Notes on the Islamic School at Gontor

Abstract

In 1926, three brothers from an old family of Kjai in the Ponorogo district, urged by a sense of "responsibility to continue and improve the work of their predecessors in spreading Islamic science and culture"(2), reorganized a decaying pesantren at GdntorO) and made of it a new type of Islamic school in Java. Though they called the place "Daarussalaam" (Abode of Peace), it was soon popularly labeled "Pondok-Moderen." Of the three founders, K. H. Imam Zarkasji is still the intellectual director of the school, while K. H. Ahmad Sahal is called pengasuh (guardian) and apparently devotes himself mainly to the moral education of the boys. The other brother, K. H. Zainuddin Fanani, now works in the Department of Social Affairs in Djakarta. The village head (lurah) is another relative. At present Gontor is a secondary school providing a 6-year course to about 1,000 boys (1,100 in 1958). Some come there directly from primary school, some from S.M.P.-junior secondary school-provision being made for the latter to complete the course in a shorter period. The condition for admission is an examination set by the pondok itself in Indonesian, arithmetic and the ability to read the Qur'an in Arabic.(*0 There is no attempt to conform closely to the government school system or to prepare the boys for the government examinations. Gontor sets its own examinations (2 per year). A university, called Universitas Daarussalaam, is being set up and a first-year class is already operating, with 40 students, most of whom are teachers in the secondary school. Later years will be added as students and teaching staff become available.

Modern Pondok Pesantren: Maintaining Tradition in Modern System

“…Lance Castles' notes after his three months research at Pondok pesantren Gontor suggested that students of pesantren are different from those who do not study at pondok pesantren is in their spirit of life as they conceive that life is struggle, either in economic or in preaching their religion. 45 Harry J. Benda asserted that "The history of Indonesian Islam is, then, the history of this expanding santri civilization and its impact upon the religious, social and economic life of Indonesia." 46 Another scholar noted that the significant role played by pondok pesantren is in its being the centre of Sufism and child education.…”

Perspektif KH. Imam Zarkasyi Terhadap Modernisasi Pesantren

“…Lance Castle juga mencatat bahwa alih-alih mengajarkan keterampilan kerja, Imam Zarkasyi mendidik keterampilan hidup siswa dengan kreativitas dan moralitas yang tinggi. 44 Strategi penanaman jiwa kewirausahaan adalah dengan melibatkan seluruh siswa dalam kegiatan ekstrakurikuler. Para mahasiswa diberi tanggung jawab untuk mengelola kegiatan mereka sendiri di bawah payung Organisasi Kemahasiswaan.…”

Islamic Populism in Rural Indonesia: An Agrarian Change Approach

“…The agrarian conflict related to land redistribution and the implementation of the Basic Agrarian Law (UUPA 1960) is an important historical moment for the emergence of elite domination of pesantren in rural areas. Land assets belonging to landlords which are converted into the status of "waqf pesantren" is one of the strategies so that their lands are not taken over by the exponents of the 1960 Basic Agrarian Law (BAL), as is the case in areas such as Ponorogo, East Java (Castles, 1966). Securing land possession by rural Muslim landlords from the communist peasant class, according to Bazzi et.al (2018), is an important historical point for the emergence of the power of political Islam, which was transformed into Islamic populism, in rural West Java.…”