Documente Academic
Documente Profesional
Documente Cultură
MODE R N
MUS L I MS
THE POLITICS OF
ISLAMIC EDUCATION
IN SOUTHEAST ASIA
Edited by Robert W. Hefner
UNIVERSITY OF HAWAII PRESS
Honolulu
vii
ix
1
55
106
141
172
205
237
239
Acknowledgments
A Note on Spelling and Transliteration
1 Introduction: The Politics and Cultures
of Islamic Education in Southeast Asia
ROBERT W. HEFNER
2 Islamic Schools, Social Movements,
and Democracy in Indonesia
ROBERT W. HEFNER
3 Reforming Islamic Education in
Malaysia: Doctrine or Dialogue?
RI CHARD G. KRAI NCE
4 Islamic Education in Southern
Thailand: Negotiating Islam, Identity,
and Modernity
JOSEPH CHI NYONG LI OW
5 Muslim Metamorphosis: Islamic
Education and Politics in
Contemporary Cambodia
BJRN ATLE BLENGSLI
6 Islamic Education in the Philippines:
Political Separatism and Religious
Pragmatism
THOMAS M. MCKENNA & ESMAEL A. ABDULA
List of Contributors
Index
CONT E NT S
Since the 9/11 attacks in the United States
and the October 2002 Bali bombings in Indonesia, Islamic schools
inSoutheastAsiahavebeenthefocusofinternationalattention.The
young men responsible for the Bali attack, in which more than two
hundredpeopledied,hadbeenstudentsatanIslamicboardingschool
inEastJavaandhadtiestotheal-MukminboardingschoolinCentral
Java.Al-MukministhehomeofAbuBakarBaasyir,aseniorIslamic
scholarwhoisallegedtohavebeenthespiritualleaderoftheJemaah
Islamiyah (JI), an underground organization that has engaged in a
campaignofbombingandterrorsince2000.Inthe1990s,severalJI
militants had also attended an Islamic boarding school in Malaysia
runbyBaasyirandhiscolleague,AbdullahSungkar(nowdeceased),
atatimewhenbothwereinself-imposedexilefromIndonesia.
1
TheJIscampaignwasnottheonlyeventtoraisequestionsabout
thepoliticaltemperamentofSoutheastAsiasfftythousandIslamic
schools.SinceJanuary2004,Thailandhasbeenrockedbyarenewed
I NT R ODUCT I ON
THEPOLITICSANDCULTURES
OFISLAMICEDUCATIONIN
SOUTHEASTASIA
R OB E RT W. HE F NE R
1
2 ROBERT W. HEFNER
cycle of violence between state authorities and the Malay-Muslim
populationconcentratedinthecountryssouth.In2004,studentsand
teachers at two Islamic schools were accused of staging attacks on
Thai government offcials. In May 2005, al-Qaida documents were
foundatanotherschool.InJune2007,radicalseparatistsburneddown
elevenschoolsinYalaprovinceandexecutedtwofemaleThaiteachers
infrontofonehundredchildrenplayinginthelibraryafterlunch.
2
The discussion surrounding Islamic schools in the Philippines
wasnomoreplacid.In2000,theMusliminsurgencythathasraged
onandoffsincethe1970sfaredupagainafterPresidentJosephEs-
tradaorderedthearmedforcestocapturetherebelsmaincampon
the southern island of Mindanao. In addition to creating thousands
ofMuslimrefugees,theassaultprovokedanunprecedentedterrorist
campaign in Manila and other Philippine cities. In 2003, the intel-
ligence chief of the Philippines Armed Forces placed much of the
blame for the terrorism squarely on Islamic madrasas (modern day
schools). [T]heyareteachingthechildren,whilestillyoung,towage
ajihad.Theywillbecomethefuturesuicidebombers.
3
Cambodia,too,hasnotescapedtheMuslim-schoolcontroversy.
Between 2002 and 2004, the JI military chief, Riduan Isamuddin,
aliasHambali,spenttimeinthatBuddhist-majoritycountry,report-
edlyvisitingIslamicschools.HissubsequentcaptureinThailandled
toadditionalarrestsbackinCambodiaatschoolsfundedbyaSaudi
charity. Cambodian authorities alleged that militants had planned
to turn their country into a staging ground for terrorist attacks on
Westerntargets.
