Educational practice: lessons to be learned from madrasah and religious schools in contemporary Southeast Asia

This article aims at examining the current portrait of Islamic education in Southeast Asia. Recently, there have been many studies on the role of madrasahs or religious schools in Islamic education. As Muslim who studies social-anthropology, I would like to approach this issue by examining socio-cultural of Islamic education in Southeast Asia. Historically, the tradition has been based on Muslim society at grass root level. The word of madrasah in Southeast Asia has long history, which called as dayah in Aceh, surau in Minangkabau, pesantren in Java, pondok in Malaysia, and pho no in Southern Thailand. The role of madrasah, then has similarities with the tradition of pesantren, even in some Muslim countries like Indonesia scholars still can differentiate between pesantren and madrasah. In this study, I examine to philosophical dimension and system of knowledge reproduction in Islamic education. Finally, I argue that pesantren or religious school is embedded in Muslim culture. Artikel ini bertujuan untuk menjelaskan keadaan terkini mengenai pendidikan Islam di Asia Tenggara.Sejauh ini, sudah begitu banyak kajian mengenai


Introduction
This article aims at examining the current portrait of Islamic education in Southeast Asia. 1 There have been many studies on the role of madrasahs or religious schools in Islamic education.As Muslim who studies socialanthropology, I would like to approach this issue by examining sociocultural of Islamic education in Southeast Asia.Historically, the tradition has been based on Muslim society at grass root level.The word of madrasah in Southeast Asia has long history, which called as dayah in Aceh, surau in Minangkabau, pesantren in Java, pondok in Malaysia, and pho no in Southern Thailand.The role of madrasah, then has similarities with the tradi-tion of pesantren, even in some Muslim countries like Indonesia scholars still can differentiate between pesantrenand madrasah.It is said that "… if pesantren was expected to produce 'ulama', madrasah was hope to produce Muslim …or in the end to produce intelligentsia and even intellectual 'ulama '." 2 The similarities between pesantren and madrasah can be understood as below: In classical Islam the madrasah was the institution of learning par excellence, in that it was devoted primarily to the study of Islamic law, queen of the Islamic sciences.The masjid, from which it developed continued to be used for teaching of the various Islamic science, including that of law.The masjid could be devoted to any one of these sciences, according to the wishes of the founder.The madrasah, on other hand, was devoted primarily to law, the other sciences being studied as ancillaries. 3In Southeast Asia, both pesantren and madrasah have three functions; first, as center of transmission of religious knowledge, second, as guardian of the Islamic tradition, third; as center of 'ulamareproduction. 4

Trends of Islamic education in Southeast Asia
In this section, I will start by describing the trends of Islamic education in the region by looking at a question "why did some parents send their children to religious school?"I am a product of religious school in Aceh.I entered the Madrasah 'Ulumul Qur'an (MUQ) in Langsa, East Aceh.We learned not only religious subjects, but also secular subjects.We were treated as person in "holy prison."The regulations in pesantren imposed us to be good students.The model of educational system in the pesantren was adopted from the pesantren of Gontor in East Java.After three years, I continued my study at MAPK, a madrasah of senior high school with special program at Banda Aceh.We were a product of a program of Ministry of Religious Affairs during the era of Munawir Sadzajali.The total students for each class were 40 who were selected from entire Aceh and North Sumatra provinces.We were given scholarship by the government (MORA).In this school we studied as normal student in public schools.However, in the afternoons, we were introduced to the world of pesantren. 5e studied nahw, sharaf, fiqh, tafsir, hadits, and balaghah.We are required to comprehend many kitabs like in pesantren.Teachers for these subjects were not called as teungku or kyai, as inpesantrenor madrasah.They were senior lecturers fromIAIN (State Institute for Islamic Studies) of Ar-Raniry.We were divided into three groups of student such as "Group A," "Group B," and "Group C." These groups were ranked based on the result offinal exam that was held once in every six months.
After I graduated from this school, I continued to pursue my degree at IAIN (now UIN) of Sunan Kalijaga, Yogyakarta.Some of my friends were interested in going to Al-Azhar for their Bachelor, while many others were still in Banda Aceh at IAIN of Ar-Raniry.My arrival to Yogyakarta was because I was not able to complete an administrative process of making visa to Egypt.In Yogyakarta, I become acquaintance with many students from Java.Some of them were from pesantrens in Java and some other provinces in Indonesia.At this stage, I understood that the one who has studied at pesantrens would be called "NU Man" (Orang Nahdlatul Ulama).NU is one of the largest Islamic organizations in Indonesia, after Muhammadiyyah. 6During my study at Yogyakarta, NU was chaired by former Indonesian President, Mr. Abdurrahman Wahid.Many of students lived at the pesantren near the campus.
