DYNAMIC OF PONDOK PESANTREN AS INDEGENOUS ISLAMIC EDUCATION CENTER IN INDONESIA

Abstract In Indonesia pesantren is known as the indigenous religious educational institution. The basic elements of pondok pesantren are: Kiai as a central of figure, santri as a student who persues knowledge , pondok as dormitory where santri lives, and mosque which constitutes as the center of educational activities. In general, due to system and method of teaching, pondok pesantren classified into two kinds; traditional and modern. Never the less they are having the same vision and mission, that is to say that education is pondok pesantren is community oriented education by cultivating values, moral attitude, and character building of muslim community. That is the main reason that life atmosphere inside pesantren is in inspired strongly by what so called Panca Jiwa - Five spirit – namely; sincerity, simplicity, self – reliance, Islamic brotherhood, and accountable freedom. In modern Indonesia today the expectation toward the role of pesantren move on since early twentieth century, it is not only performing it’s three traditional roles as locus for transforming religious education, preserving muslim traditions, and producing scholars, but nowadays it plays an important role to educate and prepare leaders of tomorrow who posses specific qualities. Keywords: religious education, element, five spirit, character building, indigenous. Introduction Pesantren, madrasah and school are three kinds of the National Educational System in Indonesia. Different from school and madrasah, pesantren has been identified with Islamic and indigeous originality, infect pondok pesantren is the oldest educational institution known in Indonesia. In the early development, many pondok pesantren only focused their program on religious learning (tafaqquh fiddin) and reading a variety of Islamic classical books such as in the field of fiqh (Islamic law), theology and tasawwuf (Islamic mysticism). The main reason for attending pondok pesantren was to gain the blessings of Allah. Therefore, a certificate of learning graduation was not given adequate attention, and there was not a precise regulation regarding the study program. In pondok pesantren, santri, student of pesantren would learn to be come Muslims who obey God’s command, have good characters, show strong and comprehensive personal features, prossess intellectual capability and are independent. Upon returning to their community, santris have been projected to be good examples for them to spread Islamic message as rahmatan li al’alamin. There are a number of principles adopted by pondok pesantren such as sincerity, modesty, peace, wisdom, accountable freedom, autonomy, togetherness, harmonious relationships (among santris, teachers, parents, and community). Element of pondok pesantren 1. Kiai as central figure 2. Santri as student 3. Pondok serves as dormitory 4. Mosque as center of activities First, Kiai. The Kiai is always a central figure in pondok pesantren. The Kiai is not only a spriritual leader, but also a holistic leader in all aspects of life in pondok pesantren. In traditional pesantren the kiai teaches the classical Islamic textbooks with a sorogan method, i.e. a teaching – learning process in wich the kiai personally addresses individual students (known as santri) or a small group of santri at alementary level. Another popular method employed by the kiai is wetonan or bandongan, that is what in modern terms is called ‘lecture’. The kiai gives specific, scheduled lectures on certain topics of some classical textbooks (kitab kuning) in front of a large number of intermediate audiences. As for more advance santri or takhassus, usually the kiai employs a teaching – learning method called musyawarah in delivering his lecture, which is similar to conference. Second, Santri. The santri is someone or a group of people who pursue knowledge in pondok pesantren and is usually accounted as an indicator of its progress and popularity. Santri usually have a strong solidarity and familiar bond among themselves or between them and the kiai. Third, Pondok. The Kiai is a dormitory where santri live and study under the guidance of the kiai. In a number of pondok pesantren it is santri themselves who take care of their pondok and all their other needs under the supervision of senior santri. Fourth, Mosque. Mosque constitutes a main resource and space in which the kiai carries out his obligation to educate and train his santri, to perform ibadah (divine certitude), Learning Islamic textbooks and conducting social activities. Functionally, the mosque is not only for praying, but it is usually can be used for empowering muslims in a broad sence. According to Education Management Information