Varieties of Religious Authority: Changes and Challenges in 20th Century Indonesian Islam

5. AUTHORITY CONTESTED: Mathla’ul Anwar in the Last Years of the New Order, by Didin Nurul Rosidin

93 5 AUTHORITY CONTESTED Mathla’ul Anwar in the Last Years of the New Order Didin Nurul Rosidin INTRODUCTION Mathla’ul Anwar (Matla‘u al-Anwar) along with its madrasah was founded in 1916 by a group of Bantenese religious teachers (kiyai)1 as an immediate response towards both the massive introduction of secular schools by the Dutch colonial government following the issuance of the Ethical Policy and the declining effectiveness of the pesantren- (traditional Islamic boarding school) based education in providing an attractive place to study religion for Muslim youth in Banten. Mathla’ul Anwar’s madrasah was to be the first modern Islamic school in the Banten region before the foundation of the Al-Khairiyah (al-Khairiyya) in Serang in 1923. From its foundation to the present, there have been seven different leaders who have acted as the general chairman of the central board of Mathla’ul Anwar, including Kiyai Haji Muhammad Yasin (1916–37), Kiyai Haji Abdul Mu’thi (1937–39), Kiyai Haji Uwes Abu Bakar (1939–72), Kiyai Haji Muslim Abdurrahman (1972–74), Haji Nafsirin Hadi (1974–85), Kiyai Haji Burhani (1985–91) and Haji Irsyad Djuwaeli (1991–up to now). Except Nafsirin Hadi and Irsyad Djuwaeli, all leaders have a similar education background, pesantren. Meanwhile, both Nafsirin Hadi and Irsyad Djuwaeli represented the alumni 94 Didin Nurul Rosidin of the madrasah. For instance, Irsyad Djuwaeli spent his early studies at the madrasah of the Anwarul Hidayah (Anwar al-Hidaya) before continuing his study at the Religious Teacher Training (Pendidikan Guru Agama, PGA) of Mathla’ul Anwar in Jakarta. Educational background is important to see the style and orientation, as well as their acceptability among traditional members of Mathla’ul Anwar. Members of this organization would not qualify Nafsirin Hadi as a true leader of Mathla’ul Anwar due to his lack of religious expertise,2 while they highly admired Kiyai Uwes Abu Bakar as an example of the perfect leader due to his exceptional expertise in religious matters.3 Yet, authoritative knowledge in religious matters as the only referred parameter for judging the leadership in Mathla’ul Anwar does not do justice to reality as is shown in the case of Irsyad Djuwaeli’s leadership. His ability to combine a variety of sources of authority paved the way for him to exercise unparalleled influence within Mathla’ul Anwar. So, this chapter will elaborate the leadership of Irsyad Djuwaeli who has taken dominant roles since the 1985 congress and was elected as the general chairman in the 1991 congress. MATHLA’UL ANWAR AT A GLANCE As mentioned above, the foundation of Mathla’ul Anwar was followed by the opening of the madrasah located at Simanying in the sub-district of Menes in Pandeglang on the land attained from people’s endowment (waqf). Up to 1929, it offered nine years of study from class A, B, I, II until VII exclusively for male students. Each class had a fixed curriculum and was supervised by one teacher. From 1929, Mathla’ul Anwar opened classes for female students. Unlike the males, female students only took six years of study up to class IV. In all of their educational activities, both male and female pupils were totally separated.4 In addition to their main concern on Islamic education, the leaders of Mathla’ul Anwar were active in the Islamic missionary (dakwah) activities either through organizing public sermons in prayer houses or sending their envoys to areas surrounding Menes sub-district and even as far away as Bogor and Serang. Through these activities, they established their influence in those places and, because of this, local Muslim leaders in most cases sent a request to the central board of Mathla’ul Anwar to also operate its madrasah in their neighbourhood. After that, Mathla’ul Anwar supported the setting up of the madrasah through providing the curriculum and qualified teachers who were actually alumni of the madrasah of Menes. In the mid-1930s, it was reported that there had been forty new madrasahs founded in a variety of regions, including some villages in Pandeglang, Serang, Lebak and even Bogor. During Authority Contested 95 its first congress in 1936, Mathla’ul Anwar issued regulation classifying its madrasahs into two general groups. The first was the Central Madrasah (Madrasah Pusat) that was located in Simanying in Menes where the first madrasah was founded and the second was the Branch Madrasahs (Madrasah Cabang) that...