The Story of KH Abdul Wahid Hasyim's Stay at Gontor
By Dadang Irsyamuddin, Gontor Alumnus 2013
A question frequently arises when people discuss Pondok Modern Darussalam Gontor: “Gontor is actually Muhammadiyah, isn’t it?”
This question has circulated widely amongst Islamic boarding school circles for some time. To many observers, Gontor appears too modern to be considered a traditional pesantren. It lacks the routine tahlilan traditions commonly found in many Nahdlatul Ulama pesantren.
The students speak Arabic and English daily. The curriculum is structured like a modern school, whilst the method of studying classical Islamic texts does not always follow the sorogan or bandongan patterns of classical pesantren.
Within Indonesia’s Islamic organisational landscape, often perceived in terms of a binary division, the conclusion comes quickly: if not Nahdlatul Ulama, then Muhammadiyah. Yet the reality within Gontor is far more complex, and indeed far more interesting.
A Pesantren That Refuses to Be Boxed In
Since its establishment, Gontor has resisted being placed under any single organisational label. Its founders declared that Gontor “stands above and for all groups.”
Yet precisely because of this stance, Gontor is often misunderstood.
When people observe that Gontor is not synonymous with certain rituals such as manaqib or routine tahlilan, they assume the pesantren has distanced itself from Nahdlatul Ulama traditions. When its students do not always wear sarongs everywhere, Gontor is considered too modern. When its foreign language curriculum is strong, some conclude it is close to modernist models. Even at its inception, it was labelled as pro-colonial for teaching students to wear Western-style jackets and shirts.
Yet if one truly lived within the pesantren, a different picture would emerge. Gontor students still recite invocations and remembrance of God after communal prayers. They practise qunut in the dawn prayer. There is hadrah art and shalawat traditions that also thrive in many Nahdlatul Ulama pesantren. Prayer recitations such as the phrase “Allahu Akbar kabiran walhamdulillahi katsira” are also written in textbooks.