(the passage for mid-test)

Fasting during Ramadan, the Muslims holy month, was ordained during the second year of Hijrah. Why not earlier? In Makkah the economic conditions of the Muslims were bad. They were being persecuted. Often days would go by before they had anything to eat. It is easy to skip meals if you don’t have any. Obviously fasting would have been easier under the circumstances. So why not then?

The answer may be that Ramadan is not only about skipping meals. While fasting is an integral and paramount part of it, Ramadan offers a comprehensive program for our spiritual overhaul. The entire program required the peace and security that was offered by Madinah.

Yes, Ramadan is the most important month of the year. It is the month that the believers await with eagerness. At the beginning of Rajab — two full months before Ramadan — the Prophet Muhammad, Sall-Allahu alayhi wa sallam, used to supplicate thus: “O Allah! Bless us during Rajab and Sha’ban, and let us reach Ramadan (in good health).”

During Ramadan the believers get busy seeking Allah’s mercy, forgiveness, and protection from Hellfire. This is the month for renewing our commitment and re-establishing our relationship with our Creator. It is the spring season for goodness and virtues when righteousness blossoms throughout the Muslim communities. “If we combine all the blessings of the other eleven months, they would not add up to the blessings of Ramadan,” said the great scholar and reformer Shaikh Ahmed Farooqi (Mujaddad Alif Thani). It offers every Muslim an opportunity to strengthen his Iman, purify his heart and soul, and to remove the evil effects of the sins committed by him.

“Anyone who fasts during this month with purity of belief and with expectation of a good reward (from his Creator), will have his previous sins forgiven,” said Prophet Muhammad, Sall-Allahu alayhi wa sallam. “Anyone who stands in prayers during its nights with purity of belief and expectation of a reward, will have his previous sins forgiven.” As other ahadith tell us, the rewards for good deeds are multiplied manifold during Ramadan.

Along with the possibility of a great reward, there is the risk of a terrible loss. If we let any other month pass by carelessly, we just lost a month. If we do the same during Ramadan, we have lost everything. The person who misses just one day’s fast without a legitimate reason, cannot really make up for it even if he were to fast everyday for the rest of his life. And of the three persons that Prophet, Sall-Allahu alayhi wa sallam cursed, one is the unfortunate Muslim who finds Ramadan in good health but does not use the opportunity to seek Allah’s mercy.

One who does not fast is obviously in this category, but so also is the person who fasts and prays but makes no effort to stay away from sins or attain purity of the heart through the numerous opportunities offered by Ramadan. The Prophet, Sall-Allahu alayhi wa sallam, warned us: “There are those who get nothing from their fast but hunger and thirst. There are those who get nothing from their nightly prayers but loss of sleep.”
Those who understood this, for them Ramadan was indeed a very special month. In addition to fasting, mandatory Salat, and extra Travih Salat, they spent the whole month in acts of worship like voluntary Salat, Tilawa (recitation of Qur’an), Dhikr etc. After mentioning that this has been the tradition of the pious people of this Ummah throughout the centuries, Abul Hasan Ali Nadvi notes: ” I have seen with my own eyes such ulema and mashaikh who used to finish recitation of the entire Qur’an everyday during Ramadan. They spent almost the entire night in prayers. They used to eat so little that one wondered how they could endure all this. These greats valued every moment of Ramadan and would not waste any of it in any other pursuit…Watching them made one believe the astounding stories of Ibada and devotion of our elders recorded by history.”

This emphasis on these acts of worship may sound strange — even misplaced — to some. It requires some explanation. We know that the term Ibada (worship and obedience) in Islam applies not only to the formal acts of worship and devotion like Salat , Tilawa, and Dhikr, but it also applies to worldly acts when performed in obedience to Shariah and with the intention of pleasing Allah. Thus a believer going to work is performing Ibada when he seeks Halal income to discharge his responsibility as a bread-winner for the family. However a distinction must be made between the two. The first category consists of direct Ibada, acts that are required for their own sake. The second category consists of indirect Ibada — worldly acts that become Ibada through proper intention and observation of Shariah. While the second category is important for it extends the idea of Ibada to our entire life, there is also a danger because by their very nature these acts can camouflage other motives. (Is my going to work really Ibada or am I actually in the rat race?). Here the direct Ibada comes to the rescue. Through them we can purify our motives, and re-establish our relationship with Allah.

