The establishment stage of Salafism in Pekanbaru began with the return of al Furqan alumni from their studies at the IUM or LIPIA. They collaborated with UNRI and UIR students who had learned about Islam from Jufri, many of whom had promised Jufri that they would commit to the Salafi da’wa after they graduated. In fact, shortly after his death some re-activated a religious foundation, the Ubudiyya Foundation (Yayasan Wakaf al Ubudiyya), which was established in 1983 but had been relatively inactive. The Ubudiyya Foundation had several aims. First, the founder perceived that people had become too occupied with worldly gain, giving little thought to their afterlife. This meant that religion was not important for them. Secondly, it was felt that the process of da’wa was not progressing because noone was taking responsibility for it. Thirdly, any existing da’wa was being conducted individually
and sporadically61. The hope was that the establishment of the Ubudiyya Foundation
could unite the Salafi activists in one official organisation to allow them to share the experience and help each other. This can be seen as the first step towards consolidating the da’wa to sustain the Salafi development in Pekanbaru.
Under the new burst of enthusiasm in spreading Salafism, the Ubudiyya Foundation outlined strategic programs to enhance the Salafi da’wa, the most important of which were the establishment of Salafi schools and pesantren. In 1998, a year after the
61 This information is cited from the Ubudiyya Foundation document, given to the researcher by
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death of Buya Jufri, the Foundation established the first Islamic school for girls: Pondok Pesantren Putri Ummu Sulaym (The Ummu Sulaym Islamic Girl’s Boarding School), located in Jalan Melur Indah, Pekanbaru.
4.3.3.1. The Ummu Sulaym Islamic Girl’s Boarding School
This school, which caters for both junior and senior high girls, was the first of its kind for providing young Muslim girls with Islamic knowledge as well as Quranic memorisation.As previously mentioned, a deep concern of Salafi activists has always been the influence of western culture, brought about by globalisation, and the consequent problems faced by Muslims in knowing what is in line with Islamic teachings and what is not. On the basis that this lack is due to their poor knowledge of Islam, the Salafis established educational institutions as part of a strategic plan to provide Muslims with a better knowledge of Islam. The Ummu Sulaym was created for just such a purpose, with the purported aim of preparing Muslim girls to “journey” safely in this globalised era. As with all Salafi schools, at Ummu Sulaym the main emphasis is the teaching of Islam according to the interpretation of al-salaf al-sālih. The six targets of Ummu Sulaym are: (i) cultivating the correct aqida according to the interpretation of al-salaf al-sālih; (ii) guiding the students to “imitate” the Prophet and his companions, thereby preparing them to actively spread goodness among the community; (iii) educating a Quranic generation who understands and implements Quranic teachings; (iv) providing Muslim girls with the correct interpretation of Islam and being patient in propagating it; (v) having sufficient knowledge of Islam and being sincere in da’wa; and (vi) mastering Arabic which will enable them to acquire their knowledge from the primary sources.According to the Salafis, Muslim girls will thus be enabled to encounter this globalised world as well as to take part in the da’wa.
However, Salafi activists are also well aware of the importance of students acquiring what they call secular knowledge in order to be equipped for the challenge of the world. Therefore, in addition to studying the hadith, tafsir, sirah al nabawiya, Arabic, al Quran, fiqh and ushul al fiqh, the curricula also include social and natural sciences, such as English, mathematics and Indonesian reading, writing and literature. These
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subjects are the same as those taught in government schools, which means students at the pesantren are prepared to sit at the national examination. It is worth noting here that in Indonesia students are only allowed to enrol at university if they have passed the national examination. Through the combination of the curricula, set out by the Ministry of Religious Affairs and Ministry of Education, Pesantren Ummu Sulaym provides its students with a more rounded education than the regular pesantren, which only focus on religious studies.
A common problem faced by all Indonesian pesantren is that they are perceived by many Muslims as providing an inferior education to government schools. Pesantren, literally meaning“place of the santri” (pupil) is also referred to as “pondok,” meaning a hut built of bamboo, wood or other light materials (Pringle 2010). The usage of these words, pondok pesantren, reflects its humble origin and affects its image among Indonesian Muslims. Pesantren is also a traditional institution, in which students are only taught the classical Islamic tradition of knowledge according to the Shafii School of law. The responsibility of teaching and management lay on the hand of kiyai (ulama), who often the graduate of the same traditional pesantren (Azra, A, Dina Afrianty, Robert W. Hefner 2007). In order to address this problem, Pesantren Ummu Sulaym combines the government and local curricula, as mentioned previously, and provides fully qualified teachers for both religious and secular
subjects62. In Pesantren Ummu Sulaym, the teachers of religious subjects are
graduates of the IUM and LIPIA, while for secular sciences the teachers are all graduates of UNRI and the State University of Padang. The Pesantren broadcasts these facts, which has led to a steady increase in enrolments. Currently, there are around 700 students, mostly from Pekanbaru and surrounding districts.
Another attraction is that, unlike non-Salafi pesantrens which have no school on Friday, Pesantren Ummu Sulaym is lesson-free on Sundays, which means parents can visit their daughters at the Pesantren. It should be noted that the vast majority of student parents at the Pesantren are government employees who do not work on
62 To be considered a qualified teacher, the government requires that they have graduated from a
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Sundays. Having looked at a single-sex Salafi pesantren in Pekanbaru, I will now outline the education given in a nearby co-educational Salafi-run pesantren.
