The Jakarta Post recently reported that the bombing in Umar bin
Khattab Islamic boarding school (pesantren) in Sonolo, near the West Nusa
Tenggara town of Bima, was related to Umar Patek, a wanted terrorist suspect
arrested in Pakistan (The Jakarta Post, July 25, 2011). Bima came to the
police’s attention late last June, when a 16-year-old student was arrested for
allegedly stabbing a policeman to death. The police believe the young boy was a
member of an Islamic militant group and that the boy insisted he killed the
officer as a reprisal for the police manhunt for jihadists.
This pesantren became increasingly notorious following an
explosion occurred on July 11, that left one man dead. According to the
minister of religious affairs, this pesantren, founded in 2004, is exclusive
and is not yet regarded as a type of pesantren (Kompas.com, 07/3/2011). Pesantren
teachers do teach their pupils (santri) about jihad (bab al-jihaad), but only
in a moderate way. Jihad is the Arabic word for what can be variously
translated as “struggle”, “effort”, “strive”, “exert” or “fight”, depending on
the context. The root of the word jihad is juhd which means “effort”. Another
related word is ijtihad which means “working hard or diligently”.
Contrary to common interpretations, the word jihad does not
necessarily imply any violent effort, let alone “war” (harb) or “killing”
(qital) and such instances of extreme violence. It is a general term, and jihad
can mean violent as well as peaceful action, depending on the context in which
it is used. There is no command to murder or massacre as far as jihad is
concerned. There is not one word in the Holy Koran to justify murder or
massacre under any circumstances whatsoever (Al Baqarah 2:11-12). Therefore,
the entire Muslim community all the over the world should condemn brutal
murder.
Umar Patek and his followers have been abusing the meaning of
jihad by referring to it as a holy war, whereby Muslims unreasonably kill
non-believers. As a result, some Muslims have begun to adopt this
misleading meaning of jihad. The use of pesantren in further disseminating this
misleading meaning of jihad has further discredited Islam as a whole.
Pesantren through their association and brotherhood (e.g.,
Rabithah Ma’ahid al Islamiyyah, the association of pesantren) should emphasize
that acts of terrorism against innocent civilians, whether through aggression
or suicidal means, is under no circumstances permissible in Islam. Terrorism is
fasad (mischief) and against the teachings of Islam. The presence of pesantren in
Indonesia is worth mentioning in the spread of well-equipped graduates of the
Islamic principles throughout the country. Such traditional Islamic boarding
schools are also seen as cultural brokers, to quote the late former president
Abdurrahman “Gus Dur” Wahid, in the sense that pesantren have been playing a
vital role in incorporating local culture as an effective tool in the
dissemination of Islamic teachings among local peoples.
Pesantren aim to deepen the knowledge of the Koran, particularly
through the study of Arabic, traditions of exegesis and the traditions of the
Prophet (Sunnah). These institutions emphasize the core values of sincerity,
simplicity, individual autonomy, solidarity and self-control.
Indonesia is home to more than 14,000 pesantren, the majority of
which teach a moderate understanding of Islam. Only five pesantren are closely
linked to terror group Jamaah Islamiah (JI) of Abu Bakar Ba’asyir. These are
al-Mukmin in Ngruki, Sukohardjo in Central Java, Al-Multaquien in Jepara, Central
Java, Dar-us-Syahadh in Boyolali, Central Java and al-Islam in Lamongan in East
Java (Sharif Shuja – Terrorism Monitor April 2005 of The Jamestown Foundation).
The alleged link between Umar bin Khattab pesantren in Bima to Umar Patek has
put Indonesian pesantren under the microscope and public suspicion.
Pesantren are traditionally owned by a number of Muslim
organizations, the most popular and the largest one being Nahdlatul Ulama (NU).
According to local statistics, the number of pesantren in Bima municipality now
stands at 19, with 108 clerics (kyai) and 2.828 students (santri), while in
neighboring Bima regency there are 44 pesantren with 823 kyai and 4,945 santri.
Most of the pesantren in Bima fall under NU auspices.
Considering the crucial role of pesantren in Indonesia, a
continuous effort to combat the infiltration of Muslim militancy and suicide
bombers into the Islamic boarding schools should top the priority of the NU and
other Muslim organizations. At the same time, these Muslim organizations should
work side by side with the government (i.e., Religious Affairs Ministry) in
disseminating moderate interpretations of jihad.
Previously, pesantren were reluctant to cooperate with the
government for fear of losing their traditional curricula. But now they should
act, or else everything will be too late. Clerics and Muslim leaders in
Indonesia have to openly condemn acts of terrorism and suicide bombings as
being un-Islamic. Such heinous acts have never been taught in Islamic
literatures or at pesantren.
*The writer, a
researcher at the Religious Affairs Ministry Research and Development Body, and
is a doctoral degree candidate in anthropology at the Australian National
University, Canberra.
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