Islam does not approve of monasticism. It does not ask us to permanently isolate ourselves from this world, since our test is in living here according to the Commands of our Creator. But it does ask us to take periodic breaks from it. The mandatory Salat (five daily prayers) is one example. For a few minutes every so many hours throughout the day, we leave the affairs of this world and appear before Allah to remind ourselves that none but He is worthy of worship and of our unfaltering obedience. Ramadan takes this to the next higher plane, providing intense training for a whole month.

This spirit is captured in I’tikaf, a unique Ibada associated with Ramadan, in which a person gives up all his normal activities and enters a mosque for a specific period. There is great merit in it and every Muslim community is encouraged to provide at least one person who will perform I’tikaf for the last ten days of Ramadan. But even those who cannot spare ten days are encouraged to spend as much time in the mosque as possible.

Through direct Ibada we “charge our batteries”; the indirect ones allow us to use the power so accumulated in driving the vehicle of our life. Ramadan is the month for rebuilding our spiritual strength. How much we benefit from it is up to us.

Religion and culture are interconnected and have a multidimensional relationship. Religious tenets often produce some cultural products which are born among religions’ disciples. This assumption occurs in all religions with no exception. Islam, as one of religions in the world, also produces some cultural creation made by its disciples. Therefore, we know the difference between the terms Islamic tenets and Islamic culture.

What bears the problems in our ummah is that many people cannot distinguish between the true Islamic tenets and the Islamic culture. As known in Ushul Fiqh that the origin of ibadah (worship) is haram (forbidden). Human creation in ibadah is considered bid’ah. However, many Muslims often mix between them and consider the latter as ibadah. It becomes worse when these cultures contain some activities which trespass the basic foundations of Islamic tenets such syirk and ma’shiyat. Of course, we must preserve some cultural activities appearing in the Muslim society which don’t trespass the Islamic tenets as they will produce the heritage of Islamic civilization.

In sundanese tradition, a tribe located in West Java Indonesia, it’s known a term ‘munggahan’. It’s a tradition to welcome the arrival of Holy Month of Ramadan. One day before Ramadan month, many sundaneses go somewhere to have some picnics. They usually visit zoos, beaches, restaurants, mountains and other tourism resorts. Uniquely, this activity has no relationship at all with the ritual that the Muslims will do in the following day, shiyam (fasting).

Unfortunately this tradition transforms to be an event which is full of ma’siyat (sin). Many unmarried couple usually goes somewhere to spend the whole day. Instead of preparing themselves to face the fasting month, they do the things forbidden by religion. Some others visit the graveyard and ask for barokah from the ‘holy’ dead. They usually fire the myrrh as the sacrifice for the dead. It’s obvious that this tradition has been out of Islam and infected by the indigenous tradition.

Of course, we should avoid ourselves from doing this as we know that it is not Islam. Instead, we must do the alternative activities which don’t include ma’siyat without throwing this tradition wholly. And you know, as santris (Muslim students), we have our own tradition in the ‘munggahan’ day.

The students always have an activity so-called ‘ngaliwet’. It’s a cooking program over an open fire. They usually gather with their homeroom teachers outdoor and cook some foods. They usually cook some salted fishes, roasted meat, sauce, vegetables, etc. We usually don’t use any plates for eating because we put the rice and its dishes on banana leaves. Then, we eat together. You can call this activity ‘the Islamic barbeque party’, ckck.

We intentionally hold this tradition in our school to strengthen the unity of teachers and their students. Instead of doing the forbidden things, we spend the day by cooking, laughing and discussing about the condition of the class. Before having a meal, the students may share if they have some problems during their study in the school. Of course, the teachers will wholeheartedly listen to them.

After doing this activity, the students will get prepared to face Ramadan month as they begin the months with the useful and cheerful activity. Feel excited?