4.3.3.2. Islamic Boarding School Umar ibn Khattab
Pesantren Umar bin Khattab was established by the Ubudiyya Foundation in 1999, two years after the Pesantren Ummu Sulaym. This co-educational primary, junior and senior high school, which is located in Jalan Delima, segregates the sexes both in the classroom and in the school complex. A concrete wall totally separates the boys’ quarter from those of the girls. The Salafis are highly conscious of this need for gender segregation, believing it is a requirement of Islam (Duderija 2011). However, male teachers are allowed to teach girls, and vice-versa.
The underlying goals of Pesantren Umar bin Khattab are the same as those of Pesantren Ummu Sulaym. The dangers of the penetration of Western culture, and the need to encounter them are highlighted in the pesantren brochure and on their website. The Salafis firmly believe that Westernization poses serious dangers for the Muslim community, and that young Muslims need to be well-equipped in order to defend and protect themselves from such temptations. Education as offered by the pesantren system is considered the best way to prepare young Muslims not only for the “real world” but also to produce future generations of high quality representatives of Islam.
Pesantren Umar bin Khattab measures the quality of its graduates in various ways, the most important of which include having the correct aqida, memorizing at least 12 chapters of al Quran and 300 hadiths, the ability to write and speak Arabic as well as conducting rituals in the correct manner, including shalat and dzikr, according to the interpretation of al-salaf al-sālih. In addition to religious subjects, as with Pesantren Ummu Sulaym above, secular subjects including English, mathematics, Indonesian, social and natural sciences are taught in the pesantren. Sport, especially swimming, is also encouraged for all students, and the pesantren has a large artificial lake used by students for swimming. A sport ground is also available for students. As previously
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stated, the Salafis believe that students who have been equipped with religious and secular subjects are more capable of dealing with the challenges of modernity.
Since the quality of a pesantren is greatly dependent on the quality of its teachers, the Pesantren Umar bin Khattab employs graduates of IUM, LIPIA, UNRI and African International University in Sudan. These formally qualified teachers who are restricted to the classroom only make up a part of the overall programme. For the informal learning in the mosque, the pesantren management regularly invites some well-known Salafi preachers from Java. These include Aunurrafiq Ghufron, Khalid Basalamah, Zainal Abidin, Abu Qotadah and Syafiq Reza Basalamah. Java can be said to be the center of Indonesian Salafism, where hundreds of Salafi preachers, graduates from various Middle Eastern universities, are living and conducting the Salafi da’wa through numerous media, including establishing educational institutions, publishers, mosques and radio and television stations. ERJE TV, one of the most influential Salafi TV is also located in Java63.
Both the Pesantren Ummu Sulaym and Pesantren Umar bin Khattab are examples of the rounded education, as seen by the Salafis, that they give to their students. I will now give an example of how they attempt to extend their influence to the broader community.
4.3.3.3. Primary School (Sekolah Dasar [SD] Imam Shafii)
In 2000, one year after the establishment of Pesantren Umar bin Khattab, the Ubudiyya Foundation founded a new primary school, Sekolah Dasar (SD) Imam Shafii. The Foundation hopedto attract parents who were cautious about enrolling their children in the pesantren system. In line with government primary schools, SD Imam Shafii does not require its students to live in school dormitories: they only attend school from 7am until 4pm during weekdays (three hours more than government primary schools) to allow time for religious education.
63 For further information about the strong presence of Salafism in Java, see Jahroni (2015), Hasan
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The aim of this primary school is to instruct students in the basic tenets of Islam, including the correct aqida and ensuring they know how to conduct rituals in the manner taught in the Quran and Sunnah according to the interpretation of al-salaf al- sālih. The school also ensures that the graduates will be capable of reciting al Quran correctly, even having memorised at least 2.5 chapters by the time they leave Primary School. Another target is to instil in them a great love of learning al Quran and Hadith as well as to love all knowledge and practices as conducted by the Prophet’s Companions and al-salaf al-sālih. In addition to these religious targets, the students are taught the basics of science, such as maths, physics and biology as well as technology in order to prepare them for life. The Principal of SD highlighted that the school provides its students with national and local competency by combining religious and secular sciences in the curricula. As evidence of its success, the school has been awarded an A listing by the government. This is the highest level of accreditation that can be reached by any school in the Indonesian educational system. It is this high quality which has attracted middle-class families to enrol their children at the SD Imam Shafii (Fuad, interview, November 29, 2015).
The three schools outlined above were founded by the Ubudiyya Foundation, which belongs to the Salafi group of Pekanbaru. As stated, all founders of the Foundation were students of Buya Jufri. Thus, it can be said that this Foundation is a continuation of the Salafi da’wa after the death of Buya Jufri. The al Furqan alumni who returned from either IUM or LIPIA include Abu Syukur, Jafar, Husein, Abu Zaid, Umar and Bukhari, Zaki and Amin who joined this Foundation to spread the Salafi da’wa in their home city. It therefore can be regarded that this Foundation is “home” to the students of Buya Jufri, a place where they can unite and consolidate their da’wa. They are well aware that without this establishment they would not be able to conduct an effective and efficient da’wa, therefore all of them contribute greatly to the Foundation according to their capabilities.
Although the Ubudiyya Foundation was established for the purpose of the consolidation of da’wa, some internal frictions occurred in 1999 as a result of
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different viewpoints64 regarding policies. The Foundation document65 described this
friction as an “internal crisis,” claiming it could be relieving the chairman of Foundation of his duties. Raihan not only resigned from his position as Chairman, but left the organisation completely, followed by some other members. This was the first fragmentation of the Salafi since the death of Buya Jufri, but not the last. In 2008, a major confrontation between Salafis and non-Salafis in neighbouring Kubang had a devastating knock-on effect on the Salafi da’wa in Pekanbaru. This was the starting point of the fragmentation stage.