System (EMIS), Directorate General of Islamic Institution. The total number of pondok pesantren in Indonesia 14.361, 1.381 located in Sumatra, 11.664 in Java, Bali and Nusa Tenggara, 294 in Kalimantan, 661 in Celebes, and 25 in Papua. It is worth mentioned that traditional pondok pesantren give more attention to the Islamic classical textbooks, known as kitab kuning (yellow books), the reservoir of the intellectual richness inherited from previous Muslim scholars from the early and medieval periods of Islamic history. These textbooks in fact contain analytical thoughts of earlier ulama responding to religious, political, economic as well as social and cultural problems of their time and places. Meanwhile modern pondok pesantren have contributed a lot in developing the quality of Islamic education and of religious and national life where the government can fight ignorance and solve the universal human problem. The spirit of pondok pesantren: 1) Sincerity (al-ikhlas) 2) Simplicity (al-basathah) 3) Self reliance (al-i’timad ‘alan-nafsi) 4) Islamic brotherhood (al-ukhuwwah al-islamiyyah) 5) Freedom (al-hurriyah) As it was mentioned before that the silent features of pesantren as a religious educational institution is the presence of a learned Muslim scholar, usually called kiai, who plays the role of central figure in the system, the availability of dormitories, named pondok, the presence of students, called santri, and the existence of a mosque as the center of activities and religious education. It is within those pillars along with its spirit that pesantren education was very effective in developing morality and mentality, as well as intellectuality of the students. This spirit, according to Imam Zarkasyi, can be simplified into five spirit, Panca Jiwa, namely: Sincerity (al-ikhlas), Simplicity (al-basathah), Self reliance (al-i’timad ‘alan-nafsi), Islamic brotherhood (al-ukhuwwah al-islamiyyah), Freedom (al-hurriyah). Sincerity is a principle for work, it is the spirit of all activities, the Holy Qur’an suggests that one shoul follow those who do not ask for salary and they are among the guided people. Simplicity is a way of behaving that is applicable to an individual conduct in his or her daily life, it is very positive conduct towards every situation of life. This implies that one should live based on his or her basic needs and not on demand, because this spirit will cultivate strength, courage, determination, and self control. The pesantren it self as an education institution is managed to be self-reliance which means it does not depend on the help of others. People may give financial or material support but pesantren develops not because of supports or other, pesantren has to rely on its own resources without having to be dependent on others for aids or assistance. Islamic brotherhood is a principle through which every student learns how to build strong friendship and empathetic solidarity towards others, and how to respect each other. Fighting, quarrel, or other types of dispute among students are regarded as a crime. As far as Freedom is concerned, it is a mental attitude in which one should be free of group fanatism. This spirit makes santri optimistic in facing the problem of life, freedom in shaping his future and selecting his way of life. There were, infect, more than those five spirit taught to the student in the pesantren system, both traditional and modern one. These were reiterated in various occasions inside as well as outside the class, pasted on the walls of the campus, and written in books, brochure and guide-book of the pesantren. The Arab maxim man jadda wajada (whosoever works hard will get), for example, is the famous spirit of work that none of the santri will ever forget. Other maxims like: Hidup sekali, hiduplah yang brarti (you live once hence live meaningfully), and: wa mal lazztu illa ba’dat ta’bi (no gain without pain), man yazra’ yahshud (whosoever sows he will reap) are learned by heart. It means that pesantren’s system of education is values-oriented wich are mainly derived from the teachings of Islam. The Ideal Model of Pesantren The expectations towards the role of pondok pesantren amongst the Muslim community in Indonesia move on since the early twentieth century. Pondok pesantren in this due regard, has in many different ways responded to the demands of the modern Islamic education and social economic changes of Indonesian society, it is not only to perform its three traditional roles as a locus for transforming Islamic learning, preserving Muslim traditions and reproducing scholars. Further more, as well discuss in the case of Pondok Modern Darussalam Gontor (Darussalam Islamic Institution Gontor, commonly known as Gontor), it becomes center