Islamic Education and Civil Society: Reflections on the "Pesantren" Tradition in Contemporary Indonesia.

TLDR: In this paper, the authors present a case study of a pesantren AlMuayyad Windan, Solo, and an evaluation of this institution's contribution to Indonesia's emerging democratic civil society.

Abstract: Since the events of September 11, 2001, Islamic institutions of learning have received much attention. Indonesia’s pesantren (Islamic boarding schools) have been increasingly described as fostering radicalism and violent militancy, particularly in light of purported links between a few of the country’s pesantren and some of the perpetrators of recent violence, such as the 2002 bombing in Kuta, Bali. On the whole, media coverage has been negative. In its September 2003 issue, for example, the Journal of Asian Affairs alleged, “Like Pakistan’s madrassa, there exists an entire education system, the ‘pesantren’, which is independent of the government and provides the Islamists fertile ground to train the children of the poor in the mould of radical Islam.” Notably, Pondok Pesantren Al-Mukmin in Ngruki, which is close to the Central Javanese city of Solo, has been mentioned repeatedly in the international press and was also implicated by an International Crisis Group (ICG) report as the center for a network of militant Muslims in Indonesia with suspected links to al-Qaeda. In light of these allegations, the question about the possible civilityenhancing role of Islamic education may seem counterintuitive. How does Islamic education deal with such issues as antiviolence, interfaith and interethnic tolerance, pluralism, secular institutionalization, human rights, gender equity, democracy, and political and social justice? This article answers some of these questions based on an analysis of ethnographic data collected during fieldwork in 2004 and 2005. At its center are a case study of Pesantren AlMuayyad Windan, Solo, and an evaluation of this institution’s contribution to Indonesia’s emerging democratic civil society. Al-Muayyad Windan was founded in 1996 as a pesantren for students (pesantren mahasiswa) with a special emphasis on community development (pengembangan masyarakat). The focus