The pesantren tradition : a study of the role of the kyai in the maintenance of the traditional ideology of Islam in Java

Abstract

This is a study of the role of the Kyai in the development of the pesantren (Islamic training centres for advanced studies) tradition on Java, beginning in the latter part of the nineteenth century. It is based on field work conducted between September 1977 and September 1978 in two pesantren: Tebuireng and Tegalsari. These two pesantren provide the principal material for an examination of the way in which pesantren throughout Java have successfully survived and grown amidst the transformation of modern life in Indonesia. This study is an attempt to examine (l) the Kyais 1 efforts to preserve the pesantren tradition, (2) the Kyais 1 efforts to develop the pesantren institutions to meet the needs of modern life, and (3) the contribution of the pesantren to the creation of the ideology of ahlissunnah wa l jama ah (followers of the Prophet and ulama tradition) among Muslims on Java. The pesantren have helped to create the unity of ahlissunnah wa’ l jama'ah among Muslims by (1) standardizing the Islamic texts taught and the religious rituals practised in the pesantren, and (2) providing and controlling the leadership of the tarekat orders on Java. I have set out to examine the various social and intellectual means by which the Kyai have succeeded in preserving the pesantren tradition through the establishment of solidarity and cooperation among themselves. Thus the Kyai have developed (1) a complex tradition for the intellectual transmission of knowledge among themselves, (2) a tradition in which immediate relatives become potential successors, and (3) a tradition of endogamous marriage alliances that link Kyai families to one another. The Kyai have participated in the modern life of Indonesia through the reformation of pesantren education; this has been achieved while maintaining links with the main stream of Islamic tradition. Instead of rejecting the traditional ideology of Islam, they have been successfully re-interpreting the ideology of ahlissunnah wa'l jama ah. The continuous deepening of the Islamic faith and the growth of faithful Muslim communities centered around the Kyai are evidence of the vitality which the Kyai have shown in the face of secularist tendencies in Java in the twentieth century.

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