to educate leaders of tomorrow with specific qualities, namely: noble character, sound body, broad knowledge, and independent mind. It is worth noted that pondok pesantren can maintain its development and progress not only because it has flexibility to make adjustments and readjustmens to the ever-changing situation and needs. But also due to the fact that pondok pesantren has a strong bond and proximate relationships with its surrounding community. This closeness may be traced back through the historic account that education in pondok pesantren is community oriented education and therefore it serves as community based learning center. Pondok Modern Darussalam Gontor located at Gontor, Ponorogo, East Java, 200 km from Surabaya, the capital of East Java Province. Historically Gontor founded on Sepetember. 20.1996 by three brothers; K.H. Ahmad Sahal (1901-1977), K.H. Zaidudin Fanani (1908-1967), and K.H. Imam Zarkasyi (1910-1985). They were known as Trimurti. The main characteristic of Gontor is its distinct approach towards modernizing Islamic education by using integrated system of pondok pesantren and madrasah into a new system of Islamic education. The madrasah was a good system for formal education but not for non-formal and informal education. Students may learn well in the class but what happen outside the class was beyond the system. The madrasah is precisely like the modern school system and is not sufficient ti inculcate other Islamic teachings that are not covered by the madrasah curriculum. The positive aspect of pondok pesantren was to be found in its boarding system where non-formal and informal education and activities can be carried out within the spirit and bound of Islam. Imam Zarkasyi, one of the founding fathers and a real architect of Gontor system of Islamic education, tried his best to integrate both of them in one system by adopting the positive aspects of both the madrasah and the pesantren system assimilating them within a specific identity. The nature of this new system is discernable from his statement below: “This pondok pesantren, Gontor, is an Islamic educational institution like any other institution. The difference is only in its teaching method. We use modern teaching method but do not teach something new in realigion. This pondok is a waqf for the muslim ummah and is not the property of Kiai any more. This pondok is not inclined to any political party; therefore its motto is Berdiri di atas dan untuk semua golongan (stand above and for all groups). Its educational goal is to produce a Muslim who has noble character, sound body, broad knowledge, and independent mind. The final objective of this pondok is li I’la’I kalimatillah”. In the mean time, actualize this integrated system Gontor has adopted the best prototype of educational institution in the world. There were four ideal institution in this regard, namely: Al-Azhar University in Egypt, Shinquit in Mauritania, Aligarh Muslim University, and Shantiniketan both were in India. Al-Azhar University is known as the center of Islamic knowledge in the Muslim world and was highly reputed with its survival for centuries due to its waqf property. Al-Azhar University could give scholarship to muslim student from all over the world. Shinquit was a well known institution, not only for its boarding system but also for the sincerity of its founders and teachers, and their hospitality as well. Located in a remote area in Mauritania and under the guidance of its founding father Sidi Abdullah, it could accommodate around 3000 to 5000 students with full scholarship. Allegedly, the graduate of this institution played a pivotal role in the spread of Islam in north West Africa in 19th century. Shantiniketan was basically a traditional boarding school that belongs to Rabindranath tagore, a Hindu philosopher and noble prize winner. Located in a village and under the authoritative figure of Tagore, this institution inculcated the philosophy of life, the most important of which is the principle of simplicity of life with peaceful atmosphere, Shantiniketan etymologically means abode of peace. In this institution teachers and students learn together in a milieu that is fully designed for education. The fourth and the last model is Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) which was and is still an Islamic university in the history of India. It was founded in 1920 under the name Mohammedans Anglo Oriental Collage by Sir Syed Ahmad Khan but later it became first university in India, it main objectives was to revive the Muslim ummah by the inclusion of knowledge through education. It was because of its objective that Gontor made it a model for the future of Islamic education. So the ideal educational institution