Preserving tradition, maintaining authority: Transmitting religious knowledge in Traditional Pesantren in Indonesia

Machendrawaty, Nanih and Suherdiana, Dadan and Suryana, Cecep (2021) Preserving tradition, maintaining authority: Transmitting religious knowledge in Traditional Pesantren in Indonesia. Linguistica Antverpiensia, 2 (2). pp. 4303-4315. ISSN 0304-2294

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Abstract

The aim of this paper is to explain the attempts of traditional pesantren to maintain their religious authority facing the abundance of religious knowledge in the information age. Using three traditional pesantren(Islamic boarding school) in West Java as case, this study contends that, in the face of the emergence of new religious views, traditional pesantren uphold the traditionalism as part of maintaining their religious authority, whether from a manuscriptural, charismatic, or juridical standpoint. This study demonstrates how the patterns, objects, and methods of transmitting religious knowledge continue to adhere to traditionalism principles. The study of the kitab kuning (yellow books) and related sciences aims to enhance comprehension of the Quran, the most important Islamic religious text. This exemplifies the attempt to preserve religious authority in the manuscriptural aspect. The charismatic defense of religious authority is carried out by memorizing, learning, and analyzing hadith science, which is commonly used as the basis of religious opinions. Finally, the attempt to maintain religious authority in the juridical aspect is shown by bahtsul masa’il, which entails observing the findings of ijtihad by previous ulama. This initiative is important in dealing with various evolving times and the proliferation of various religious views circulating in contemporary society

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