Syahruzzaky Romadloni
an amateur blogger

Many people sometimes have done the mistake when making decisions in life. It is caused by several things such as carelessness, laziness, ignorance, etc. Very often, people don’t observe something thoroughly so it certainly makes them fall into the hole of mistake. While the fool people will repeat this mistake for the second time, the smart ones won’t. The latter will learn from what happened to them and try their best to not fall into the same hole.

Doing mistake is one of human’s nature. To err is human, somebody says this. Of course, the wise man will not get accustomed to doing mistakes, because they will make him stagnant in the minimum condition. He will find a great burden in maximizing the power he has. Therefore, he will strive to avoid from mistakes as far as he can. Mistakes as I observe are the main factors that challenge our effort to reach the success.

Learning from the mistakes is the wisest action we should do when we are trapped into the valley of mistakes. We know that ‘trial and error’ is the best method of learning as long as we can learn from the errors. It’s highly recommended for us to work thoroughly on finding what makes us err, so we can be safe from it later.

***

The previous semester was the busiest time I ever had during my dedication in the school. The school had its tenth anniversary and held some activities as the sequences of the celebration. I was the responsible for two of them; students’ literacy week and book launching attended by the national best-seller book author, Ahmad Fuadi. This responsibility took the high portion of my time as I should focus on making this program succeed. Alhamdulillah, my works were fruitful as these programs made my school known by many people in the region. It’s indicated by the significant increase of new student enrollment this year.

My works on this program remained the problem on my study in the college. It has been common news among my fellows that I usually miss the important lectures in the campus. Of course, I don’t mean ignoring the lectures, but it’s so hard for me to do the different activities in the same time. Therefore, I should sacrifice my lectures as the risk I should take; even I took this decision with a big burden on my shoulders.

The risk I took gave me a horrible consequence. When I saw the marks for this semester via-internet, I couldn’t believe that I had got the worst mark I ever had during my study in the campus. I contemplated for a while thinking at what I had done this semester. “I deserve this,” I whispered. I know that missing the lectures is the most carless decision I’ve ever made.

Of course, I cannot blame anyone and I mustn’t be trapped to the valley of great sorrow and pain. Instead, I should learn from this mistake and think how to not fall to the same hole later. You know the thing I saw today make me eager to attend the lectures in the campus. I really miss my lecturer’s speech and take much knowledge from them. Unfortunately, I won’t do that for approximately three months as I have ‘teaching practice program’ (PPL) in the school, so there are no lectures during these months

M. Syahruzzaky Romadloni
http://syahruzzaky.wordpress.com

(I was influenced by the book ‘Wajah Peradaban Barat’ written by Dr. Adian Husaini when writing this posting)

Nowadays, our sight on defining who we are has been blurred by many ideologies in the world. The way we think, act and behave is really influenced by them. It becomes worse when we are overwhelmed by a great number of information supporting these ideologies. This information then successfully assures us that we’re in the ‘right’ position.

Unfortunately, the decisions we make often bring us far from Islam, our dien. We say, in conscious condition, that Islam should be put in a private sector of mankind’s life. We also often see our brothers who fight against the stupidity, crime, Christianization, westernization, and other non-Islamic worldview in negative perspective, barbarians and fundamentalists. Furthermore, we often refuse to help dinullah and those who try to help it are considered terrorists. Islam isn’t worth being helped because Allah will certainly help it, we argue.

We really do it, sir. We’re Muslims but we lose our identity as Muslims.

Alright, let me try to prove it.

Al-Quran and As-Sunnah are not our main references in conducting this life any longer. We’re really shy of saying that they have step-by-step guidelines of how to manage the society. ‘There is no Islamic state’, we say confidently. We prefer western concept of the state to the Islamic one due to our inferiority.

Then, let’s talk about Islamic law. Did we consider it? Not, at all! It’s really rude, cruel and incompatible with the human right. We say that we’re enough by implementing the positive law –Holland’s heritage- in our country. There is no any clear obligation to implement it in our daily life, we say. So, what Allah made this law for?

