The Features of Local Wisdom Within The Tradition of The Pondok Learning System

Abstract

Education plays a pivotal role in the development of any civilization. Within the Malay Archipelago community, the development of the civilization particularly the culture of acquiring knowledge was mainly limited to the elite upper class and the royalty. However, with the advent of Islam that focus on fairness and equality, knowledge was no longer limited to the upper echelon but also included everyone in the existing community without taking into account race or creed. In other words, the Islamic scholars established the pondok learning system to serve as a center of learning open to anyone interested in acquiring knowledge. This learning center focused on the halaqah system which is based on the syllabus of the yellow book (turath). It was considered an innovation within the local learning system. In light of that, this particular study will discuss the features of the local wisdom in the pondok institution system. In this study, the qualitative method is employed which includes library research to obtain the necessary data. Then, the data were analyzed through content analysis to formulate the findings. The research findings have shown that features of local wisdom within the tradition of the pondok learning system serves as a pioneer in the democratization of the religious education system whereby providing the earliest model of a learning institution which provides education for free to the community regardless of status. In addition, the existence of the pondok institution serves as an establishment which further strengthens the akidah of the Ahli Sunnah wal Jamaah and the Syafie sect within the Malay Archipelago. Hence, the pondok institution continued to thrive as a center for Islamic education which preserves elements of the turath study and continues to be relevant despite the change of times within the education system. The established features of local wisdom of the pondok institutions have greatly contributed to the countless charismatic religious scholars being produced, the vast intellectual development, numerous da’wah activities or propagation of Islam and the dissemination of Islamic religious knowledge among the Muslim community.