InMalaysiainearly2000,fnally,armedmilitantslinkedtoin-
dependent Islamic schools launched armed attacks on the national
police.FollowingarrestsinAugust2001,investigatorsrevealedthat
themilitantshadtrainedinAfghanistanandhadreturnedtoMalaysia
aspartofacampaigntobringthegovernmentdown.
ForaWesternpublicthathadlongregardedMuslimpoliticsin
Southeast Asia as relatively moderate, these reports linking Islamic
schools to terrorism caused anxiety and confusion. Policy analysts
speculatedthatSoutheastAsiawasbeingtransformedintoasecond
frontinanal-QaidainspiredcampaignagainsttheWest.
4
Concerns
likethesewerenotlimited,however,toWesterncircles.IntheMus-
lim-majoritycountriesofMalaysiaandIndonesia,offcialsintimated
3 nrrocucrion: slamic Ecucarion in Sourheasr Asia
that they too feared that some among their countries Muslim edu-
catorsweremixingviolentjihadism intothecurriculum.InOctober
2005,afewdaysafterBaliwashitbyasecondterroristbombing,the
Indonesianvicepresident,JusufKallaaMuslimclosetoIndonesias
mainstream Islamic organizationsblamed the attack on militants
fromanunnamedIslamicboardingschoolandwarnedthatthegov-
ernment was going to have to take action against schools promot-
ingirresponsibleactions.Weekslater,KallastartledMuslimeduca-
torsagainwhenheannouncedthatthegovernmentwaspreparingto
fngerprint all students in the countrys ten thousandstrong Islamic
boardingschoolnetwork(seeChapter2).
5
Againstthisunsettledbackdrop,thepurposeofthisbookisto
shedlightonthevarietiesandpoliticsofIslamiceducationinmod-
ern Southeast Asia. The contributors aim to provide a sense of just
whereIslamiceducationisgoingbyexaminingwhere,culturallyand
politicallyspeaking,ithascomefrom.Thebookfocusesonschoolsin
fvecountries:theregionstwodominantMuslim-majoritycountries,
Malaysia(60%Muslim)andIndonesia(87.8%),andthreecountries
withespeciallyrestlessMuslimminorities,thePhilippines,Thailand,
andCambodia.
6
ThechaptersarebasedonaresearchprojectthatbeganinDe-
cember 2004 and ended in January 2007. The initial research was
fundedbytheNationalBureauofAsianResearch(NBR)inSeattle,
Washington,anongovernmentalandnonpartisanresearchcenterthat
sponsors academic research on policy-relevant issues in the broader
Asianregion.Duringeachofthetwoyearsoftheproject,NBRpro-
videdthefveresearcherswithfundsforresearchassistantsandfora
three-tofour-weekstayinSoutheastAsia.Alltogether,sometwenty-
fveresearcherswereinvolvedinthefve-countryprojectonwhichthis
bookisbased.AlloftheU.S.researcherswererecognizedSoutheast
Asiaspecialists,andallhadbackgroundsinthestudyofIslamicedu-
cation.NBRssupportalsoallowedmeasprojectdirectortoextenda
researchcollaborationIhadbegunin20022004,withDr.Azyumardi
Azra,thenrector,andDr.Jamhari,directoroftheCenterfortheStudy
ofIslamandSociety(PPIM)atIndonesiasfagshipIslamicuniversity,
the Syarif Hidayatullah State Islamic University. My earlier collabo-
ration with the PPIM, sponsored by the Pew Charitable Trusts, had
sought to map variation in Islamic schooling across eight provinces
4 ROBERT W. HEFNER
in this vast country.
7
The new project included our collaborating on
the conduct of surveys of educators at Indonesias Islamic boarding
schools(pesantren),moderndayschools(madrasas),andcolleges.The
surveyswereconductedinJanuary2006andJanuary2007.
8
Learnin as Worship
Islam is a religion of the divine word, and religious study has long
beenregardedasanactofworshipinitsownright.Thestudyand
transmission of the revealed word of God and the sayings of His
prophet, and of the system of law to which the revelation pointed,
are the fundamental service God demands of his creatures.
11
For
piousindividuals,religiousstudyusuallybeginswithlearningtoread
andrecitebutnotliterallyunderstandtheQuran.TheQuranis
thewordofGodasrevealedtotheProphetMuhammad(c.570632
C.E.) by way of the Angel Jibriel (Gabriel) between 610 and 632
C.E.