Now, we step on what we do in economics. Most of us find that the capitalism is the final history of economic system due to the fact that nearly all countries in the world implement it. Let the rich become richer and the poor become poorer. It’s the nature of life, we argue. So, Islamic economic is such a utopia and discriminate the non-Muslims. Islamic economic is only appropriate for conservative Muslims who cannot socialize with the international community. Right, sir?

Now, It’s about our internal domain, Islamic studies. Nowadays, it has been a new trend of accusing salafy ulama of discriminating men and women in their interpretation on religious scripture. They lose their authority in interpreting the religious discourse. Many of us say that what they’d done had been out-of-date and incompatible with the recent life. Thus, we shift to non-Muslim Islamists when interpreting our religious scriptures. We say that they’re more trusted as they study Islam objectively, so the results will be more accurate in the scientific field. On the contrary, Muslim scholars studying their religions are considered unscientific as they’re biased by their faith. ??

Believing that Islamic discourse cannot survive in the modern world, we become the agent of the West through our writings and actions. We have to uphold the human right, we say, instead of upholding Allah’s right. We have to choose capitalism as our economical system as it’s the only system that can survive, we think. Don’t help Islam and Muslims, Allah has promised to help them, we shout. Let the pornography spread in our country as it is one of our freedom of expressions, we speak up.

Wait; are you a Muslim, sir? Oh, sorry, I’ve been mistaken to whom I speak.

*Gontor Alumnus, 2006. Now is empowering some boys and girls in one of Islamic  boarding schools.

Moh. Syahrul Zaky Romadloni

Yesterday PPRUW* held a big event namely ‘Student Literacy Week’. More than 300 students from various schools all-over East Priangan attended this event enthusiastically. The program consisted of three agendas; students’ book launching, literature meeting and journalism course.

Students’ book launching was spent for introducing the contents of book entitled ‘Hidup Sekali Hiduplah yang Berarti’ (Live once, Live meaningfully). This book tells us about the unique students’ life in pesantren (boarding school). The authors which are students of PPRUW beautifully described their experience while living in a boarding school with a soft and ‘crispy’ language. The book is about ‘blazzer’ a unique school car, the banned activity called ‘pepping’, the obligation of using English and Arabic in students’ daily conversation, etc. While the program, the authors enthusiastically explain the chapters before participants.

Then, the participants were divided into two; literature meeting and journalism course. The first was led by Moch. Irfan Hidayatullah, a national book author and the former chief of Forum Lingkar Pena. He shared his experiences of being a national book author and some tips and tricks to be like him. The latter was conducted by Pak Undang Sudrajat, a senior journalist from Daily ‘Pikiran Rakyat’. All participants seemed to enjoy the program.

***

Since I began my service in my boarding school I was committed to empowering students by literacy activities. It is due to some reasons I consider important.

~ writing and reading are suggested by God in His holy verses. Moreover, it’s the first verse revealed to Prophet Muhammad.

~ many experts say that writing can improve one’s intelligence. In order to equip my students with adequate supply to face the challenging future, I’m determined to improve their intelligence by holding some literacy activities.

~ literacy improves peoples’ awareness to view this world wisely.

~ I dream someday my students become great writers who inspire the world by their works.

~ I like reading and writing and I try to spread this ‘virus’ to my students.

Recently, we have two literacy clubs in my school, Nahdlatut-Thullab Group and Matapena Community. The first focuses on journalistic writing while the latter concerns on literature. Later, we are going to establish the branch of the largest writing community called ‘Forum Lingkar Pena’.

Of course, students’ motives in taking part in literacy activities are various, but we always insist them on the importance of inserting the good values in their works, so they will be judged a good deed before God.

Bye for now!

*Pondok Pesantren Riyadlul-’Ulum Wadda’wah

M. Syahruzzaky Romadloni
Siliwangi University, Indonesia

I sometimes wonder why God created mankind in a great number of diversities. There are poor, rich, white, black, strong, weak, fool, smart, etc. It can be easily mentioned that the rich are better than the poor, while the smart is worthier than the fool. The white are judged better than the black and the strong have more authority than the weak. Unfortunately, these diversities, as what I sometimes see, separate people into some groups which don’t know each other. Furthermore, in extreme condition these diversities cause some miserable conditions in mankind’s life. The story about the rich underestimate the poor or the smart conquer the fool often appears in our television’s daily issue.