envisioned by Gontor was an Islamic educational institution that was to be the center of learning for Islamic studies, which could generate its own fund and able to give scholarship to its student. This institution shoul be driven by the spirit of sincerity, simplicity, brotherhood, self reliance, and accountable freedom, and other Islamic spirits which are instrumental for one’s religious and worldly life. By this spirits and principles the institution could hopefully be a world class educational institution. The Characteristic of Gontor Institution We shall discuss this point only on certain important matters pertaining two important aspects, namely; new Islamic educational system and new institutional system founded by Trimurti to reform pondok pesantren. 1. New Islamic educational system a). In Gontor’s eyes there is no dichotomy of knowledge in Islam, santri learns religious subjects, fiqh, ‘aqidah, nahwu, sharf, balaghah, hadist,tafsir, with modern teaching method, and studies social-natural science, method of teaching, mathematics, biology, algebra, physics, and cosmography with religious approaches. When former President Soeharto visited Gontor in 1971, he ask Imam Zarkasyi about the ratio of social-natural sciences and religious in the curriculum. Imam Zarkasyi replied: “Here the curriculum consist of 100% religious and 100% social-natural sciences.” By this new curriculum model Gontor intended to produce Muslim intellectual who are conversant of not only leligious knowledge but also social-natural sciences. The ideal out put for this system, as reiterated by Imam Zarkasyi in many occasions was: “to produce Ulama with high intellectual capacity and not intellectual who knows little about religion (Ulama yang intelek dan bukan intelek yang tahu agama). The implication of Imam Zarkasyi’s obsession is quite clear that in the future there should be Muslim scientist who speaks about their expertise from Islamic perspective. b). Beside this new curriculum system, Gontor also applied new instructional methods, especially in teaching Arabic and English. The main idea of this principle was that the method of teaching is more important than the subject taught (at-thariqah ahammu minal maddah), however the teacher is more important than the method (al-mudarris ahammu min at-thariqah). To simplify this maxim Imam Zarkasyi use to draw the parable of the knife and the apple. The skill of cutting the apple is more important than the knife, yet knowledge about the skill is not important for someone who is already skillful. So, the personal factor of a teacher is the most important one, and that is the spirit of the teacher (ruhul-mudarris). To improve the spirit of teachers, Gontor employed the religious approach by enforcing the spirit of pesantren that the teacher should have, for example the spirit of sincerity (ikhlas) when he teach his students. c). Apart from the enforcement of Islamic spirit by utterance or verbal and written words, Gontor designed student activities with the objective of inculcating mental skill. Imam Zarkasyi asserted that mental skill is more important than job skill. On this point he disagreed with the national education system that emphasizes on job skills. On this point he disagreed with the national education system that emphasizes on job skill. True Islamic education should be directed for worshiping Allah (ibadah), for seeking knowledge (thalabu al-‘ilmi) not for becoming government servant. Imam Zarkasyi used to say that it is better to become an entrepreneur who manages his own business and employes many officers rather than to become government servant. This is what he meant by self-reliance (al-I’timad ‘alan-nafsi) as one of the spirits of the pondok pesantren. The learning strategy for inculcating mental skill, according to him, is “learning by doing” wich can be carried out by involving all students through informa and non-formal education. In this system students are given the responsibilities to manage their own activities under the umbrella of Student Organization. The guiding principle in this regard is that everyone should be “ready to lead and ready to be led” (siap memimpin dan siap dipimpin) sincerely based on the spirits of pesantren. As a result, from early morning of Subuh prayer, four o’clock in the morning, until ten a clock at night, all students are preoccupied with activities. Imam zarkasyi is of the opinion that young men should be kept busy and should not be free from any meaningful activities. “Take break or rest is no other than shifting from one activity to another”(Ar-rahatu hiya al-intiqolu min ‘amalin ila ‘amalin Akhar). That is the best way for inculcating the mental skil to the students, such as the spirit of team works, leadership and sense of responsibility, entrepreunership and management, beside, of course, cultivating discipline habit. 