Al-'Alâqahbainal-'Ulamâ': Dirâsah Ta'sîliyyah li al-Thaqâfah al-Islâmiyyah fî al-Ma'âhid al-Taqlîdiyyah fî Jâwâ

Abstract

The role of kyai (religious leaders) in pesantren (Islamic Boarding Schools) has long been the object of study for many researchers. A notable example is the study of Clifford Geertz in which he observes the role o/kyai as agents of culture. In this study, Geertz maintains that kyai act as filters in the flow of information to students (santri) spreading that which the kyai deem useful for them and discarding that which may endanger them. Using the anthropological approach of Geertz, Zamakhsyari Dhofier observes the role of kyai as agents who synthesize traditional Islam and the real world. Dhofier contests the idea that kyai are an obstacle to the dynamics of modernization in the contemporary era. According to him, kyai are skilled in translating traditional and spiritual values into those needed in modern society. The expertise of kyai in founding, managing and developing pesantren was traditionally attributed to with genealogical factors in that the founders of pesantren often have been the descendants of kyai. This article shows that not all kyai in Javanese pesantren have a genealogical relationship with other kyai, and that many of them have merely intellectual and ideological relations with them. The intellectual relationships among kyai, according to these two writers, cannot be separated from the education system of pesantren and the doctrines of kyai in general. The aim of pesantren is to invest in the minds of santri a sense of duty and responsibility in perpetuating Islamic sciences and disseminating them. It proscribes santri to expend maximum time and energy in continuous and life-long study so that when they leave the pesantren they remain responsibility for and dedicated to the existing pesantren and / or to a new pesantren, should they establish one, for the rest of their lives. A practice which illustrates the intellectual relationship of kyai is the tradition of "coming to and going from" a pesantren, or what is commonly referred to as "the wanderer student / s a n t r i ". For example, KH. Hasyim Asy 'ari not only studied from kyai such as KH. Cholil Bangkalan, hut also from other kyai including KH. Ya'qub at pesantren Siwalan Panji Sidoarjo, KH. Ahmad Sholeh Nur at Langitan Tuban, and KH Saleh Darat at pesantren Meranggen Semarang. In fact, he studied at Hijaz as well. Kyai also provide special guidance in preparing talented santri to become kyai, and to continue the process of islamization in areas that are considered troubled. Having completed their education, santri receive certificates (ijâzahj or testimonies (shahâdah) from their kyai when they are deemed able to bear the mandate and struggle of Islam. Besides being granted ijazah, there are santri who devote their lives to certain kyai. This type of santri usually chooses not to return to their home village but requests the kiyai's assistance in searching for the right place for them to dedicate themselves. In this article, the writers also propose that the meeting point or axis of intellectual relations among kyai in Java at the start of the twentieth century lies is the two great kyai; KH. A. Dahlan andKH. Hasyim Asy 'ari. Not only did they share a room while studying with Kyai Shaleh Darat at pesantren Meranggen Semarang but they were also the students of Shaikh Mahfudz al-Tirmasi and Ahmad Khatib al-Minangkabawi in Mecca. However, in their efforts to spread their knowledge, they used different orientations and approaches. In his struggle, KH. A. Dahlan founding Muhammadiyah in Yogyakarta in 1912. KH. Hasyim Asy'ari, on the other hand, expanded his intellectual authority through the pesantren of Nahdatul Ulama (NU), which was founded by him together with KH. A. Wahab Hasbullah in Surabaya in 1926. Both these celebrated kyai used different approaches in transforming and transmitting knowledge.