Darwin Theory of Evolution teaches us that the strong always have more chance to survive than the weak. It can be said, then, that the rich always have the right to dismiss the existence of the poor, while the smart can easily underestimate the fool. World War I and II which shook the world and changed the political map of the world were vividly influenced by this theory. Nazi which was led by Hitler intolerantly killed millions of Jewish, for their belief that their race was the strongest in the world and had the right to survive.

The arrogance of the strong, unfortunately, continues till now in a great number of examples. I’m really sad watching the full-nuclear-weapon-equipped-country, Israel, bombards the tiny country namely Palestine with tremendous dangerous weapons. We all know that the earlier is considered stronger and it has more weapons than the later. Darwin’s, in this case, plays its important role in giving Israel a strong confidence to destroy Palestinian’s right to live in a freedom world.

I think it’s what makes US, Israel’s ally, has a great ambition to be a super-power country in the world. What happens in the world will be certainly US’s matter. Indonesian’s last presidential election, for instance, took their great attention to involve deeply in internal affair of the nation. They argue that they try to watch the implementation of what is so-called human right all over the world. Through their tremendous medias (e.g. VOA which continuously releases the program namely Hello America), they attempt to intervene internal affair of most nations in the world. Of course, their intervention will at least disturb the political stability of the nation.

US’s involvement in other countries’ internal affair is highly influenced by the belief that Western ideology that they considered best among other ideologies should be spread among all people in the world. To make other people ‘civilized’, US has spent million dollars spent for all matters concerning on this program. They prepare a great number of aids, scholarships, students’ exchange, seminars etc which will ‘brainstorm’ all the participants of these programs. This shows us the arrogance of the strong to the weak ones in such forcing one’s belief and ideology.

We, the weak ones living in ‘the third world’, have no chance to develop our own personality and tradition. No matter how good our traditions are seems to be bad in the strong’s mind. In their perspective, we aren’t civilized and we still live in an ancient age, so they come to us in order to help us go out from this lowest level of civilization. They offer their ways of life and beliefs which are not appropriate with the ethics and moral of our tradition. How come the Muslims who are accustomed to the spiritual life are forced to live in such a way of the western traditions which depend on the materialistic side of life?

Finally, the weak are forced to live in the way that they never expect and get used to. They lose their identity and independence. Their existence then will be the followers of the strong. It continues till they are conscious that they have slept in such this condition for a long time.

We’re watching that just the countries which stand on their own feet can survive and exist in this world. China and Iran teach us about that. The country which gets used to depend on others will be certainly living in the shadows of them. And Indonesia, our beloved country, awesomely shows us about it.

Garden of Knowledge,

February 2011

Syahruzzaky Romadloni
an amateur blogger

This week seems worthier than other weeks I usually have. Some exciting experiences I face make it so special and unforgettable that they charge my spirit to go on this life. By chance, sudden powers make me believe that I shouldn’t do this life flatly and I have to do better and more than yesterdays. To make it remain in my mind for a long time, I intentionally document it in this lovely blog. Let’s check it out, guys!

In Thursday morning, my uncle questioned me whether I was busy or free that he offered me to attend the workshop on KTSP. I accepted his offer lazily as I had attended such this workshop for many times and the materials would be the same, I thought. Besides, I had many jobs to accomplish on that day, such as preparing all things that should be brought to Bandung and redesigning school’s schedule. However, I finally accepted this offer believing that I would get some new ideas that possibly will charge my minds. At 9 PM, my uncle and I went to Crown Hotel as written in the letter as the place where the workshop would take place.

The first session proved very boring; 1) the program was started late for approximately an hour (I don’t want to say that it’s been Indonesian’s habit!), and 2) the speaker was the same man who ever attended the program in my school and unfortunately he delivered the same material! I unwillingly listened to his speech and I happened to sleep till I consciously woke up when he finished his speech!