12
Historians of Islam believe that, while the Prophet was still
alive,theQuranwasnotwrittendown,butmemorizedandtransmit-
ted orally. Although scholars disagree as to exactly when the Quran
wasfnallyputintomanuscriptform,themostwidelyheldviewisthat
the recension took place not long after the death of the Prophet in
632C.E.,attheinstructionofthecaliphsUmar(63444)andUth-
man(64456).
13
Itwasaroundthissametimethatalightlyformalized
educationalinstitutionappearedonthescene,dedicatedtoteaching
individualstoreadandrecitetheQuran.
AcrosstheMuslimworld,Quranicrecitationhasremainedthe
model for elementary religious education to this day, including in
modern Southeast Asia. In the Middle East, Quranic reading and
recitationofthissortoftentakeplaceinasmallfree-standingschool
knownasthekuttabormaktab.Althoughinmoderntimesthekuttab
hasoccasionallybeenfreightedwithothereducationalmissions(in-
cluding,inseveralinstances,teachingsecularsubjects),
14
forthemost
7 nrrocucrion: slamic Ecucarion in Sourheasr Asia
parttheinstitutionhasremainedtruetoitsfoundingmission,serving
asaschoolwhereyouthslearnArabicscriptsoastoreadandrecite
the Quran. In modern Southeast Asia, elementary Quranic study
is carried out in a similar fashion, in activities known as pengajian
Quran (lit.Quranicstudy).
15
Thisinstructionusuallytakesplacein
mosques,prayerhouses(musholla,langgar),orteachershomes,rather
than a special-purpose building. In recent years, too, the religious
classes provided by governments in Malaysia, Indonesia, and the
AutonomousRegionofMuslimMindanao(ARMM)inthesouthern
PhilippineshavealsoincludedelementaryQuranicinstruction.
16
OverthecourseoftheeighthandninthcenturiesC.E.,thebody
ofknowledgeassociatedwiththeIslamictraditionbecamericherand
more variegated than that of earlier generations. During these cen-
turies,thehadith,therecordedandverifedwordsandactionsofthe
Prophet Muhammad, were gathered into standardized collections,
whicheventuallybecamethesecondfoundationonwhichIslamsau-
thoritativetraditions(Sunna) aregrounded.Thebodyofscholarship
associated with Islams legal schools (madhahib) was also composed
duringthisperiod,althoughatfrstthereweremanymorethanthe
fourSunnischoolsthatexisttoday(Shiismhasitsownschool).The
compositionandstandardizationofMuslimjurisprudence(fqh)were
allpartofbroaderprocesseswherebythelawcametobemoreratio-
nalizedandsystematicandscholarsofthelawcametoplayamore
centralroleinreligiouseducationandpublicaffairs.
17
Theexpansionofthereligioussciencesalsomeantthatthetime
required to become a learned scholar became greater.
18
During the
frst part of this two-century period, most study took place in infor-
mallearningcircles(Ar.halaq,sing.halqa)thatmetinhomes,bazaar
stalls,and,aboveall,mosques,underthedirectionofamasterscholar
(shaykh).Bytheendoftheninthcentury,however,mosquesthatpro-
videdadvancedreligiousstudyalsobegantoerecthostelsforresident
students.Evenwiththischange,however,instructionstilltookplace,
notinclassrooms,butininformallearningcirclesundertheguidance
ofanindividualscholar.
In the tenth century, a full three centuries after the Qurans
revelation,somecommunitieswentfurther,establishingthefrstma-
drasas, free-standingschoolsforintermediateandadvancedreligious
learning.Thefrstoftheseinstitutionswasfoundedintenth-century
8 ROBERT W. HEFNER
KhurasanineasternIran,buttheinnovationquicklyspreadwestward
into cities and towns in the Arab heartland. By the twelfth century,
the madrasa had become perhaps the most characteristic religious
institutionofthemedievalNearEasternurbanlandscape.
19
Bythe
thirteenthcentury,theinstitutionhadreachedMuslimSpainandIn-
dia.
20
Inmanyoftheselocales,madrasas educatednotonlyreligious
scholarsbutmuchofthelocalculturalelite,includingmathematicians,
medicaldoctors,andastronomers.
