Stressed ministers flock to Asshiddiqiyah 'pesantren'

Stressed ministers flock to Asshiddiqiyah 'pesantren'

By Wisnu Pramudya

JAKARTA (JP): It's 2 a.m., a time when most Jakartans are fast asleep. In the huge white building that is the Asshiddiqiyah Pesantren (traditional Islamic boarding school) in Kedoya, West Jakarta, however, hundreds of students are up and about to perform their tahajud (night) prayers.

"It's during this time that several ministers or generals often visit to join the prayers," said K.H. Nur Muhammad Iskandar, the charismatic headmaster of the school. "They usually come without warning, like when they're under stress."

The 40-year old kyai (guru) refused to reveal the names of the top officials, but his illustration served its aim: Revealing how the pesantren has become the spiritual lighthouse for a community which is wrapped in hedonism and materialism.

Every night the 2,800 students must wake up to say their prayers in the mosque, in their rooms or in other parts of the four-story building occupying 1.5 hectares of land.

"The night prayer is mandatory so that each student is better spiritually armed to face the growing challenges," Nur insisted.

The sixth, or final, year students are also obligated to observe "David fasting", after the Prophet David, in which Moslems fast every other day. Moslems believe that this is the best kind of fasting.

David-style fasting is now regarded as the trademark of pesantren graduates.

"The students are often called Ibnu Daud (children of David) after they graduate and go on to study in Egypt, Japan, the United States or Europe," Nur said.

Snobbish

The spartan religious training does not create an exclusive community, claimed Nur. If Nur is a model, then the students are trained to be broad-minded and cultivate friendships with people from various backgrounds.

Nur is amicable with just about anybody. He rubs elbows with cabinet ministers, chats with business tycoons and politicians, and even converses with journalists, small traders, pickpockets and hoodlums.

"Every human being has a positive side," he said. "Before Allah, I might not be better than others."

His outgoing personality affected President Soeharto when the President opened a congress of Moslem boarding schools at Asshiddiqiyah in Jan. 1994. Soeharto was said to have laughed when Nur told him about how the once-poor school devised a financial scheme to help its poor neighbors.

The pesantren's financial bureau, established in 1987, has given hundreds of millions of rupiah to help small traders start businesses. President Soeharto reportedly laughed at Nur's quip about how a poor institution tried to help poor people.

The joke later gave birth to the Inkopontren (pesantren cooperatives). Nur now leads its 800 members. The cooperative helps students start agricultural and other businesses.

'Salafi'

The Asshiddiqiyah Pesantren is just one of the boarding schools belonging to Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) Moslem organization.

Most of the schools also teach salafi, a tradition of thought and learning methods rooted in the Koran, the sayings and deeds of the Prophet Muhammad, and ulemas' classical reference books.

The reference books, known locally as kitab kuning (yellow books), are the students' main source of knowledge. The methods employed here, as in all NU boarding schools, are called sorogan and wetonan. The school masters explain every single word in the books to hundreds of students at the same time.

One feature differentiates the Asshiddiqiyah from many of the other schools, however.

"Here, we try to cultivate the students' creativity by allowing room for discussion," Nur said.

Rofiq, a member of the teaching staff, agreed. The 24-year-old teacher graduated from the Daarussalaam Gontor Pesantren in Gontor, East Java. The school is known for its relatively more modern learning methods, and was among the first to require all of its students to speak both Arabic and English.

Rofiq and his friends were recruited by Nur to introduce a "different color" to the Asshiddiqiyah Pesantren.

"The kyai wants to establish a school which combines elements from the very traditional Lirboyo Pesantren (in Kediri, East Java) with those from the relatively modern Gontor," he said.

There are two levels of education at Asshiddiqiyah: the tsanawiyah (junior high school) and aliyah (senior high school).

The monthly tuition is Rp 65,000 (US$28.50), which covers board, room and school supplies. Nur, who owns a BMW, Pajero and two other luxury cars, personally pays the school fees of 300 students.

Nur said the school simply wants to produce urbanites with the three salafi characteristics. The first is a strong inclination to refer to the Koran, the Prophet's teachings and the ulemas' books in daily life.

The second characteristic is akhlaq (good conduct) shown by, among other things, deference towards the kyai. This is why students scramble to kiss the kyai's hands.

"In villages there are students who don't even dare to look straight into the kyai's eyes," Nur explained with some pride.

The third characteristic is discipline in observing the religious rituals such as saying prayers, fasting or dzikir (praising Allah).

Nur said it's not important what the students do after they graduate, as long as they have these three characteristics.

Management

Last year Asshiddiqiyah established a polytechnic banking institute, geared to produce banking professionals from among the its students. The institute currently teaches conventional banking, but expects to gradually base its lessons on Islamic law.

Nur pointed out that the pesantren is managed with a more modern approach. Nur still retains the traditional, central leadership, but has also armed himself with a team of managers -- each having a nasab (bloodline) with him.

The team holds supervisory power over the managers of the Asshiddiqiyah Foundation and the ustadz (teachers).

Nur is a busy man. He admits that sometimes he gives sermons or speeches in as many as eight different places in one day. During Ramadhan his speaking schedule becomes even more hectic.

Several days before Ramadhan started, for example, he had to make ten recordings of his sermons for a private television station. The five private television stations have all booked him to give sermons on Ramadhan-related subjects.

Meanwhile, the school keeps on growing. It has now expanded to Batuceper, Krawang and Bekasi, and has a total of 5,600 students.