The second session was extremely different with the beginning of the seminar. The speaker was a head of educational ministry in my district and he presented his material very excitingly. The way he explained attracted me so much. He explained the local educational policies and its contribution towards people development in the region. I came to know that human development index in my district is beyond province and national target. We also got the award from government for our achievement in accomplishing the nine-year compulsory education and this workshop was funded by this award.

Listening to head’s presentation, I came to recognition that what I have done in community development is very less compared to what they have. I have just reached the smallest unit of my effort (school) while they have done in a larger scope. This head, for instance, had done his best effort to develop the community in his region. In a larger scope, Prof. M. Nuh, the national education ministry, had done his sincere effort to make all Indonesians better in education. What a heavy duty and of course he must be getting much better God’s reply from me!

This workshop then makes believe that what I’ve done so far is in the right track. When most of my friends enjoy their teenage by wasting time and doing useless stuffs, I consciously involve in the efforts to develop the community by means of educating them. You know that education is a worth investment people do for their better life. However, head’s presentation also assures me that my effort is not satisfying enough to make significant change in case of empowering people. So, I should do more and harder than before!

Coming home from this workshop, I had many new things refreshing and charging my spirit. Moreover, as I took part in a workshop funded by government’s grant, I got an additional ‘envelope’ that enabled me to buy some portions of meatball, hehe,

The following day, I arranged the trip to Bandung for some business. In a month’s time, my school will hold an event namely ‘students’ literacy week’ that will invite a national book author, M. Irfan Hidayatullah, and journalists from Pikiran Rakyat Bandung. I had the job to confirm both these persons whether they’re ready to attend the event or not.

To make my journey easier I asked my brother studying in Unpad to accompany me during this business. The first job was success. I met Mr. Irfan in his residence and he welcomed us very warmly. I was very amazed coz I finally could meet a national book author that had published more than ten books. So far, I knew him from his books and writings and now I could finally meet him! We discussed many things related to the world of book publishing. This event really motivated me to write more and be a real book-author!

The second job was waiting. It was an appointment with Mr. Enton, Galamedia Editor-in-Chief. We previously agreed to meet each other after Maghreb praying. Then, at the appointed time we met in his office. For the first time I explained what this event was and the participants attending it. He nodded and told me that he should consult this offer to Pikiran Rakyat (Galamedia is an imprint of Pikiran Rakyat). Then, we asked for his permission to leave as the night was getting darker. Before leaving, he immediately put an envelope on my hand. Wow, it was amazing that I got the same envelopes in two days, and it was the same amount! I was more amazed when I remembered that that morning I did shadaqah 1/10 from what I got. It proved then that Allah’s promise to reply our shadaqah was absolutely true! I

Before leaving Bandung, I went to Palasari book market. There I hunted some old books which successfully made my bag heavier! I was very content as what had been arranged went well that day. Thanks God. I came home bringing a new spirit to do more and harder!

Garden of Knowledge,

January 29, 2011

06.04

~ thanks to my beloved younger brother, Iqbal, who sincerely accompanied me during this trip! May God give you enough power to beat all exams’ questions, amien.

~ Wow, it is really disappointing to not include the photos of my trip. Alright, next stuff to buy: digital camera!

Moh. Syahruzzaky Romadloni, Gontor Alumnus 2006

Five-year-time is strong enough to make me think that education is the only way to make social reconstruction in our ummah. The unique educational praxis I got from Pondok Modern Darussalam Gontor showed me how education should be conducted if aimed at ummah development. Gontor is not a collection of educational theories, but it is, instead, an educational system that endavours to sharpen the personality of every Muslim teenager. After graduation, its alumni are hoped to make a social reconstruction in somehow it forms.

What I’m proud of my school is its consistency in upholding its values and rules. Since its establishment, Gontor always refers to its main values in deciding every school policy. Therefore, whatever threats these values will be naturally thrown away and detected as school attacker! Moreover, to make students understand what Gontor is and where it should be carried, a special course on understanding its values has become a regular course taught in every school’s event and tested in the examination.