21
Duringthesesamefrstcenturies,themadrasacomplexgradu-
allyassumedamoreorlessstandardform.Mostmadrasascameto
have a mosque, dormitories, and classrooms, as well as a residence
for the shaykh-director and a washing area for ablutions prior to
prayer.Overtime,manymadrasasalsoerectedmausoleumsforthe
foundingshaykh andhisfamily.Ontheassumptionthatindeathas
inlifetheshaykh couldintercedewithGodandserveasachannelfor
divine grace (barakah), many tombs became the object of religious
prilgrimage(ziyarah).Intraditionalistmadrasas intheMiddleEast
or South Asia, and in Southeast Asias pondok pesantren, pilgrim-
agetotheshrinesofgreatreligiousteachersisstillcommontoday.
22
However,wheremodernMuslimreformistsholdswaythepracticeis
condemned and tomb complexes have been demolished or secular-
izedasarchaeologicalmonuments.
23
HereinliesoneofthegreatironiesoftheOldWorldscivilizational
history.DuringwhatwasWesternEuropesMiddleAges,librariesand
madrasas in the Middle East had preserved Greek works in philoso-
phyandnaturalscienceslosttoChristianEurope.Inthetwelfthand
thirteenth centuries, Muslim, Christian, and Jewish scholars in Spain
andotherMuslimlandstranslatedmanyoftheseworksintoLatin.The
transfer of the translated classics back to Western Europe sparked a
revivalofinterestinthenaturalsciencesandhumanisticphilosophyso
strongthatthesesubjectsweregivenprideofplaceinthenewlyestab-
lisheduniversitiesoftheWest.
27
Althoughearlierpreservedandstudied
bygenerationsofArab-andIndian-Muslimscholars,thesameGreek
worksweregraduallymarginalizedfrommostmadrasacurricula.In-
deed, by the end of the Muslim Middle Ages their place in Middle
Easterneducationasawholewasgreatlydiminished.
28
Jurisprudence
had become the queen of the advanced religious sciences and the
10 ROBERT W. HEFNER
centerpieceofmadrasa education.Moresignifcantyet,manyofthe
jurists(fuqaha)whointerpretedGodslawhadcometoviewthestudy
ofphilosophyandtheforeignsciencesasuseless...anddisrespectful
ofreligionandlaw.
29
Theresultwasthatthephilosophyandnatural
scienceoncesointegraltoMuslimintellectuallifedisappearedfrom
manyinstitutionsofhigherlearning,nottobereviveduntilthegreat
educationaltransformationsofthemodernera.
Fecenrerin slam
Theevolutionofthemadrasa curriculumduringtheMuslimMiddle
AgeswaspartofabroaderrecenteringofIslamicknowledgeandau-
thorityatthattime.Therecenteringhadtwoprimaryfeatures,each
ofwhichanticipatedchangesintheeconomyofreligiousknowledge
that were to take place in Southeast Asian Islam several centuries
later.First,theriseofmadrasas ledtoarelativestandardizationand
homogenization of the knowledge and texts transmitted in institu-
tionsofhigherreligiouslearning.Thisstandardizationwasfacilitated
bythecollectionandverifcationofhadiths;thecreationofthemain
schoolsofIslamiclaw;andtherepositioningofthelawasthemost
authoritative discipline in advanced institutions of learning. By the
ffteenth century, Richard Bulliets statement about changes in the
hadith tradition could be applied to the other core traditions of Is-
lamic knowledge: The upshot of this process was the development
ofahomogeneouscorpusofauthoritativeIslamictextsthatcontrib-
uted greatly to a growing uniformity of Islamic belief and practice
throughoutthevastareainwhichMuslimslived.
30
Asimilarprocess
of standardization and canonization would take place in Southeast
Asia during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, with the rise of
newformsofIslamicschooling.
The Middle Ages recentering had momentous implications,
not only for texts and learning, but for religious authority as well.
Thespreadofmadrasasandthecreationofacanonmeantthatones
standingamongulama nowdependedonmasteryofkeytextsunder
arecognizedreligiousmaster.Inotherwords,themadrasaandthe
canon provided clearer criteria for defning just who was and who
was not a religious authority. As in all traditions of knowledge, the
effort to determine who should be included among the leadership
alsoinvolvedclarifyingwhowastobeexcluded.Withtheriseofma-
11 nrrocucrion: slamic Ecucarion in Sourheasr Asia
drasas,thegroundsforthatexclusionbecameclearer,atleastasfar
asthereligiousestablishmentwasconcerned.Theulama...sought
to restrict the ability of individuals who possessed only a modicum
ofintellectualtraining,orwhomightevenbeilliterate,butwhonone-
thelessclaimedconsiderablereligiousauthorityamongtheuneducated
masses,todefnefortheiraudienceswhatwasproperlyIslamic.
