THE DYNAMICS OF DISSEMINATING SALAFI

THE DYNAMICS OF

DISSEMINATING SALAFI

TEACHINGS

The main vehicles for spreading salafi teachings go

back to Mohammed Natsir's troika: pesantrens,

mosques, and university campuses. As Middle

Eastern money, particularly from Saudi Arabia and

Kuwait, was critical to all three, it will be interesting

to see how the post 9/11 funding cutbacks affect the

growth of the movement.

A. PESANTRENS

The pesantrens are most important. From a handful

of salafi institutions in the early 1980s, such as the

long-established Persis school in Bangil, East Java,

there are hundreds today, as graduates set up their

own, often with links to their alma maters.

The alumni network of the al-Irsyad Pesantren

mentioned above makes an interesting case study. As

noted, the pesantren was established in Tengaran,

Salatiga, not far from the Central Javanese provincial

capital, Semarang, in 1986, took on its first students

in 1988, and produced its first graduates in 1992. Its

original director was Yusuf Baisa, like many salafi

leaders, an Indonesian of Arab (Hadrami) descent.

Baisa was a graduate of the Persis pesantren in Bangil

and went on to LIPIA about the same time as Ja'far

Umar Thalib. He subsequently studied in Riyadh.

The main objectives of the pesantren since its

founding have been:

􀂉 to train instructors in Islam and Arabic who

can then be placed in Muslim schools and

pesantrens;

􀂉 to prepare muballigh to propagate salafi

methodology in the public at large;

􀂉 to implement a religious outreach program to rid

Islam of innovation, idolatry and superstition; and

􀂉 to conduct dauroh programs and other forms

of training.

Outreach work is part of the standard curriculum, and

students are expected to teach in the local community

while completing their studies, or in kindergartens,

Indonesia Backgrounder: Why Salafism and Terrorism Mostly Don't Mix

ICG Asia Report N°83, 13 September 2004 Page 11

mosques, orphanages, prisons and other institutions

with which the pesantren has links.50

After graduation, students are meant to complete a

two-year community service assignment (Khidmah

Dakhwah dan Taklim), in effect, voluntary religious

teaching, either locally or in areas as far away as

Kalimantan, East Nusa Tenggara, and before its

independence, East Timor. Of the 22 graduates in

2001, six stayed at the pesantren, eight went slightly

further afield in Central Java, one each went to

Sumbawa, Riau, Makassar, and East Kalimantan,

and the rest to West or East Java. Of the 34

graduates the next year, two went to Sumbawa, one

to East Kalimantan, one to Riau, and the rest stayed

on in Java, in most cases, apparently with other

salafi pesantrens.51

Internationally, the school maintains ties to the

Islamic University in Medina, Saudi Arabia, from

which it has received accreditation (mu'adalah) for

its teaching program. It has also received help from

the Saudi government to bring in foreign teachers

and support some of its activities, and from at-Turots

in Kuwait.

The at-Turots network in Indonesia is another

interesting case. Founded by Abu Nida', it now has

several schools with more in preparation. Officially,

only five institutions are owned and operated by Abu

Nida's at-Turots Foundation in Yogyakarta (Yayasan

Majelis At-Turots al-Islami).52 But there is a much

wider informal network of schools that also receive

funding from the Kuwaiti charity, much of it

channelled through the Southeast Asia branch office

of at-Turots in Jakarta.53 At least two of these focus

on recruiting students from predominantly non-

50 For example, al-Irsyad works closely with nine mosques, 24

Muslim kindergartens, and two detention centres. It has

partnership arrangements with two Islamic academies (mahad

aly) in Solo and Salatiga, with LIPIA, and with a state Islamic

academy (STAIN) in Salatiga.

51 Information made available to ICG.

52 They include the Islamic Centre bin Baz in Bantul, Central

Java; the Jamilurrahman al-Salafy Pesantren, also in Bantul;

a clinic and maternity hospital; the magazine al-Fatawa, and

an agency providing travel services and education for

pilgrims to Mecca.

53 They include Ahmad Faiz's Imam Buchori Pesantren, run

by the Yayasan Lajnah Istiqomah; Aunur Rofiq's Mahad al-

Furqon in Gresik, run by the Lajnah al-Furqon al-Islami;

Pesantren Ibnu Taimiyyah in Pontianak, West Kalimantan;

Pesantren Ibnu Taimiyyah in Bogor; the Ukhuwah al-

Muslimin Pesantren in Cisaat; and the al-Imam Pesantren

outside Makassar.

Muslim areas and pride themselves on the number of

converts (mualaf). Recruiting is said to be particularly

strong in West Timor, Flores, and Mentawai, a small,

largely Christian island off the coast of Sumatra. Each

student recruited is expected to stay at the pesantren

for six years, after which males have an opportunity

for fully-funded study abroad, usually at either the

Islamic University in Medina or the Islamic law

faculty of Punjab University in Lahore. They are

expected to return eventually to their places of origin,

with the hope that each will eventually establish a

new pesantren or at least a mosque.54

Yayasan al-Huda, another salafi institution set up in

1998 in Ciomas, Bogor, originally concentrated on

producing memorizers of the Quran. In the interests

of religious outreach, it set up not only kindergartens

but also Radio Al-Imam Swaratama, whose broadcasts

reach well into West Java.