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.