31
NotfarawayinDamascusoneencounteredsimilarlyunconventional
religious fgures, like the dervishes who fouted social and religious
norms:dressinginragsor(insomecases)notatall...; deliberately
disregardingculticpracticessuchasprayer;publiclyindulginginthe
use of hashish and other intoxicants, and...piercing various bodily
parts, including their genitals.
35
Notwithstanding the differences of
timeandspace,theparallelsbetweentheseunusualreligiousexperts
andthedhukuns, bomohs, andshamansofmodernMuslimSoutheast
Asiaarestriking.
Thepointofthiscomparisonisthat,farmorethanwasoncereal-
izedbymanyWesternscholars,therearestrikingparallelsbetweenthe
recenteringofreligiousauthoritymadepossiblethroughthedevelop-
mentofIslamiceducationinthemedievalMiddleEastandprocesses
12 ROBERT W. HEFNER
takingplaceinnineteenth-andearly-twentieth-centurySoutheastAsia.
For obvious historical reasons, the expansion of religious education
andthecreationofapublicIslamiccultureinSoutheastAsialagged
wellbehindthatoftheMiddleEast.However,inthenineteenthcen-
tury,whenSoutheastAsiawasfnallydrawnintodeeperdialoguewith
global Muslim civilization, the schools that emerged and the cultural
processesthatunfoldedboreastrikingresemblancetothoseseenear-
lierintheMiddleEast.Inparticular,thespreadofnewformsofreli-
giousschoolinginSoutheastAsiaplayedacentralroleinthecreation
ofnetworksanddiscoursesforstipulatinginadisciplinedmannerjust
whowasareligiousauthorityandwhatcountedasIslam.
36
ThefactthattheheightsofIslamicculturetendedtoberaja-centric
isnottosay,asoneusedtohearinSoutheastAsianstudies,thatIslam
wasnomorethanaveneeronanotherwiseHindu-Buddhistsubstra-
tum.Theveneermetaphoroverlooksthesociologicalfactthat,unlike
in India, where much of the non-Islamic infrastructure survived the
Muslim conquests, the temples and monasteries of Hindu-Buddhist
worshipinislandSoutheastAsiaexperiencedanear-totalcollapsein
thecenturiesfollowinglocalrulersconversiontoIslam.(Baliwasthe
greatexception.)JustpriortotheIslamizationofitscourtsinthelate
ffteenthandearlysixteenthcenturies,thekingdomsinJavasheart-
landareestimatedtohavehadsometwohundredcentersofHindu-
Buddhistmonasticismandlearning.Withthenotableexceptionofa
smallHinduJavaneseenclaveinacornerofmountainousEastJava,
45
notoneoftheseinstitutionssurvivedintothemodernera.
Anotherreasontheveneermetaphorismisleadingisthatitover-
looksthefactthat,fromearlyon,someamongSoutheastAsiassmall
communityofIslamicscholarshadtiestoabroaderIslamicecumene
andwerefamiliarwiththestandardsofreligiousobservanceupheldin
otherMuslimlands.Manyinthescholarlycommunitymayhavebeen
membersofSuforders,orwereindependentulama infuencedbySuf
ideas. The more heterodox among these adepts may have had little
interest in the sharia or (more plausibly) understood its meaning in
amysticaloranalogicalmanner.However,asMartinvanBruinessen,
Th.G.Th.Pigeaud,andAnthonyReidhavealldemonstrated,there
15 nrrocucrion: slamic Ecucarion in Sourheasr Asia
werelegaldigestsofamoreorlessorthodoxSunnismfromearlyonin
SoutheastAsiasMuslimperiod,andintheseventeenthcenturyrulers
inseveralkingdomsattemptedtoenforceaspectsofthelaw.
46
Whentherivalryfnallyreachedthearchipelago,themajorissuesover
whichthetwosidesarguedfocusedonwhatcountedastruereligious
knowledge,andhowandbywhomitwastobetransmitted.
InfuencedbytheideasofthegreatMiddleEasternreformists
Jamal al-Din al-Afghani (18381897) and his most celebrated dis-
ciple, the Egyptian Muhammad Abduh (18491905), New Group
MuslimsemphasizedtheclarityandperfectionoftheQuranandthe
Sunna,andtheneedtopurgeIslamictraditionsofallunacceptablein-
novations(bida).Amongthepracticesreformistssawasinappropri-
atewereseveraldeartotheheartsofMuslimtraditionalists:faithful
reliance(taqlid)onthestudyofclassicalreligioustexts(kitabs);affli-
ation with an established school of Islamic jurisprudence (madhab);
therecitationofacatechism(thetalqin)tothedeceasedimmediately
afterburial;theutteranceofanexpressionofintentbeforeonesdaily
prayers;andpilgrimage(ziyarah)totheburialsitesofMuslimsaints.