2. New Institutional System Another innovative and reformative step taken by Gontor is concerning the status of the institution, its organization and its future. As a matter of fact, the traditional pesantrens mostly plagued with stagnancy and ineffective educational management. Kiai, the central figure, and his family were so dominant that when he died, he would be substituded by his son or son-in-law, otherwise the pesantren would case to operate. The indicates that the weak point of pesantren system was its regeneration process and the structure of its organization. Trimurti the founding fathers of Pondok Modern Darussalam Gontor have initiated a new pesantren system, which applied effective and efficient management, and adopt modern ideas of progress as well as modern system education. At the outset, they endowed almost all the land inherited from their parent for the sake of the pesantren. They started with a small step in educating the illiterate villagers that was in 1926 but they have in their minds big aspirations, great idealism og building a world class education institution. The real institutional system began three decades after the establishment of pesantren that was in 1958, when they declared that they endowed sincerely in writing all their inheritance to the Muslim ummah. From that moment the pesantren was no longer the property of the founders or their descendents. The waqf declaration also mentioned that survival of the pesantren should be the responsibility of the fifteen appointed members of Waqf Board. Another point of the declaration asserted that the pesantren should be developed further to qualify as an Islamic University and become major center for Arabic Islamic Studies that offers its service to the ummah. At present, after the death of the last Trimurti, K.H.Imam Zarkasyi in 1985, Gontor has survived well and has been properly maintained under the dynamic leadership of Dr. K.H.Syamsul Hadi Abdan. Its property has been successfully developed. Gontor today has fifteen branches to fulfill the deman of society using the same curriculum, the same method and inculcate the same values as well with total students more than 20.000, these are: 1. Gontor 2, at Madusari, Ponorogo, East Java. 2. Gontor 3, at Gurah, Kediri, East Java. 3. Gontor 1 for girls, at Mantingan, Ngawi, East Java. 4. Gontor 2 for girls, at Mantingan, Ngawi, East Java. 5. Gontor 3 for girls, at Widodaren, Ngawi, East Java. 6. Gontor 4 for girls, at Konda, Konawe Selatan, South East Celebes. 7. Gontor 5 for girls, at Kandangan, Kediri, East Java. 8. Gontor 5, at Kali Agung, Banyuwangi, East Java. 9. Gontor 6 for girls, at Sawangan, Magelang, Middle Of Java. 10. Gontor 7, at Podahoa, Konawe Selatan, South East Celebes. 11. Gontor 8, at Labuhan Ratu, Eastern Lampung. 12. Gontor 9, at Kalianda, Southern Lampung. 13. Gontor 10, at Seulimeun, NAD. 14. Gontor 11, at Sulit Air, West Sumatra. 15. Gontor 12, at Tanjung Jabung Timur, Jambi. 16. Gontor 13, at Poso. Presently, Gontor has no less than 29 business enterprises in various sectors such as book stoor, pharmacy, mini market, rice field, publishing house, radio station, packing mineral water, and the likes. Not less than 828,05 Ha of land possessed by Gontor, and its system had been developed and modeled by its graduate in about 215 pesantren. Conclution Until today, Pondok Pesantren still and always implement its commitments to be the center for community development by cultivating positive moral attitude and character building of the muslim community mainly based on values derived from Islamic teaching, for a man to be successful in life character is more assential than erudition. This character become so significant keeping in mind that cultivating good ethics has has to include developing desired attitude, comprehending values system as well as personal appreciation which must be manifested in people’s behavior. At this very point, in modern Indonesia Pondok Pesantren work hand in hand with the government to prepare qualified human resources who are pious, virtuous, intelligent, and meaningful for the sake of better tomorrow.[] Bibliography Bruinessen, Martin van,”Kitab Kuning: Books in Arabic Script Used in the Pesantren Milieu”, Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde 146 (1990). Dasuki, A. Hafidh, Sejarah Pondok Modern Gontor, vol. I, Gontor, Pondok Modern Gontor, 1960. Departemen Agama, Dinamika Kehidupan Pesanten di Indonesia, (Jakarta 2004). Dhofiear, Zamakhsyari, Tradisi Pesantren: Studi tentang pandangan hidup kyai. Jakarta: LP3ES. 1982. Yunus, Mahmud, Sejarah Pendidikan Islam, Jakarta: Hidakarya Agung, 1985. Ext.