To make it clear, let me take some examples.

It has been a common tradition that every pesantren (Islamic boarding school) should teach kutubut-turats written by classic Muslim scholars with the traditional method. Teacher recites the scripts word-by-word and translates them into native languages e.g Javanese, sundanese, etc while students are to repeat what the teacher says. Most books taught are from Imam Sayfi’I's school of jurisprudence.

The founder of the school, KH Imam Zarkasyi, believes that the teachers should use the latest methodology of teaching even when they teach ‘religious’ lessons. The traditional methods – often called sorogan, bandongan, wetonan, – remain some problems. First, they take a very long time for students to finish a book. Second, students aren’t prepared to read books which are not taught yet under the guidance of their teachers. This method, moreover, discourages students to read new books.

Gontor feels obliged to make its students have an open-minded religious outlook. Therefore, since its establishment, Gontor didn’t use kutubut-turats which are grouped in Imam Syaf’I's school of jurisprudence as many pesantren did. Instead of that, it used Ibn Rusyd’s Bidayatul Mujtahid as the main fiqh book, for it introduces students how the Muslim scholars interpret the religion scriptures. Of course, this book is taught in senior levels after having the basic principles of Islamic jurisprudence.

Of course, Gontor doesn’t ignore the importance of kutubut-turats, for it gives a great contribution to the history of the development of Islamic sciences. Therefore, the senior students often have what’s so-called ‘Fathul Kutub’ which trains them to solve some religion problems through researching their solutions from these books.

The values mentioned above are still being kept till today, even though there are many people opposing. Some people say that Gontor’s teaching is not enough to make its students able to have an access to the classic books as salafiyah students. Of course, to me, this opinion is unreasonable. My father is an alumnus of Gontor and he is able to teach kutubut-turats. Moreover, the late KH Idham Cholid and KH Hasyim Muzadi ever became the leaders of Nahdlatut-Ulama, the organization whose teaching focuses on understanding kutubut-turats.

Since its establishment, Gontor never compromises on its unique curriculum. Therefore, Gontor alumni ever suffered from being unaccepted by several universities in Indonesia, even IAIN. They should look for other legal certificate in order to be able to enroll universities. It was an irony as many of them were approved in leading overseas universities.

This consistency proves right. Today, government approves Gontor’s curriculum through mu’adalah program without changing any components of its curriculum. Now, every student can enroll any universities in our country without taking part in any other examination.

The consistency on upholding these values is what makes this college different from other educational institutions and trusted by many parents in the country and overseas. Nowadays more than 15,000 students from various regions and countries study there. But, what makes me feel impressed is that many educational institutions imitate this system. Recently, more than 200 schools apply Gontor system to educate their students. This amount is excluded from schools which are ‘shy’ to admit that they use Gontor system but they actually do. And the most interesting thing is that the government, in many cases, also imitates how Gontor educates its students. Just for mentioning an example, recently the government promotes character-building-based education in many schools. It isn’t new from Gontor as it has been rightly applied since Gontor’s establishment. I don’t know whether it is a truth or just a coincidence. But what I know is that KH Syukri, Gontor’s headmaster, often calls for the importance of character-building-based education in many governmental occasions and TV shows. Moreover, he was ever asked to present his idea about education before members of house of representative years ago.

***

~To be continued~


M. Syahrul Zaky Romadloni,
Siliwangi University, Indonesia

Why is education so important for our sustainable life? Many scholars on educational philosophy have the prolonged discussions on it even though they have different notions on how it should be carried out. They all agreed that mankind should have the access on education in somehow it forms, unless, they couldn’t develop and maintain their great civilization. All what we’re watching now from complicated development of sciences and technologies are the fruit of what is so-called sustainable education.

Everybody knows that one of the secrets of Japanese advancement nowadays is their effort on making education the first priority of government’s concern. The story of Japanese emperor’s question that asked the amount of nation’s teachers when 1945-Hiroshima-Bombing had been already well-known as the point of the emergence of Japanese’s resurrection. Teachers, in this case, become the pioneers of Japanese’s resurrection after a deadly bombing which destroyed all angles of Japanese’s life.