NewGroupreformistsalsodifferedfromOldGrouptraditional-
istsonseverallessdoctrinalbutstillpressingissues.Theformerwere
keenonwomenseducation,althoughthisreformwassoonadopted
bytraditionalistsintheDutchIndiesandBritishMalaya(seeChapter
2, this volume). The modernists also promoted the study of science
andtechnology,bothofwhichtheysaw,notasWesterncreations,but
asproductsofahumanreasonwhoseuseGodhadintendedforall
humanity.NewGroupMuslimsalsomadereadyuseofnewspapers
and journals, organized themselves into educational and welfare as-
sociationsonthemodelofWesterncitizens,andreplacedthetradi-
tionalistscholarlycostumeofsarongandtunicwithtiesandWestern
pants.Onthevitalquestionofwomensdress,thereformiststended
tobemoreconservativethanthealreadymodesttraditionalists.New
Group enthusiasts promoted long-sleeved and more fowing (rather
thantight-ftting)tunics,longskirts,andamoreencompassingveil.
Onmattersoflocalcustom,moderniststendedtobelesstolerant
thantraditionalistswhenthecustominquestionseemedtoveerinto
religious terrains, as with, for example, the long-cherished habit of
presentingfoodofferingstodeceasedancestors.Overtime,however,
OldGrouptraditionalistscametoagreewiththeNewGroupreform-
22 ROBERT W. HEFNER
istsonmattersofthissort,insistingthatfolkritualsinconsistentwith
Islamshouldbesuppressed.
70
Thecumulativeeffectofbothgroups
educationalactivitieswasthecreationofanewideaofwhatreligion
andorthodoxycomprise.Ratherthanamatterofinitiaticdiscipline
andineffablewonder,religionwasbeingredefnedassomethingob-
jective, easily transmitted, clearly separable from local custom, and
basedonexplicitscripturalprecedent.
71
VandenBergsstudyshowedthat,althoughcommentariesdraw-
ingontheQuranandhadithwereusedinboardingschools,hadith
collections were not yet studied in their own right. The absence is
surprising,becausehadithstudyhaslongbeenpartofthecorecur-
riculumofinstitutionsofhigherreligiouslearningintheMiddleEast.
Equallysurprising,invandenBergseratherewasonlyonekitabin
the boarding school curriculum dedicated to the exegesis (tafsir) of
the Quran. A century later, based on exhaustive travel to schools
acrossSoutheastAsiaandthecollectionofninehundredtextbooks,
vanBruinessenwasabletodemonstratejusthowmuchtheboarding
schoolcurriculumhadchanged:
[A]signifcantchangehastakenplaceinthepastcentury.
TherearenolessthantendifferentQuraniccommentaries
(inArabic,Malay,Javanese,andIndonesian)inthecollection,
besidesstraightforwardtranslations(alsocalledtafsir)into
JavaneseandSundanese.Thenumberofhadith compilations
isevenmorestriking.Thereisalmostnopesantrennowwhere
hadith isnottaughtasaseparatesubject.Themainemphasis
ininstructionremains,however,onfqh, theIslamicscience
parexcellence.Therehavebeennoremarkablechangesinthe
fqh textsstudied,butthedisciplineofusul al-fqh (thefounda-
tionsorbasesoffqh)hasbeenaddedtothecurriculumof
manypesantren, therebyallowingamorefexibleanddynamic
viewoffqh.
74
Injustonecentury,then,thestudyofkitab inSoutheastAsianboard-
ingschoolshadbeenrealignedsoastogroundthecurriculummore
frmly on three subjects: Quranic interpretation; study of the Tra-
ditions of the Prophet (hadith); and fqh, now expanded to include
the principles of jurisprudence.
75
These changes demonstrate that
25 nrrocucrion: slamic Ecucarion in Sourheasr Asia
traditionalisteducationwasanythingbutstatic.Thechangesarealso
noteworthy for the way in which they brought Islamic education in
SoutheastAsiaintocloseralignmentwiththeeducationalrecentering
effectedbyMiddleEasternmadrasasseveralcenturiesearlier.