In Yogyakarta, I then knew the impact of pesantren to Indonesian politics.My seniors always said that there had been a revival of traditionalist group in Indonesian intellectual.To mention some of names such as Gus Dur, CakNur (Nurcholish Madjid), Djohan Effendy, Emha Ainun Najib, etc.We read and discussed their works.We had a special discussion on impact of Orang Santrito Islamic thought.In 1998, when the Reformasi occurred in Indonesia, many of great players were from Islamic group. 7his era was seen as the revival of traditionalist in which Azyumardi Azra mentioned about the concept of santrinization in Muslim education, politic, and social movement. 8In Azra's words: There are several factors with … have contributed to the recent santrinization of Indonesian society.Chief factors … are growing genuine attachment of Islam as a result of da'wah(preaching) activities, improve economic condition, increasing number of Muslim "middle class" and spreading influence of Islamic revivalism at the global level. 9s I had witnessed this trend in Yogyakarta, 10 I then started studying how the santrinization became a major issue in Indonesia and why religious learning at madrasah or pesantren influenced the Muslim in Indonesia?I have argued elsewhere that pesantren had played important role as a center of civilization in Southeast Asia. 11It can be said that the history of Muslim in Southeast Asia has been history of intellectual networking between 'ulama and pesantren. 12Thus, my experience in Yogyakarta shows that pesantren have dominated Islamic discourse in the country.The term of santri 13 had become a trend among young Muslim generation such as santri kota (city santri), 14 santri jalanan (street santri), santri baru (new santri), politik santri (santri politic), mahasiswa santri (santri student), etc. 15 Moreover trend of understanding pondok or pesantren in Southeast Asia.The institution was seeing as part of the dissemination of radicalism in Southeast Asia.There have been many studies on the impact of madrasah or pondok in Southeast Asia to issue of radicalism and terrorism.Some pondoks were suspected to have links with al-Qaeda or Jema'ah Islamiyyah. 16In this discourse, this Islamic educational institution had been in negative image, especially among Western experts. 17This trend has changed the image of religious schools in Southeast Asia.The word of global jihad has been understood as an ideology for religious schools as part of Islamic hardliner movement. 18Many of studies then were done to investigate inside pesantren in order to compose the problems of radicalism and terrorism in the region. 19Finally, governments in Southeast Asia started to have a "close eye" on daily life of religious schools. 20t is safe to say that religious schools or madrasahs in Southeast Asia have faced many dynamics issues, whether from internal or external institutions.They have played important roles since the era of colonial until the post-colonial.They also have strong spirit to respond to many theories from the scholars who tested them through depth field work.At the same time, they should negotiate with interests of government in many aspects such as education, politic, and social religious problems.This situation has led to an argument that madrasah has been willing for any "close eye" toward their daily life.I have seen this situation in Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand.For example, the case of "Ngruki Network" in Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Singapore, has been accused of involving in variety of terrorist network activities and of membership in a "Jemaah Islamiyah" network unheard since the 1970s. 21Other situation can be found in dayah(Aceh) where they involve in conflict and post-conflict. 22

Philosophical dimension of Islamic education in Southeast Asia
In this section I would like to map out three dimensions of why Islamic religious schools or madrasah could stand or respond for any of internal and external problems.The first dimension is the aim of education in madrasah.Francis Robinson maintains that "the search for knowledge of all kinds was the heart of early Muslim civilization." 23Moreover, Robinson argues that there are two forms of religious knowledge in Muslim civilization.The knowledge of knowing God is the first 'ilm in Islamic tradition which is called as spiritual knowledge (tasawuf). 24The target of this knowledge is how to connect heart to know Allah.While the second knowledge is how to learn al-Qur'an, the traditions, and the shari'ah, and many skills that Muslim might need to make the student socially useful, from Arabic grammar and syntax to logic, philosophy, rhetoric and mathematics.This second form of knowledge is transmitted to new generations of Muslim, by scholars, 'ulama.They pass this knowledge to their students in a madrasah. 25hus, the main aim of madrasah is to provide a system of knowledge by which students will know their God.According to Sufi teaching, when Allah created makhluk his purpose was that Him to be known by His makhluk. 