider them the be-all and end-all in his life. God
leaves wealth in our care to be used in ways He approves of and
for the benefit of the community. So the kyai hopes that if any
of his santri happen to be successful in future they will not be
materialistic.

Another interesting feature of this boarding school is that 90
percent of the all male students are long-haired. Most keep their
hair at shoulder length and some even have it flowing down their
backs. Hence the name the "long-haired" boarding school, given by
the people of Banyumas.

Thohirin himself finds it difficult to understand why most of
his santri prefer to keep their hair long.

But he has never prohibited his students from doing this as
long as the hair is well taken care of: clean and neatly
arranged. As for the rest of the santri, they are not allowed to
keep their hair long because they go to regular schools, where
keeping your hair long is against school regulations.

"I feel comfortable with my long hair," said Muhammad
Abdussalam, a student.

He said that the habit of having long hair began as early as
the establishment of this boarding school some 10 years back. He
said the students simply took their leader, Thohirin, as their
example. While still a santri himself, Thohirin usually kept his
hair long.

The 45-year old Thohirin, now a father of two, admits that
when he was young he kept his hair long for five years and that
he cut it only when he got married.

Both Thohirin and his long-haired students agree that keeping
their hair long gives them self-confidence and makes them feel
more devoted to God in practicing religious service. Besides,
their long hair serves as a sort of blanket: it keeps them warm
and comfortable when sleeping.