THEBOOkCHapTERs
This,then,isthehistoricalbackgroundtothefvechaptersthatfollow.
Eachchapterpicksuptheschoolstoryintheearlyyearsofthetwen-
tiethcenturyandtracesthedevelopmentofIslamiceducationtothis
day.Alongtheway,eachalsoaddressesahostofissues,includingthe
varietyofIslamicschoolsineachcountry;themessageoftheiredu-
cationalcurriculumregardingcitizenship,gender,andpluralism;and
theimplicationsoftheschoolsystemforpubliccultureandpoliticsin
contemporarySoutheastAsia.
Ecucarional Dynamism in slamic nconesia
ThesituationofIslamiceducationinIndonesiaisarguablythemostdy-
namic in Southeast Asia. The reform of Southeast Asias kitab kuning
curriculumwentfurtherinIndonesiathaninanyotherSoutheastAsian
country.Nowhere,too,wastheexpansionofIslamicboardingschoolsat
theendofthenineteenthandbeginningofthetwentiethcenturiesmore
sociallymomentous.Theunhesitantdynamismshownbytraditionalist
educatorsensuredthatwhentheNewGroupreformistsarrivedonthe
sceneinthe1910sandthe1920s,thetraditionalistsrespondedwithedu-
cationalreformsoftheirown.Althoughsometraditionalistschoolskept
toareligion-onlycurriculum,severalofthemostdistinguished,likethe
famousTebuirengpesantren inEastJava,
76
movedquicklytointegrate
generaleducationintotheirschoolprograms,oftenbybuildingmadrasa
ontheschoolcomplexsgrounds.TraditionalistsrespondedtootherNew
Groupinnovationsinanequallyboldmanner.Theyestablishedthefrst
boardingschoolsforgirlsinthelate1920s,
77
andanationalassociation
ofIslamicscholarsin1926.Inthe1930s,theylenttheirsupporttoIn-
donesiasfedglingnationalistmovement,evensignalingtheirpreference
forSukarnooverhismoreself-consciouslyIslamicrivals.
78
Although,unlikeinotherpartsofSoutheastAsia,traditionalistsin
Indonesiahavecontinuedtoenjoybroaderpopularsupportthantheir
modernist rivals, modernists associated with groups like the Muham-
madiyah(estab.1912)madeevenmoreeffectiveuseofWestern-inspired
2o ROBERT W. HEFNER
stylesofassociation,management,andfund-raising.Inthelate1910s,
theMuhammadiyahbeganthepatientconstructionofaninstitutional
networkthattodaycomprisesthousandofschools,dozensofhospitals,
andsome166facultiesofhighereducation,mostofwhichoffergeneral
professionalaswellasIslamiceducation.
79
Bythattime,theMalayelitehadbeguntorealizethatBritisheducation
offeredgreateropportunitiesthandidIslamicschoolsforsocialadvance-
ment.Inaddition,oneaspectofthereligiousbureaucracysexpansion
wasitsappropriationofthelocalreligiousalms(zakat)onwhichIslamic
boardingschoolshadheretoforedepended.Thelossofthezakat funds
deprivedthetraditionalistsoftheireconomicindependenceandmade
30 ROBERT W. HEFNER
them more wary than their Dutch Indies counterparts of engaging in
intellectualandeducationalreform.
After Malaysian independence in 1957, the madrasa wing of
Islamic education held its own, but traditionalist boarding schools
continued to decline. Ironically, the pondoks fate was exacerbated
bythenationalgovernmentspolicyofmandatingreligiouseducation
in state schools. Chinese, Indian, and Christian Malaysians worried
thatthegrowingemphasisonIslamiceducationinotherwisesecu-
larschoolswouldheightenethnoreligioustensions.
84
Conversely,the
insertionofIslamicinstructionintopublicschoolcurriculareassured
MalayMuslimparentsthatpubliceducationwouldnotestrangetheir
childrenfromtheirfaith.Seeingthatpubliceducationwasnotirreli-
gious,andthatstateschoolsprovidedmobilityintothemorelucrative
sectors of Malaysias economy, growing numbers of Malay Muslim
parentsoptedtosendtheirchildrenintothestateschoolsystem.