26Thus, the process of transmission of knowledge in Islam is known in Malay as kenal which is a core concept in traditional Islam of searching of knowledge.The word kenal is similar to word 'arafa (gnosis).This word is used in Malay such as ma'rûf (good things), 'urf (custom), and 'arif (wise man).In Islamic studies, the highest process of receiving knowledge is 'irfan (intuitive knowledge). 27Thus, philosophy of Islamic education in Malay world is to reach a depth meaning of word kenal in Muslim daily life.It can be transformed into the concept of kenal diri (knowing self), kenal guru (knowing teacher), kenal orang tua (knowing parents), kenal Tuhan (knowing God), kenal ummat (knowing society), kenal waktu (know-ing time), kenal batas (knowing limit), etc. 28 The process of kenalh as meaning ta'at (obey), hormat (respect), and kesatuan (unity).In madrasah, the concept of ta'atcan be transformed into many activities toward God, Rasulullah, teachers, parents, and finally toward rulers.The curriculum will open their mind to understand all of these targets.Even santri coming from many different places and backgrounds, will know each other through interaction among themselves and teachers.The subject will teach them how to behave in good conduct.The ultimate target of knowing is to open their bathin to know themselves.In the West this process might have been implemented at the university level.The subject will only go to philosophical and theosophical way of thinking for those interested in knowing self awareness or self interpreting animal. 29In contrast, the student in madrasah started to learn many of philosophical, theosophical, and theological subjects at the school level.The subject of mantiq (logic), nahw, sharaf, muhadharah (art of speech in public), tarikh tasyri', usul fiqh, fiqh (principle of jurisprudence), hadith, tafsir, balaghah, ma'ani(science of meaning) are called as ilmu alat (tool for knowledge).Madrasah has offered the foundation of knowledge which unlikely to be found in other systems of knowledge.These foundations were "relevant to other field of scientific research." 30s noted above, the process of knowing Allah in pesantren or madrasah is the process about how to know Allah that is necessary to be known.This is a part of spiritual life in pesantren.Students are requested to clean their heart and mind by praying, reciting, and remembering Allah.The set of ritual in madrasah is a menu to be a pious man or woman, not only for individual level but also society level.The atmosphere of pondok becomes a center of cosmological life for people who are living inside.Some pesantrens offer the duration of study more than five years.There is a trend where students need to study from more than one pondok.Historically, the relation between students and teachers is tailored by not only intellectual, but also spiritual. 31The tarekat is one way to seal the spiritual connection between guru and murid.This is long-life relationship which always gives a serious impact on the contribution of pesantren to the development of Sufism in Southeast Asia. 32Shortly, the establishment of Sufi orders in the regions is part of the great contribution of pondok in providing the spiritual life for the murids.
Meanwhile, the concept of respect (hormat) has related with concept of 'adab.In Malay language, the term of adab can be transformed to beradab (good behavior).And peradaban (civilization).The word civilization to some extent is also defined with the word tamaddun or hadharah.The system of seeking knowledge in Islamic education is to make people to be beradab.From the person who is beradab then the peradaban can be achieved.Syed Naquib Al-Attas mentions that: "The fundamental element inherent in the Islamic concept of education is the inculcation of adab, for it is adab in the all-inclusive sense here meant as encompassing the spiritual and material life of man that instills the quality of goodness that is sought after." 33The most important output from the pesantren is not a person, who has very high intelligent capacity, but an individual 31 Hiroko Horikoshi, Kyai dan Perubahan Sosial, Jakarta: P3M, 1987.who has instilled the process of adab in his or herintellectual and spiritual journey.
Thus, the center of respect for process of ta'dib is the teacher who transmits the knowledge.In other words, the guru is a center of cosmos for the murid in seeking knowledge.In some pesantrens, students devote their lives to serve their guru.For them, blessing knowledge from the guru is more important than sitting in a class room.They will learn many things from guru in their daily lives.In contrast, in public school, this process will not appear, as students only spend a few hours at school.It is not surprising when some parents are worried that their children in public schools are smart, but not beradab.They take their mirror of life not from their guru, but from other aspects outside the school.The process of ta'dib is really crucial issue in Muslim education in Southeast Asia.I believe that most of educators should take into account the process of ta'dib in pesantren or madrasah.
