JOIN USCurious minds at work
''Are you from India, Miss?'' I turn to find two smiling girls with hijabs covering their heads. ''Yes!'' I grin back, not sure which of the two, the question comes from.“Have you seen My Name is Khan?” the taller of them, Alifa, enquires further. I haven’t, but the girls excuse me for not having watched Shahrukh Khan’s latest release. They think he is great, and post animated discussion on his various charms we cement a cross-cultural friendship by exchanging visiting card for pencil scrawl on a bit of paper. A week from the visit, I am pleasantly surprised to get a Facebook friend request from my Indonesian pal.
It is my first visit to a madrasah and when I’m told to wear long sleeves and a skirt that covers the legs, I confess, what I have in mind is certainly not a school with students who surf the net, chat about film stars and study music, dance and international religion. By definition, Darunnajah is a specialised Islamic boarding school. So does that evoke images of Quran reciting boys in skull caps, radical Islam, brewing religious hatred and weapon training? If you blinked, you’re caught.
Many of us non-Muslims would be too embarrassed to admit in public (unless we are in similarly minded company) how we feel about madrasahs and pesantrens. You will be surprised to know that they actually mean school and specialised boarding. Training suicide bombers is, actually, not on the syllabus.
A visit to Pesantren Darunnajah, in Jakarta, breaks many stereotyped opinions about madrasahs. And thankfully, the young children there are forgiving adults greater faults than not having watched their favourite film. They are forgiving the world, only as children can, for harbouring prejudiced religious views. And they are trying to grow up with dignity in an environment that eyes Islam with mistrust.
While Alifa and her friend with the beautiful smile (too shy to share her name) are refreshing for their schoolgirl naivity, a more exposed Iman Khairul Annas, 16, training to be a religious leader, impresses by his maturity. “I know there are some people who perceive Muslims as terrorists. In my view, terrorists are not Muslims because they do not obey Islamic laws,” he says. Iman follows a grueling 4 am to 10 pm schedule, that includes prayers and Quran readings five times a day. But despite this, he smiles and confesses, he finds time for soccer, volleyball, martial arts and even for catching up with a Harry Potter film. “I like Daniel Radcliffe. Yes, I do,” he says.
Regular school boy things happen in a madrasah too. A bunch of boys who first shyly and then boldly gather around me chat about bad roads, cricket and stories of Rama and Shinta (as Sita is known in those parts). Just as curious about me as I am about them, they want to know if I worship Ram and Shinta. They want to know if increasing traffic in India is leading to pollution and causing other environmental problems. And they want to know what I think of their city Jakarta and their country. Indonesia traditionally has religious schools and citizens have to choose a religion. It surprises them that most Indian schools are non-religious.
Keeping the faith
Eighteen-year-old Ardini Fitri, senior student, assures me that a religious school is just like any other school. “Maybe we learn a bit more about religion,” she says. “We learn to be good Muslims. And, that’s not easy.” So what would make a good Muslim? “A good Muslim is a Muslim who follows certain rules. We should pray five times a day, read the Al-Qur’an properly, understand it, be kind to people, smile and be happy to share our knowledge,” she explains, and to me she is a perfect example.
Next, we come to the issue of hijab — the scarf that Muslim girls wear. Ardini wears it. “No one can force every Muslim woman to wear that. It depends on their own faith. I wear it and I find no difficulties in my life because of it.” The biggest challenge Islam faces in the modern world, Ardini feels, is that it needs to protect women’s rights so that they can do the same things as men. World peace is important too, she feels. “A Muslim would never take an innocent life.”
This is a view publicly reinforced by their principal Dr H Sofwan Manaf as well. “There are good people and bad people in this world. We don’t believe pesantrens produce terrorists. They only produce good graduates. And we hope that people from different backgrounds can live happily with each other,” he says.
For that it is important that students from different religious schools interact with each other. Adds founder-director Dr KH Mahrus Amin, “In Indonesia, there are many religions and ethnic groups, and students need to know about those. We send students to participate in inter-school competitions like debating, public speaking, science, math olympics etc. Study tours to historical places are also undertaken and students watch art and culture performances, including plays about Ram and Sita.”
The school is expecting a visit from President Barack Obama — the latest ambassador of world peace — later this year. “We don’t want bombs, we want peace. We hope that President Obama will gradually bring peace to the world,” says Dr Manaf. If I were a believer I would have said “Insha Allah” to that!
Footnote: Pesantren Darunnajah is a 36-year-old Islamic Boarding School in Jakarta. It provides education at play group, kindergarten, elementary/primary school, secondary school and university levels. Students have gone on to become teachers, scientists, doctors, diplomats and lawyers.