Pesantren’s Kyai and the Fragmentation of Religious Authority in a Muslim Peripheral Territory

DOI

10.2991/assehr.k.201113.011How to use a DOI?

Keywords

Religious authority, kyai, pesantren, Muslim periphery

Abstract

It is often assumed in society that the ‘true’ Islam is the one that is in the classical Arab heartlands, such as Mecca and Egypt. At the same time, Islam in a peripheral area such as in Java and Sumatra is a less Islam. In this case, the Arab Muslims are considered the most authoritative figure to speak about Islam, and ulama (Muslim scholars) from Indonesia are less authoritative when speaking about Islam. In fact, there are many ulama in Indonesia who are highly knowledgeable about Islamic sciences, thus authoritative to talk about Islam. One of them is the kyai (religious leader) of a pesantren (Islamic boarding school) in Ambarawa (here called, Pesantren Ambarawa), nicknamed Gus Balighin. This article is aimed to describe the scientific backgrounds of the kyai of Pesantren Ambarawa, and examine the degree of his religious authority. Results of the study show that the kyai had studied Islam in many pesantren in Lampung and in Java for more than 20 years, all of which have connected him to the established chain of scientific transmission of Islamic learning in Indonesian Islam. This study also finds out the he has played significant roles in the development of religious organizations in his surrounding communities. This article concludes that the number of pesantren he had visited, the length of time he had spent to study Islam, the continuity of his chain of scientific transmission of Islamic learning to the established community of Islamic scholarship in Indonesia, and his role in organizational Islams in his community, all has contributed to the production of his authority, both among his students in his pesantren, and among lay people in his community. Thus, the kyai’s authority is unchallenged especially when he conveys his messages about Islam.

Copyright

© 2020, the Authors. Published by Atlantis Press.

Open Access

This is an open access article distributed under the CC BY-NC license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/).

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TY  - CONF
AU  - Sholeh Utomo
AU  - M. Fauzan
AU  - Afif Anshori
PY  - 2020
DA  - 2020/11/13
TI  - Pesantren’s Kyai and the Fragmentation of Religious Authority in a Muslim Peripheral Territory
BT  - Proceedings of the 1st Raden Intan International Conference on Muslim Societies and Social Sciences (RIICMuSSS 2019)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 56
EP  - 59
SN  - 2352-5398
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/assehr.k.201113.011
DO  - 10.2991/assehr.k.201113.011
ID  - Utomo2020
ER  -