MUSLIM FUNDAMENTALISM IN SCHOOLS:

A STUDY OF THE ROHANI ISLAM

Didin Nurul RosidinLecturer of IAIN Syekh Nurjati

Cirebon

Introduction In the last four decades, Muslim fundamentalist or

even radicalist movements have been so dominant since around 1980s up to now.

Indonesians, even Cirebonese, witnessed religions-driven clashes and even terrorist attacks widespread in Indonesia in the last decade.

A number of institutions like DDII, LIPIA and others set up to support the dissemination of fundamentalist viewpoints to society.

Komarudin Hidayat even points out that fundamentalist networks have successfuly infiltrated schools particularly Senior High School.

This paper is based on the research conducted in two schools, SMAN 04 and 06 in Cirebon.

Fundamentalism in Perspectives

In the last decades, young people have been the prime target as well as the main actors of the fundamentalist movements (David Sagiv, 1995: 3).

Religious, and Islamic in particular, fundamentalism has been a reaction toward the ongoing reality of religiosity considered to be far away from the true tenets (Fazlur Rahman, 1997: 286). Thus, fundamentalist nutions are aimed at bringing Islam back to the sacred one.

Scholars in addition to use the term of fundamentalism also employ different terms depending on their understanding of the features of a group they studied such as Skripturalism (R.N. Bellah, 2000: 226), Conservatism (R. Geraudy), Romanticism, Islamism and Salafism and others

The establishment of Rohani Islam is a part of the Muslim resurgence in Indonesia in the last 1980s and early 1990s thanks to DDII.

Soeharto’s accommodative approach gave further energy for the strengthening of Islamic activism in Indonesia, including in schools, in 1980s and 1990s.

The rise of the religious notions named LDK sponsored by DDII in a number of major secular universities and the introduction of the halaqoh system in those universities.

The halaqoh alumni as the main pioneer in the creation of the Rohani Islam (literally means Islamic Spiritual Guidance).

The lack or even failure of religious subjects provided by schools to fill their need for religious education also gave a further force for students and particularly religious teachers to organize their own religious activities.

Inside the schools, the need to pay more attention to mental and or spiritual guidance to combat juvenile delinquency.

The Rise of the Rohani Islam (Rohis)

The Setting SMAN 04 and SMAN 06 are two of the nine

existing state senior high schools in the city of Cirebon

Compared to SMAN 06, SMAN 04 is among the most favourite high schools in Cirebon

SMAN 04 was founded in 1984 after being transformed from SMPP.

SMAN 06 was founded in 1991 after being transformed from SGO.

THE IRM OF SMAN 04 In SMAN 04, the name of the Rohani Islam is the Ikatan Remaja

Mesjid (IRM) that is attached to the An-Najah school mosque (built in 1991) and being independent from OSIS

In the process of membership recruitment, the IRM is usually very active in the time of new students’ inauguration week.

The IRM having a close linkage with LDK in campuses adopted the Halaqoh system

Three elements playing in the religious supervision: formal religious teachers, the An-Najah school mosque board and As-Sunnah preachers, who are to be the most active and intensive in almost all processes of religious supervision as they become the daily mentors.

In terms of references, formal religious subjects refer to books provided by the Ministry of Religious Affairs. Meanwhile, As-Sunnah provided a sort of Wahabi inclined references.

CONTINUED …. Conflicting notions in terms of religious understanding

between among mentors brought the school to take harsh approaches by outlawing those of As-Sunnah.

Yet, IRM activists continue to invite the As-Sunnah mentors privately.

As in the As-Sunnah, IRM heavily stressed and viewed the outward appearance as a part of fundamental elements of religious identity such as wearing jalabiya (long dress), ‘imamah (headcover), isbal ( long trouser above the ankle) and lihyah (long beard) as well as niqab for female students

Under the austerity of the As-Sunnah, IRM initiated to set up the Silaturahmi Gabungan or SILGAB that builds close links of all existing Rohis around Cirebon.

The Rohani Islam of SMAN 06

In SMAN 06, the name is the Rohani Islam, which is a part of OSIS.

Like in SMAN 04, the process of membership recruitment takes place in the time of new students’ inauguration week.

Like IRM, the Rohani Islam in SMAN 06 adopted the Halaqoh system of learning

Like IRM, the main sources for religious learning in the Rohis of SMAN 06 come from formal religious teachers as well as external sources, particularly Bina Siswa Islami (Islamic Student Supervision or BSI), a non-profit Muslim organisation that has a close link with Partai Keadilan Sejahtera (Welfare and Justice Party or PKS).

Conflicting notions in terms of religious understanding between both mentors brought the school to take harsh approaches by outlawing those of BSI

Issues The main focus of both IRM and Rohis is on the

formation of true aqidah and akhlaq. They generally accepted Pancasila as the sole ideology

of the state considering that it is not in conflict with the principles of Islam.

They reject the application of Islamic Sharia in Indonesia viewing that Indonesia is not an Islamic state.

In the matters of Jihad and terrorism, they reject terrorist action as the way to do Jihad and some even say that as “a form of misunderstanding Qur’anic verses”.

However, IRM activists in particular show their sympahty towards terrorist perpetrators, particularly those who took suicide bombings.

The impacts

The Islamisation projects was to be fruitful such as the massive use of the jilbab and the rise of new style of social interaction between male and female students.

The schools through their religious teachers obliged all Muslim students, who were the majority of the students, to take active parts in religious activities including praying together at the noon (dzuhur), memorising some short verses of the Qur’an and reciting verses of the Qur’an before the first lessons were begun.

Responses The Islamisation project is not without resistance including creating

conflicts between students and teachers in the processes of teaching and learning.

Some teacher protested againts the changes of the learning session schedule just to accommodate the spare time for the noon prayer.

The negative reaction also came from students who objected the exclusivity of IRM activists in their school. The former frequently attacked the latter as a group of anti-public concern and anti-musafahah (direct shaking hand).

The massive arrests as well as killings of terrorist perpetrators, particularly Noerdin M. Top, put the Rohis activists as the main target of critics both from students and teachers who suspected that they had a close connection with those terrorist networks.

More than that, in SMAN 06, for instance, from more than 800 students, only are 84 students who are active in the Rohis, whereas, in SMAN 04, the amount of the members is even lesser with only around 30 out of more 800.

Conclusion

The rise of the Rohani Islam activities in schools was a part of the Islamic dakwah resurgence pioneered by DDII and the university based LDK.

The dissatisfaction among some corners of students as well as of teachers with the lack or even failure of religious subjects provided by schools to fill their need for religious education.

Finally, the active roles played by BSI and particularly As-Sunnah means that the Rohani Islam on the one hand becomes the backbone of the Islamisation of the secular driven public schools. On the other hand, it acts one of the important channels in spreading the fundamentalist notion of the salafy movement that in many cases is in conflict with the general feature of religious notions and practices among Indonesian Muslims.