The understanding of Islamic Moderation (wasatiyyah al-Islam) and the hadiths on inter-religious relations in the Javanese pesantrens

Abstract

The Wasatiyyah of Islam has been described as the value of moderation in Islam, emphasizing justice, balance, and tolerance. The Quran and al-Hadith contain these values, but they are often misunderstood and misapplied. The pesantren or Islamic boarding school, is an educational institution close to the community and it plays a key role in instilling the moderate values of Islam. This article aims at discussing the moderation of Islam in relation to other religions and religious communities as taught through the hadith and as understood among the teachers and students of three pesantrens in central Java. It investigates the teachers’ and students’ views of Islam as a religion among other religions, and their attitudes as the pesantren community toward other religious believers. It combines textual research employing a mukhtalif al-hadiṡ approach and living or lived hadith research. It argues that the hadiths on inter-religious relationship are understood as a necessity to be just towards faith, which means that one should believe that his own faith is correct but should keep tolerant towards other faiths. This means giving others the right to choose and implement their own faiths, behaving in a balanced way, and conducting healthy competition in various fields, especially the proselytization or dawah. With this textual understanding, the students have generally been quite well informed about the values of Islamic moderation and they seek to apply it in their religious and social life. The students have learned about the hadiths on interreligious relations and the moderate values primarily from their teachers although they have read directly from books and sometimes from social media. Wasatiyyah Islam digambarkan sebagai nilai moderasi dalam Islam, menekankan keadilan, keseimbangan, dan toleransi. Al-Qur'an dan al-Hadis mengandung nilai-nilai ini, tetapi sering disalahpahami dan diterapkan secara salah. Pesantren merupakan lembaga pendidikan yang dekat dengan masyarakat dan berperan penting dalam menanamkan nilai-nilai moderat Islam. Artikel ini bertujuan membahas moderasi Islam dalam kaitannya dengan agama dan umat beragama lain sebagaimana diajarkan melalui hadis dan sebagaimana dipahami para guru dan santri di tiga pesantren di Jawa Tengah. Artikel ini menyelidiki pandangan siswa tentang Islam sebagai agama di antara agama-agama lain, dan sikap mereka sebagai komunitas pesantren terhadap pemeluk agama lain. Ini menggabungkan penelitian tekstual yang menggunakan pendekatan mukhtalif al-hadiṡ dan penelitian hadits hidup (living or lived hadith). Artikel ini berargumen bahwa hadis-hadis tentang hubungan antarumat beragama dipahami sebagai keharusan untuk bersikap adil terhadap keimanan, yang berarti bahwa seseorang harus percaya bahwa imannya sendiri benar tetapi harus tetap toleran terhadap agama lain. Ini artinya memberikan hak kepada orang lain untuk memilih dan menjalankan keyakinannya sendiri, berperilaku seimbang, dan melakukan persaingan yang sehat di berbagai bidang, terutama dakwah. Dengan pemahaman tekstual ini, para santri secara umum telah terinformasi dengan baik tentang nilai-nilai moderasi Islam dan mereka terus menerapkannya dalam kehidupan keagamaan dan sosial mereka. Para siswa telah belajar tentang hadits tentang hubungan antaragama dan nilai-nilai moderat terutama dari guru mereka meskipun mereka telah membaca langsung dari buku dan kadang-kadang dari media sosial.

The Effect of Aswaja Values and Javanese Islam on Students' Moderate Islamic Thinking

“…To achieve this, religion always presents teachings about balance in various aspects; Second, as a bridge or intermediary for the development of human beings both ethnically and racially.The unifying essence between religious communities is so that human civilization isnot destroyed due to conflict. Third,in the context of Indonesia, religious moderation is a cultural strategy for caring for Indonesia (Helmy & Ali, 2021). It is the identity of Indonesia, a very religious country with a polite, tolerant character and capable of dialogue with diversity.…”

Moderasi Beragama Pesantren: Jaringan dan Paham Keagamaan As’Adiyah, Darul Da’Wah Wal Irsyad, dan Nahdlatul Ulum Sulawesi Selatan

“…Temuan Badan Nasional Penanggulangan Terorisme (BNTP) bahwa ada sekitar 198 pesantren disinyalir terafiliasi jaringan radikalisme dan terorisme (Adyatama, 2022) berdampak pada penilaian berbeda -jika enggan mengatakan berbanding terbalikterhadap pesantren. Selama ini, pesantren dinilai menjadi wadah memperbaiki akhlak dan menghasilkan sikap beragama yang moderat (Baca Muhtarom Dkk, 2020;Fajrussalam, 2020;Helmy, 2021). Waryono Abdul Ghafur, Direktur Pendidikan Diniyah dan Pondok Pesantren Kementerian Agama, menilai bahwa temuan BNPT tersebut memberi dampak yang merugikan pihak pesantren, bahkan umat Islam Indonesia secara kesuluruhan (Zaking, 2022, dalam Jawapos.com).…”

Portrait of Moderate Islam Within Muslim University Students in Indonesia

“…Previous research only focused on three aspects: theoretical aspects, implementation in communities and religious groups, and micro research on high school students or Islamic boarding schools. Borum (2011) conducted research examining the theory of Islamic Moderation, Ab Rashid et al (2020), Kanafi et al (2021), Mujahid (2021), andNasir &Rijal (2021), research that examines the implementation of Islamic moderation among the Muslim community, such as in Salik's research (Salik, 2019), Syafruddin et al (2018), and Safei (Safei, 2021), and micro research in the local scope that discusses Islamic moderation in the context of student learning in schools, among others, carried out by Hanapi (2014), Sumbulah et al (2018), Zuhdi (2018), Susilo & Dalimunthe (2019), Sirry (2020), Siswanto (2020), Subandi et al(2020), Helmy et al (2021), Yahya & Rahmat (2021), Gunawan et al(2021), andPajarianto et al (2022). On the other hand, students and students are the nation's next generations, so they need special attention from all parties to develop into the future generation of Islamic Moderation.…”

“…Islamic moderation is a manifestation of the Islamic convention known as wasatiyyah. Wasatiyyah Islam is defined as the middle way, balance, justice, implementation or extreme, tolerance, simplicity, and harmony as the embodiment of Islam as a carrier of goodness for all nature (Gunawan et al, 2021;Helmy et al, 2021;Qaraḍāwī, 2010;Safei, 2021;Salik, 2019;Siswanto, 2020;Subandi et al, 2020). Moderation is a manifestation of wasatiyyah Islam, positioning oneself fairly, not ignoring his religion's teachings, and not exaggerating.…”