The Construction of Jihad and the Level of Radicalism among Pesantren Leaders in Indonesia

Abstract

The phenomena of extremism and radicalism that potentially lead to an act of terrorism still widespread in the world and becoming a global challenge. The purpose of this study was to identify and describe radical mindset among the Islamic school leaders in Indonesia. The subject of this study was 225 leaders of Islamic boarding school that is called Pesantren in West Java, Indonesia. Data were collected using survey and interview. The result of this study was that there are still elements of radicalism and fundamentalism in the mind of pesantren leaders when they constructed the meaning of jihad. The ambivalently or inconsistency also occurred in their mind. In the one hand they have supported the compatibility of democracy with Islamic teaching, but on another hand, they also supported the establishment of the theocratic caliphate. Some of them also still maintained the element of sharia law which contained discrimination and intolerant to be applied in Indonesia. This finding implies that reconstructing the Islamic teaching that more familiar with the value of tolerance, democracy, and modernity in all level of educational institution in Indonesia is badly needed in order to prevent the widespread of radical element as early as possible.

Jihad As Mabadi’ Khaira Ummah and The Contra-Discourse of Radicalism in Indonesia

“…On the one hand, they have supported the compatibility of democracy with Islamic teachings. On the other hand, they have also supported the establishment of a theocratic caliphate (Syarif et al, 2017). Fourth, regarding the meaning of jihad in the view of fundamentalists and modernists.…”