The second dimension is the networking among the alumni.Historically, in society, the alumni of pesantren played important roles which called as "guardian of society."34They created the intellectual networking not only with center of Islam in Haramayn, but also in Nusantara archipelago. 35In this context, Aceh, Pattani, Kelantan, Minangkabau, Java, and Sulawesi have produced Islamic scholars from traditional religious schools.I would not repeat their historical contribution in intellectual activities.However, in contemporary era, the network still exists such as the experience of Dayah al-Aziziyyah in Aceh, pesantren in Java and Madura such as Gontor, al-Zaytun, and Jombang, Krapyak, Sumenep, and pho no in Southern Thailand.Dayah al-Aziziyyah in SamalangaofAceh has more than 200 branches in Southeast Asia.Some of alumni in pesantren of Java and Madura have their network not only in socio-intellectual, but also in socio-political life in Indonesia. 36he distribution of alumni is not only in Southeast Asia, but also in some well known universities in West and East.They are pursuing their graduate degrees in some respected universities.This is a new trend where alumni of pondok tend to be sent not only to Middle Eastern universities, but also to some Western and Eastern universities.Some of returnees work not as tok guru or tokkadhi, but in some government and private offices.They have achieved the highest position in their career as orang pondok.This trend indicates that the process of santrinization is not only in Indonesia, as mentioned above, but also the Southeast Asian region.I have met some professors in Malaysian universities who graduated from Western universities, but have a very strong pondok tradition.I have visited the pondok of Bantan in Nakhorn Sri Thammarat which is operated by family of Surin Pitsuwan who was the former of Secretary General of ASEAN.I have met some well known activists in Asian Muslim Action Network (AMAN) who runs the pesantren in their home towns.They also create the network such as AMRON (Asian Muslim Research Organization) where Muslim scholars can share their research and interests for further action.The meeting with this group of people has shown how the impact of new generation of santri in Southeast Asia.We have concluded this trend by saying that: The centuries-old tradition of pesantren in Java or pondok in southern Thailand and the Malay Peninsula has long enjoyed links with Islamic 36 Abdul Gaffar Karim, "The Pesantren-based Rulling in Sumenep in the Post New Order Indonesia."Indonesian Islam 3, no. 1 (2009), 97-121; Kamaruzzaman Bustamam-Ahmad, "Saints, Politicians and Sufi Bureaucrats: Mysticism and Politics in Indonesia's New Order."In Sufism and the 'Modern' in Islam, London: I.B.Tauris, 2007, 92-112.education in Middle East.This educational tradition and the religious networks that is has helped from have been crucial not only in helping to disseminate religious values and teachings to Muslim followers … but also in contributing to Islam's impact on the political arena.Historically, the spirit of Islam that has come out of the Middle East has provided a means of social mobility for Southeast Asian Muslims, enabling some to reach the pinnacle of power and authority.Today Muslim spiritual leaders, intellectuals, and politicians are attempting to blend this earlier spirit with the more modern political idea of nationalism as well as, more recently, the trend towards democratization, to form a distinctly Southeast Asian Islam. 37he third dimension is level of knowledge that is provided by the madrasah for better person.I would argue the level of knowledge is to achieve to process of humanization and perfect man (manusia paripurna).This is because the transmission of knowledge in pesantren has led to student to have a religious experience that ends 'man as animal' to depart to the process of 'humanization.'This is a person gains the "three aspects" of life and a believer enters the process of ma'rifah (gnosis), the unification of man with God and nature (cosmology).The three aspects are shari'ah, thariqah, and haqiqah.It can be said that the intellectual and spiritual processes in pesantren is to understand the three aspects which show the way for a person.They have very clear paths to go inside of dhahir (exoteric) and bathin (esoteric), which is more concerned with the mystical life (Sufi). 38Annemarie Schimmel informs us that "the last sta-tion on the mystical path are love and gnosis, mahabba and ma'rifah.Sometimes they were considered complementary to each other, sometimes love was regarded as superior, and at other time gnosis was considered higher". 39As Chittick explains, the noun of ma'rifah, which is often translated as "gnosis" … implies direct experience of the thing and recognition of its true nature and actual situation.The "gnostics" are those who achieve this sort of knowledge -direct, unmediated knowledge of self and God.Thus "gnosis," … means simultaneous self-recognition and God recognition. 40hat I would like to emphasize is that there are three kinds of epistemology of transmission of knowledge in pesantren.The first is knowledge that is comprehended by reading the text which always relates to "yellow books" or "white books."Student will read every single page of the kitabs.They understand not only the text, but also the context of the text.This epistemology is seen as epistemology of bayani.The second is knowledge that is gained through the process of learning from their macro cosmology in daily life toward the environment and circumstances of students.This method is where the students learn from the empirical knowledge.The teacher will teach them about the process through the 'ilm al-hikmah (science of wisdom).The third knowledge is reached through the intuitive knowledge which can be said "unmediated knowledge self and God."Some scholars have argued that the process is 'irfani. 41Thus, the level of knowledge in pesantren is to lead student to process of understanding of bayani, burhani, and 'irfani.This method has a very good combination with the process of understanding of shari'ah, thariqat, and ma'rifat in 39 Annemarie Schimmel, Mystical Dimensions of Islam, Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina, 1975, 130.   40   William C. Chittick, Ibn 'Arabi…, 21.  pesantren.As result, the quality of alumni from madrasah is ready for any challenges outside of "holy prison."

