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.