Well, I won’t talk about the importance of education as it has been discussed by most scholars. Here, I’d like to tell you how the education in our country should be carried out if we concern that education is a key to the advancement of our country. As a preceding statement I’d like to describe you the portrait of our recent educational practice.

I’ve written in my previous post that our recent educational process has been industrialized. The industrialization of education is exactly influenced by the western education which tries to put education hand in hand with industry. The schools are the producers while the students are the consumers. The earlier should give the best service, for the latter pay for that. The more the latter pay, the better they will get. The theory of business, in this case, is obviously implemented in our educational process.

This circumstance, therefore, grows the amount of high-cost schools which give a high quality of educational process for their students. In many cases, parents should provide million rupiahs per semester for their children in a ‘qualified’ elementary school. In charge of that, the children will get a qualified experience of learning provided with complete facilities and excellent teachers. Furthermore, the schools guarantee that the education they give will bring students to get better life and education.

Through this post, I don’t mean to blame the parents who school their lovely children in this kind of schools, for it’s their right to assure that their children will get qualified education. I could accept the fact that most parents want their children keep the prestigious tradition of the family by schooling them in excellent schools which guarantee them to get better future. Furthermore, I don’t intend to criticize the qualified educational process given by these prestigious schools, for the quality of education should be primarily concerned by all educational stakeholders. The qualified education will certainly produce excellent students which contribute positively to the advancement of our nation.

What is being my concern is that the emergence of these schools bears other serious problems concerning on the equality of education. These schools don’t give any chances to the poor of getting as same education as the rich. The poor must be satisfied with the low service of education which won’t guarantee their better future. As soon as this circumstance goes on, the status-quo will exist in which the poor will remain in their poverty, while the rich will keep enjoying their prestige as the high class in society. In this case, the Darwin’s Concept of Evolution plays its role; the strong will survive, while the weak should die.

***

I agree with the statement that education should be expensive, for it needs much money to fund all programs concerning on its assured quality. The high-cost education will provide students with a high experience of joyful learning and encourage them to maximize their potencies as high as possible. The survey shows that students living in big cities are smarter than those who live in suburbs, for the former get better education than the latter.

On the contrary, the low-cost education will certainly impact its quality that it won’t guarantee our youth’s better future, for they get low-service education. The uncomfortable classrooms, unqualified teachers and limited schools’ equipment which have been our national problems for a long time make the graduate of our schools uncompetitive in global competition.

To avoid the inequality of education, that high-cost education shouldn’t be wholly burdened to students as the customers of educational services as practiced in our recent educational praxis. As mentioned before, the poor who cannot afford to pay such large salaries won’t have any further access to it. On the contrary, the rich have a wide chance of having these qualified educational experiences. Finally, it will cause the status-quo of the latter in our society.

Instead of burdening students with all educational costs, the government should provide a high number of subsidies that enable to cover them. In a deeper sense, government should provide the free access of qualified education for all children of the nation. Thus, educational sector must have a high bargaining position in determining our national budget. Twenty percents of national budget should be at least prepared by government to fund all educational practices every year.

The private sectors, in this case, should take part in providing excellent educational practices which are widely open for all children of the nation. They can use as many ways as possible. One of them can be seen in how Al-Azhar University in Cairo gives the free education for its students by expanding a great number of waqf in all parts of the country. Or we can imitate how Anis Baswedan from Paramadina University works hand in hand with some conglomerates to provide a great number of scholarships for hundred students every year. In this way, private sectors can take part actively in giving free qualified education for our children.

What is being my concern is that a few people are conscious enough that education should be open for all children. Recently, the issue of the industrialization of educational practices has been discussed by most of educational stakeholders. They argue that educational institutions should imitate the success of how business corporations organize their managements. Unfortunately, it makes our education too far to reach for most poor people in our country.

Let’s make our education accessible to all children of the nation.

Garden of Knowledge,

Thursday, December 16, 2010

5:55