Pesantren

Pesantren, or pondok pesantren, are Islamic boarding schools in Indonesia. They consist of pondok, mosque, sant ri, t eaching of classical
Islamic t ext s and Kyai.[1] According t o one popular t radit ion, t he pesantren educat ion syst em originat ed from t radit ional Javanese pondokan;
dormit ories; ashram for Hindu or viharas for Buddhist s t o learn religious philosophies, mart ial art s and medit at ion. Inst it ut ions much like t hem
are found across t he Islamic world and are called pondok in Malaysia and Sout hern Thailand and madrasa Islamia (Islamic madrasa) in India
and Pakist an and much of t he Arabic-speaking world. The pesantren aim is t o deepen knowledge of t he Qurʾān, part icularly t hrough t he st udy
of Arabic, t radit ions of exegesis, t he Sayings of t he Prophet , law and logic. The t erm pesantren derives from t he root word santri or st udent
-- pe-santri-an or t he place of t he santri.[2]

As social inst it ut ions, pesantren have played a major role over t he cent uries. They emphasise core values of sincerit y, simplicit y, individual
aut onomy, solidarit y and self-cont rol. Young men and women are separat ed from t heir families, which cont ribut es t o a sense of individual
commit ment t o t he fait h and close bonding t o a t eacher.[3][1]

Description

A Quranic school in Java. Dutch colonial period.

Most 'pesant ren' provide housing or dormit ory living at low or no cost for t he st udent s (Sant ri). The t wo t ype of educat ions syst ems are
conduct ed t hroughout t he day. St udent s in pesantren have almost 20 hours act ivit ies st art ing from early morning prayer st art ing at 4 am t o
midnight where t hey ended t he evening wit h a st udy group in t he dormit ory. During t he day, st udent s at t end formal school (which is
mandat ory unt il secondary school by 2005) like any ot her st udent s out side of pesantren, and in lat e aft ernoon and evening t hey have t o
at t end religious rit ual followed by religious st udies and group st udies t o complet e t heir homework.

Pesantren are provided t o Indonesian cit izens at low cost ; alt hough t oday some modern pesantren charge higher fees t han previously, t hey
are st ill significant ly cheaper t han non-pesantren educat ional inst it ut ions. The t radit ional pat t ern was for st udent s t o work in t he
headmast er's rice fields in exchange for food, shelt er, and educat ion.

All pesantren are led by a group of t eachers and religious leaders known as Kyai. The Kyai is respect ed as t eacher and devout man. Kyai also
play import ant roles in t he communit y as a religious leader and in recent years as a polit ical figure. There are Kyai families t hat have a long
hist ory of serving in t his role. Some cont emporary Kyai are t he grandsons and great -grandsons of famous hist orical figures who est ablished
well known pesant ren.
[1][2]

St art ing in t he second half of t he t went iet h cent ury, some pesantren st art ed adding secular subject s t o t heir curriculum as a way of
negot iat ing modernit y. The addit ion of st at e recognized curricula has affect ed t radit ional pesantren in a number of ways. It has led t o
great er cont rol by t he nat ional government . It has also rest rict ed t he number of hours available for t he t radit ional subject s making for
difficult decisions. Many pesantren leaders have decided t hat t he t raining of religious leaders is not t heir sole purpose and are now sat isfied
t o graduat e young men and women who have t he moralit y of Kyai.[4] The reduct ion of hours available t o now mast er t wo curricula has led t o
pract ical changes. While it is st ill possible for t he children of t he poor t o work in t he Kyai's economic vent ures (more t han just rice fields
t hese days), most parent s will pay bot h room and board and small t uit ion. The t ime t hat used t o be spent working, is now spent in secular
educat ion.[1]

Pesantren curriculum has four possible component s:

t radit ional religious educat ion, called ngaji;

government recognized curricula (t here are t wo different t ypes t o choose from);

vocat ional skills t raining;

charact er development .

Pesantren differ t o t he degree t hat t hey engage each of t hese component s; however, all feel t hat charact er development for t he st udent s
is t he defining charact erist ic of any pesantren.[5]

Through curricular redesign pesantren people engage in a process of (re)imagining modernit y. Modernit y must be first imagined as pot ent ially
dangerous in t erms of t he morals t hat oft en accompany it . It must t hen be imagined as redeemable, t hat it can be det ached from one set
of "problemat ic" morals and reat t ached t o Islamic moralit y.[6]

One prominent pesantren figure in Indonesia is Abdurrahman Wahid (Gus Dur), a former President of Indonesia. He was well educat ed in
pesantren during his yout h and grown up as a grandson of a Kyai, t he founder of one of Indonesian religious polit ical organizat ions, Nahdlat ul
Ulama. Gus Dur himself was t he head of t his organizat ion from 1984 unt il 1999. Aft er his t erm as President of Indonesia, Gus Dur ret urned t o
t eaching in his pesantren in Ciganjur.[7]

See also

Islam in Indonesia

Madrasa

Surau

Kyai, honorific t it le for leaders of pesant ren

List of Islamic seminaries

Kit ab kuning

Kot a sant ri

Notes

1. Zamakhsyari Dhofier The Pesantren Tradition: A Study of the Role of the Kyai in the Maintenance of the Traditional Ideology of Islam in Java (https://op
enresearch-repository.anu.edu.au/bitstream/1885/11271/1/Dhofier_Z_1980.pdf) Tempe, AZ: Arizona State University Program for Southeast Asian
Studies Monograph Series.

2. Ronald Lukens-Bull 2005 A Peaceful Jihad: Negotiating Identity and Modernity in Muslim Java (https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Ronald-Lukens-Bul
l/publication/265003992_A_Peaceful_Jihad_Negotiating_Identity_and_Modernity_in_Muslim_Java/links/5508f6cb0cf26ff55f844cdd/A-Peaceful-Jihad-Ne
gotiating-Identity-and-Modernity-in-Muslim-Java.pdf) . New York: Palgrave Macmillan, p. 48

3. Vickers, Adrian (2005). A History of Modern Indonesia (https://archive.org/details/historyofmoderni00adri) . Cambridge University Press. p. 55 (https://
archive.org/details/historyofmoderni00adri/page/55) . ISBN 0-521-54262-6.

4. Ronald Lukens-Bull 2000 "Teaching Morality: Javanese Islamic Education in a Globalizing Era (https://journals.uio.no/index.php/JAIS/article/download/4
554/4007) " Journal of Arabic and Islamic Studies. Vol. 3:26-48.

5. Ronald Lukens-Bull 2005 A Peaceful Jihad: Negotiating Identity and Modernity in Muslim Java. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. Pp.47-70

6. Ronald Lukens-Bull 2001 "Two Sides of the Same Coin: Modernity and Tradition in Indonesian Islamic Education (https://anthrosource.onlinelibrary.wiley.
com/doi/abs/10.1525/aeq.2001.32.3.350) ." Anthropology and Education Quarterly. 32(3):350-372.

7. Greg Barton, 2002. Gus Dur: The Authorized Biography of Abdurrahman Wahid (https://www.google.com/books/edition/Gus_Dur/96k2HzQVnBoC?gb
pv=1) . Equinox Publishing
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