Inthe1990sand2000s,politicaldivisionswithintheMalayMus-
limcommunityalsoworkedtothedisadvantageofindependentIslamic
schools, now identifed in government parlance as peoples religious
schools (SAR, sekolah agama rakyat). Rivalry between the dominant
partyintherulingcoalition,theUnitedMalaysNationalOrganization
(UMNO),andconservativeIslamistsintheAll-MalaysianIslamicParty
(PAS),impactedtheSARsnegatively,especiallyafterthegovernment
realizedthatmanySARshadtiestoPAS.
85
Inanefforttoundermine
theoppositionandimproveeducationalopportunitiesforMuslimstu-
dents,thefederalgovernmentencouragedstudentsplanningtopursue
Islamicstudiestodosoininstitutionsthatfollowedanationalcurricu-
lumandenjoyedfederalorstatesupport.Aidedbyparentsconfdence
thattheirchildrencouldreceivegoodreligioustraininginstateschools,
andbystudentsdesireforvocationaltraining,thegovernmentsefforts
broughtaboutadrasticdeclineinenrollmentsinMalaysiasindepen-
dentIslamicschools.
The decline does not mean that Islamic instruction as a whole
hasfadedfrompubliclife.Rather,overthepastgeneration,thestate
hasbecomethemainproviderofreligiousandmoraleducation.To-
dayallstudentsinMalaysiaarerequiredtotakefvehoursofclasses
eachweekonIslam(iftheyareMuslim)ormoraleducation(ifnon-
Muslim). Although Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi has used state
schools to promote an anticlash-of-civilizations program known as
31 nrrocucrion: slamic Ecucarion in Sourheasr Asia
Civilizational Islam (Islam Hadhari), the religious curriculum is
vettedbyMuslimscholarswiththeirownideasabouthumanrights,
genderequality,andthesharia. AsKraincenotes,non-Muslimsand
pluralist Muslims in groups like the feminist Sisters in Islam
86
have
complained that, notwithstanding Badawis impressive efforts, the
statesreligiouscurriculumisquiteconservative.Inasmuchasthisis
the case, public religious developments in Malaysia bear a striking
resemblancetothoseinEgypt.Inbothcountries,thegoverningelites
efforts to coopt the Islamist opposition have resulted in the states
makinglargeportionsoftheoppositionsconservativereligiousplat-
formitsown.
87
slamic Ecucarion anc Erhnoreliious Folarizarion
in Sourhern Thailanc
GovernmentpoliciesandIslamicschoolinginsouthernThailandhave
longresembledthoseinMalaysia,but,forpoliticalreasons,theout-
comeoftheirimplementationhasbeenentirelydifferent.
AsVirginiaMathesonandM.B.Hookerhaveshown,inthenine-
teenthandearlytwentiethcentury,theprovinceofPataniinsouthern
ThailandwasarenownedcenterofIslamiclearning,producingsome
ofSoutheastAsiasmostcelebratedtraditionalistscholars.
88
AsJoseph
LiowshowsinChapter3,thetypesofIslamicschoolsfoundinsouth-
ernThailandresembledthoseinthenearbyMalaypeninsula.Decades
later,atthebeginningofthetwentiethcentury,theeducationalscene
insouthernThailandalsoresembledthatinMalaya,inthatitwasbuf-
fetedbytherivalrybetweenOldGrouptraditionalistsandNewGroup
modernists.ThemaindifferencebetweenIslamiceducationinthese
two countries has to do with the fact that in Malaysia Muslims are
politicallydominant,andIslamhasbeenaccordedaprivilegedplace
innationalpoliticsandculture.InThailand,bycontrast,theMuslim
minority confronts a state that is centralizing, Buddhist-dominated,
andintentonforginganationalcultureinwhichIslamisconspicuous
byitsabsence.
From 1898 on, the educational policies pursued by Thai gov-
ernments were openly assimilationist with regard to the countrys
non-Buddhistminorities,includingadherentsoftraditionalreligions
in northern Thailand as well as the Malay Muslims in the south.
UnlikethetribalpeoplesinnorthernThailand,however,theMalay
32 ROBERT W. HEFNER
elite in the south had for several centuries seen itself as part of a
broaderIslamicecumene.Inthenineteenthcentury,thisratherdif-
fusereligioussensibilitywasbroughtintofocusbyhighratesofpil-
grimagefromPatanitoArabiaandthedistinguishedroleofPatani
scholarsintheholyland.When,in1921,Thaiauthoritiesintroduced
compulsory education, the Malay population feared that the state
schoolsintendedtodivertlocalMuslimsfromIslam.Mostparents
boycottedtheschools.
89