Routledge Contemporary Southeast Asia Series. London and New York: Routledge, 2023. US$160.00, cloth; US$53.00, ebook. ISBN 9781032216126.
The Al-Mukmin Islamic boarding school in Solo, Central Java gained public notoriety when four of its alumni were involved in the Jemaah Islamiyah group that carried out the deadly bombing in Bali in 2002. This event highlighted not only the school’s role in producing radicalized graduates but also raised the question of whether other Islamic schools, among the tens of thousands across the vast archipelago, espoused a similar ideology. This edited volume unpacks the complexities and diversities found within the Islamic education ecosystem in Indonesia, namely by illustrating how radicalism can assume various forms as it adapts to ever-changing socio-political-economic realities.
The book, employing intimate first-person experience as a narration tool in many of its chapters, leads off with Lies Marcoes’ contribution on the function of Islamic preschool education (Pendidikan Anak Usia Dini, PAUD) in instilling the values of what it means to be a good Muslim. The rigidity of the Islamic preschool curriculum is framed through the context of juxtaposing the school as a normative model of Islamic living versus the hedonistic and morally depraved outside world. The school represents the bastion of authentic and uncorrupted Islam protecting its believers from the siege of globalization and constantly evolving social norms. It is a recurrent theme found throughout this edited volume.
Ethnographically rich analysis on gender relations, conservative feminism, and toxic masculinity by Bianca Smith (chapter 5), Ciciek Assegaf (chapter 6) and Noor Huda Ismail (chapter 7), respectively, show culture practiced in their respective Islamic schools to be steeped in patriarchal values. Using the leadership fragmentation of Nahdlatul Wathan (Lombok’s equivalent of Nahdlatul Ulama) after the passing of its founder, Maulana Syeikh in 1997, Bianca Smith explores the resistance against female leadership and the duties of a model Muslim woman. Maulana Syeikh’s promotion of female education stands in contradiction to the organization’s expectation of a pious Muslim woman, symbolized by the expression “carrying Fatimah’s flag,” chief among which is submission to the practice of polygyny between male teachers and their female students within the Anjani faction of Nahdlatul Wathan.
Recounting her experience residing in the conservative al-Firdausi Islamic boarding school (pesantren) in Java, Ciciek Assegaf emphasizes the recurring theme of the school as the fortress of religious purity, especially for young women, shielding them from morally insidious external influence. Putting the ideal into practice has proven much more difficult as the pressure from the world outside has become overwhelming for the embattled moral guardians of the school. Some teachers have quietly bucked the school’s many prohibitions imposed on female students and teachers, such as highly restricted movement and contraceptive prohibitions by adopting alternative fiqh (interpretation of the matter at hand).
The flipside of the docile femininity enforced in many of these Islamic schools is the valorization of jihadism as a form of male empowerment, or what Noor Huda Ismail terms “militarized masculinity.” Drawing on his experience as a former student at the aforementioned Al-Mukmin Islamic boarding school and years of interviewing former jihadists, he argues that the romantic notion of fighting on the frontlines in the name of defending Islam is inextricably intertwined with what it means to be a “real man.” It is this warped understanding that drives many young Muslims into the arms of jihad groups abroad and to commit acts of terrorism at home.
Islamic education in Indonesia also confronts myriad challenges at the tertiary level. In chapter 9, Ismatu Ropi delves into the nature of the comparative religion curriculum at the Islamic higher education level and finds that it is mainly deployed as a weapon to attack other religions and strengthen orthodoxy, instead of promoting tolerance and mutual understanding. He argues that for a comparative religion curriculum to foster genuine empathy it needs to be holistic and multidisciplinary, by including sociology and history in its pedagogy, among others, and should not be purely theological in nature.
The complexities of the modern world also present a new set of challenges to the Islamic legal system and its practitioners. It begs the question whether the current Islamic legal education in Indonesia provides adequate training and exposure to future syariah lawyers and judges. Simon Butt (chapter 11) and Windy Triana (chapter 13) aver that Islamic legal education is in serious need of a revamp in order to cope with contemporary challenges. For instance, inflexibility of the prodi (program) system that places syariah law students into highly specialized areas of the syariah law does not equip them with the broad and multifaceted knowledge they require to tackle issues faced by modern Muslims. Similarly, training for syariah court judges often does not incorporate gender awareness, which could rectify injustices perpetrated by a syariah legal system with patriarchal values.
The book does leave one to wonder how conservative Islamic schools can shield their students from the depredations of the outside world in the age of social media, which seems to feel like an exercise in futility. The lament of Ciciek Assegaf’s former teacher at the end of chapter 6 best encapsulates this sense of helplessness. One also questions the motivation of parents who send their kids to Islamic schools. What makes Islamic education appealing to them, and by extension, their children? Is it for Islamic character development, ideological inculcation, instilling discipline, or perhaps other factors? This is especially pertinent today, when parents are presented with a plethora of school options for their children.
In all, this book offers illuminating analyses and in some cases, deeply personal insights into the nature of Islamic education in Indonesia today, ranging from preschool to higher education, and the challenges it has to deal with as society evolves. Conservatives, in their efforts to preserve the status quo, see Islamic education and schools as the last line of defence against the onslaught of modern life, while progressives seize the opportunity provided by an ever-changing society to offer a reinterpretation of fiqh to upend the status quo. It is within the pages of this book this intractable dynamic vividly manifests itself.
Reviewer
Universiti Sains Malaysia, Gelugor