ISLAMIC BOARDING SCHOOLS AND DE-RADICALISATION OF ISLAM IN BUKITTINGGI

This research examines the deradicalisation of Islamic boarding schools in an effort to ward off fudamentalism and radicalism in Bukittinggi, West Sumatra. Pesantren as the oldest educational institution in Indonesia has always played a strategic role in influencing the mindset, knowledge, understanding and religious behaviour of Muslim communities in Indonesia. Pesantren as a religious institution was actually not established to produce radicalism. The pesantren is tasked with producing cadres of scholars who are knowledgeable (tafaqquh fi al-din). Since the revelation that the perpetrators of the Bali bombings involved alumni of alIslam Islamic Boarding School students in Lamongan, radicalism has often been associated with religious education in pesantren. There seems to be a link between religious education in pesantren and radicalism. Rigid and scriptural interpretations of Islam can contribute to the growth of violence in the name of religion. Radicalism is a sharp contrast between the values championed by a particular religious group and the prevailing value order. The existence of a sharp conflict between the two values encourages radical attitudes.