Conclusion
I have examined the portrait of Islamic education in South East Asia from socio-anthropological perspectives.As this tradition has been in the arena at many kind level of society, I still believe that the tradition of pesantren will be sustained in South East Asia.One of my conclusions is if there is no pesantren or religious school, there will be no more the uniqueness of Islamic tradition in the region.This uniqueness is a practice of cosmological life of Muslim interpretation toward their daily religious life which is based from grass root level.As mentioned above, the "three dimension" of pesantren has been played distinctive role in reproduction of knowledge in three aspects: transmission of 'ilmu, networking of 'ulama, and level of knowledge which lead to the process of humanization.I have seen that this educational practice is a recipe for revitalization and reestablishment of Islamic civilization in South East Asia.Islamic civilization has contributed to the people in the region, where some time are contested, negotiated, and confronted.The tradition of 'ilmu in religious school has contested with tradition of education from the West.At the same time, the educational practice in pesantren has also always negotiated with many interests from non-Islam perspectives, especially from secular oriented system of education.The confrontation has been occurred we realize that output from pesantren is like a bullet with very  New York: Public Affairs, 2013, 132.strong of spirit in their soul toward any kinds of situations outside of pesantren.Thus, the process of negotiation, contestation, and confrontation are the productive processes for Muslim to re-establish the concept of Islamic civilization in the twentieth first century.We need to contemplate how to create a system of religious knowledge in era of planetary civilization.
Some scholars mentioned that Islam as one "main problem" in future. 42Kishore Mahbubani, former Singaporean diplomat as ambassador to the UN, says that one of major "global contradiction is between Islam and the West.It may well be the most dangerous." 43I am sure that people of pesantren should take into account how to respond this statement.At the beginning, pesantren has produced Islamic scholars from local, national, and international, which create the system of ummah.In future Muslim traditions, would be seen as threat from and in system of world order in process of "global mind" and "one world."Iwould bring this issue to our concern and contemplation in order to prepare ourselves how to play in the arena of planetary civilization.Again, some scholars have indicated that potential of main problem in world order can be found from the Muslim culture.And, as we have seen pesantren or religious school is embedded in Muslim culture.Thus, we need to keep our tradition and culture sustain for the future, beside it is necessary to think how to train our students in religious school into the arena of planetary civilization.
42 Michio Kaku, Physics of the Future: How Science Will Shape Human Destiny and Our Daily Lives by the Year 2100, New York: Anchor Books, 2012; Bernard Lewis, The Crisis of Islam: Holy War and Unholy War, New York: Oxford University Press, 2003; Graham E. Fuller, A World Without Islam, London: Back Bay Books, 2010.The Great Convergence: Asia, The West, and The Logic of One World, 43Kishore Mahbuni, Bibliography Abaza, Mona."Changing Images of Three Generations of Azharites in Indonesia," In Islam: Critical Concepts in Sociology, edited by Bryan S. Turner.New York: Routledge, 2003: 382-418.Abdurrahman, Muhammad.Akulturasi Nilai-Nilai Persaudaraan Islam Model Dayah Aceh.Jakarta: Kementerian Agama Republik Indonesia, Badan Litbang dan Diklat, Puslitbang Lektur Keagamaan, 2010.