Oleh: Neila Ezri Millah
Santri in general is a term for someone
who follows Islamic religious education in Islamic boarding schools. Santr
usually stay in that place until their education is complete. KH Mustofa Bisri
or who is usually called Gus Mus provides his own definition-of the meaning of
a santri. “santri are student of the kiai who are educated with compassion to
become strong believers (who do not waver in their faith by association,
interests, and differences). Who loves their homeland (where they were born,
breathes the air, and prostrates themselves) and respect tradition the culture,
who respects their teachers and parents until they die”, said Gus Mus.
Nowadays, there are many modern-style of
boarding school is popping up, but also some Islamic boarding schools that are
still based on the Salaf. Of cours, the traditions lived by salaf and modern
students are different. Among the learning methods that distinguish salaf
students from others are sorogan or reading the kitab kuning, book
deliberation, mutholaah kitab and bahtsul masail. When viewed from a different
perspective, salaf students have the characteristics of wearing sarongs and
clothes brackets. This tradition must be maintained so that it does not
disappear slowly eroded by the increasingly rapid progress of the times.
The development of technology in this
era 4.0, where technology is increasingly sophisticated and very influential in
every aspect of human life, including Islamic boarding school is questionable,
is it still feasible to “exist” in an era like this? Let’s see the explanation
Should the salaf Islamic boarding
school leave its tradition? Then follow the technological advances or keep the
tradition?
If
viewed from maqolah al muhafadhotu ‘ala qodimis sholih wal akhdzu bil jadidil
ashlah wich means “maintaning good old traditions is everything that is good and
keeps it, while for current traditions, they must be able to sort out, at least
consider which ones are god and better.So today’s salaf pesantren must maintain
their traditions and be smart in choosing the technological developments to be
followed.
Actualization of the collaboration of
salaf traditions and technological developments
Nowadays,
there are many manifestations of the collaboration of salaf tradisions and
technological developments such as what is done at the Qudsiyyah Putri Islamic
Boarding School, namely maknani on live streaming which is held every evening
after performing maghrib prayer. Broadcasting directly from YouTube is one form
of utilizing technological advances and maknani is a salaf tradition that is
still maintained today. Of course, it will have a positive impact on various
groups from the Islamic boarding school itself, which will continue to exist
without losing its traditions and the wider community can easily follow the
Alqur’an even though they are not present on the spot. The same thing was
realized by the ITS KKN team in the information system department who created
website-based learning media which included videos, presentation slides, audio,
and nahwu shorof digital books. This can also be an alternative learning that
is not boring and makes the mind more open which makes the user active in the
learning process.
If we go back to the genuine question,
is it still feasible to have Islamic boarding schools in an era like this? The
answer is that it is still very feasible by smartly utilizing existing
technology in today’s era, the existence of the Salaf Islamic Boarding School
will not disappear even though it still maintains its Salaf tradition.
