Models of Achievement: Muslim Girls and Religious Authority in a Modernist Islamic Boarding School in Indonesia

Abstract

Madrasah Mu’allimaat Muhammadiyah in Yogyakarta, Indonesia is a unique Islamic boarding school for girls; a cadre (kader) school, it aims to mould the future female leaders of Muhammadiyah – the second largest Muslim social welfare organisation in the country. Instruction includes both general and religious education while emphasising girls’ leadership training and religious dakwah (religious outreach) to other Muslims on Islamic normativity. In recent years, however, the school and Muhammadiyah more generally have experienced an identity crisis: as their young, largely middle-class members increasingly set their sights on upward mobility and prestigious careers, students’ attention to the Islamic sciences has decreased. This article analyses how this decline in interest in religious training may pose problems for the future female leadership of Muhammadiyah. I argue that a closer examination of the pedagogical energies of teachers and administrators at Mu’allimaat illustrates their own understanding that the grounds for women’s authority – religious and otherwise – are determined not just by discourses and practices in the religious field, but also by developments in a broader array of social fields, such as education, employment, respectability and marriage. This article examines these trends and considers how Mu’allimaat and Muhammadiyah are grappling with issues of women’s religious training and authority.

Madrasah Mu’allimaat Muhammadiyah di Yogyakarta, Indonesia adalah sekolah Islam yang unik dan berprestasi. Sekolah ini dikenal sebagai sekolah kader, dalam arti bahwa sekolah ini membidik untuk menbentuk pemimpin masa depan untuk Muhammadiyah—organisasi masa Muslim terbesar kedua di negara. Kurikulum di madrasah ini meliputi pendidikan nasional dan agama (Islam) sekaligus menekankan pelatihan kepemimpinan dan dakwah yang memanggil Muslim ke Islam yang moderen, nasional, dan reformis. Akan tetapi, dalam beberapa tahun terakhir, Madrasah Mu’allimaat dan Muhammadiyah secara umum mengalami semacam pergeseran atau krisis identitas: di saat anggotanya (kebanyakannya dari kelas menengah) lebih sering cenderung mementingkan mobilitas sosial dan karir prestisius, kita bisa melihat kekurangan dalam ketertarikan terhadap ilmu dan profesi Islam. Makalah ini menyediakan analisa untuk perkembangan ini dan menguraikan bagaimana perkembangan ini menimbulkan tantangan untuk pemimpinan putri Muhammadiyah di masa depan. Studi ini menunjukkan bahwa usaha-usaha pedagogis para guru-guru dan administrasi di Mu’allimaat menggambarkan bahwa mereka memahami bahwa otoritas (di dalam dan di luar bidang agama) perempuan ditentukan oleh wacana dan praktik agamis dan juga oleh perkembangan sosial yang baru: antara lain, aspirasi perempuan terhadap pendidikan, pekerjaan, kehormatan, dan pernikahan. Artikel ini meneliti kecenderungan ini dan meninjau bagaimana Mu’allimaat dan Muhammadiyah menganggapi perubahan dalam pendidikan Islam dan otoritas perempuan ini.

Keywords:

• Indonesia
• Islam
• education
• religious authority
• women
• Muhammadiyah

Acknowledgments

A special thanks to the Center for Religious and Cross-cultural Studies (CRCS) at Universitas Gadjah Mada for their willingness to serve as an institutional affiliation at that time and for their feedback on an earlier version of this paper presented at the Center. Thanks to David Kloos and Mirjam Künkler for their work in organising this special edition. Most importantly, this research project would not have been possible without the generous hospitality, patience and kindness of the Madrasah Mu’allimaat Muhammadiyah administration, teachers and students. Maturnuwun sanget.

Notes

1. According to the official Madrasah Mu’allimaat Muhammadiyah’s official website. http://muallimaat.sch.id/?page_id=10, accessed 13 July 2015.

2. Femininity classes (keputrian) are similar to home economics classes – young women are instructed in topics such as cooking, sewing and table setting.

3. Due in large part to the madrasah’s special Muhammadiyah and leadership training curriculum, students take 24–28 different subjects in a single semester.

4. Here it is worth noting the extent of Muhammadiyah’s social welfare projects. In addition to running thousands of schools and afterschool Qur’anic study programs across the archipelago, Muhammadiyah also runs thousands of mosques and prayer halls, and has several hundred orphanages and an extensive network of hospitals and clinics. Muhammadiyah has also been integral in offering critical aid relief during such crises as the devastating tsunami in Aceh in 2004.

5. “Kader ulama, pemimpin, dan pendidik sebagai pembawa misi gerakan Muhammadiyah.”

6. For a fascinating discussion of Muhammadiyah training programs, see James Peacock’s Purifying the Faith: The Muhammadiyah Movement in Indonesian Islam (1978b).

7. This was, at least, how it was most often explained to me. In the United States, I have heard American Muslims explain that the presence of alcohol in nail polish is an additional issue with regard to ritual purity.

8. Many girls in the madrasah dormitory where I lived had begun wearing a pair of pants beneath their long skirts as well – to further hide their figure but also to ensure that an ankle or calf didn’t peek out if they were to cross their legs while seated in class.

9. During this field trip, I happened to read over a “to-do” list handed out to all the school chaperones. It was a short list describing in bullet points when the group would arrive, what activities they would do, and what students would get for lunch. What I found most striking was that in bold at the bottom of the short handout was this very detail – that students should not remove their veils (or shoes) on the bus during the trip. No other disciplinary rules were included, so clearly this was seen as a crucial matter to the administration.

10. Amar ma’ruf nahi munkar (Surat At-Taubah, verse 71).

11. Mujanibah (Arabic) means companion or guardian. School administrators translated it as the Indonesian word pendamping.

12. Quote taken from Dr Din Syammsuddin’s speech given during the Madrasah Mu’allimaat graduation ceremony held at Universitas Islam Negeri Sunan Kali Jaga in Yogyakarta on Sunday 13 May 2012. Author’s translation from Indonesian to English. Author’s emphasis added to reflect the speaker’s use of English.

13. It should be noted that heteronormative cultural norms are pervasive in the school; all my survey respondents reported that they plan to marry and in interviews older girls often scoffed that I would even think to ask – it was such an obvious life step to them.

14. There are two points worth noting here. First, the percentage of young women who will actually go on to become doctors is much smaller than the percentage that lists it as an aspiration. The fact that so many young women reported this profession reflects their middle-class aspirations and the fact that a career as a doctor is currently one of the more prestigious and lucrative career tracks in Indonesia. At the time of my research, a more common medical career pursued by recent Mu’allimaat graduates was that of midwife – a path many of them pursued through a Muhammadiyah-run midwifery program.

Second, a career in medicine, university lecturing or teaching does not necessarily mean that these young women will no longer be affiliated with the Muhammadiyah. They could teach in an institution (preschool through university level) or work in a medical facility run by the organisation. After all, according to the organisation’s website, the Muhammadiyah currently runs an impressive 127 institutes for higher learning, and 457 hospitals, clinics and other medical centres across the archipelago in addition to its vast networks of day and boarding schools. http://www.muhammadiyah.or.id/id/content-8-det-amal-usaha.html, accessed 11 July 2015.

15. Interview in May 2014 in Yogyakarta at the Aisyiyah headquarters. Author’s translation from Indonesian to English.