The Leadership Vision of Charismatic Kyai in the Implementation of Religious Moderation Values in Al-Baqiyatush Shalihat Islamic Boarding School, Jambi Province
Abstract
Abstract: UIN Sultan Thaha Saifuddin Jambi, Indonesia Religious moderation in Islamic boarding schools (pesantren) emerges through the interplay of religious authority, cultural traditions, and inherited intellectual practices. This study examines how the leadership vision of a charismatic kyai shapes the cultivation of religious moderation at Al-Baqiyatush Shalihat Islamic Boarding School in Jambi Province, Indonesia. Adopting a qualitative case study design, the research draws on in-depth and unstructured interviews with the kyai, teachers, and students, observations of the kyai’s everyday activities, and documentary analysis of the institution’s vision, curriculum, and policies. The data were analysed through reduction, display, verification, and conclusion drawing, with triangulation used to strengthen credibility. The findings identify two interconnected mechanisms through which religious moderation is articulated. First, local cultural heritage, including religious gatherings and communal traditions, provides a setting for transmitting tolerance, solidarity, and inclusive religious attitudes. Second, classical Islamic scholarship and authoritative texts, including al-Fatawa at-Tunkaliyah, serve as sources of religious legitimacy through which moderation is interpreted and communicated across generations. These cultural and intellectual resources reinforce the kyai’s moral authority while connecting established Islamic traditions with engagement in religiously diverse communities. The study argues that charismatic leadership in pesantren can provide an important institutional pathway for cultivating religious moderation by bringing cultural continuity, scholarly authority, and inclusive social relations into dialogue. This perspective highlights the significance of locally grounded religious leadership in understanding how moderation is negotiated and sustained within Indonesian Islamic educational institutions.
Keywords: Charismatic Leadership; Kyai; Religious Moderation; Pesantren; Classical Islamic Scholarship
References
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Akmaliah, W. (2020). The demise of moderate Islam: New media, contestation, and reclaiming religious authorities. Indonesian Journal of Islam and Muslim Societies, 10(1), 1–24. https://doi.org/10.18326/ijims.v10i1.1-24
Antonakis, J., Bastardoz, N., Jacquart, P., & Shamir, B. (2016). Charisma: An ill-defined and ill-measured gift. Annual Review of Organizational Psychology and Organizational Behavior, 3, 293–319. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-orgpsych-041015-062305
Arifianto, A. R. (2019). Islamic campus preaching organizations in Indonesia: Promoters of moderation or radicalism? Asian Security, 15(3), 323–342. https://doi.org/10.1080/14799855.2018.1461086
Badarussyamsi, B., Anwar, F., Muzammil, S., & Ermawati, E. (2021). Tolerant worldview and deradicalism in pesantren: Case of Pesantren Al-Baqiyatush Shalihat Tanjung Jabung Barat, Jambi. ESENSIA: Jurnal Ilmu-Ilmu Ushuluddin, 22(2), 183–195.
Brown, G. (2019). Civic Islam: Muhammadiyah, NU and the organisational logic of consensus-making in Indonesia. Asian Studies Review, 43(3), 397–414. https://doi.org/10.1080/10357823.2019.1626802
Faisal, A., Pabbajah, M., Abdullah, I., Muhammad, N. E., & Rusli, M. (2022). Strengthening religious moderatism through the traditional authority of kiai in Indonesia. Cogent Social Sciences, 8(1), 2150450. https://doi.org/10.1080/23311886.2022.2150450
Fenwick, S. (2018). Eat, pray, regulate: The Indonesian Ulama Council and the management of Islamic affairs. Journal of Law and Religion, 33(2), 271–290. https://doi.org/10.1017/jlr.2018.23
Grabo, A., Spisak, B. R., & van Vugt, M. (2017). Charisma as signal: An evolutionary perspective on charismatic leadership. The Leadership Quarterly, 28(4), 473–485. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.leaqua.2017.05.001
Harjatanaya, T. Y., & Hoon, C.-Y. (2020). Politics of multicultural education in post-Suharto Indonesia: A study of the Chinese minority. Compare: A Journal of Comparative and International Education, 50(1), 18–35. https://doi.org/10.1080/03057925.2018.1493573
Hasyim, S. (2019). Religious pluralism revisited: Discursive patterns of the ulama fatwa in Indonesia and Malaysia. Studia Islamika, 26(3), 475–509. https://doi.org/10.36712/sdi.v26i3.10623
Hefner, R. W. (2019). Whatever happened to civil Islam? Islam and democratisation in Indonesia, 20 years on. Asian Studies Review, 43(3), 375–396. https://doi.org/10.1080/10357823.2019.1625865
Hoon, C.-Y. (2014). God and discipline: Religious education and character building in a Christian school in Jakarta. South East Asia Research, 22(4), 505–524. https://doi.org/10.5367/sear.2014.0232
Hoon, C.-Y. (2017). Putting religion into multiculturalism: Conceptualising religious multiculturalism in Indonesia. Asian Studies Review, 41(3), 476–493. https://doi.org/10.1080/10357823.2017.1334761
Hyett, N., Kenny, A., & Dickson-Swift, V. (2014). Methodology or method? A critical review of qualitative case study reports. International Journal of Qualitative Studies on Health and Well-Being, 9(1), 23606. https://doi.org/10.3402/qhw.v9.23606
Kementerian Agama Republik Indonesia. (2019). Moderasi beragama. Badan Litbang dan Diklat Kementerian Agama Republik Indonesia.
Künkler, M., & Lerner, H. (2016). A private matter? Religious education and democracy in Indonesia and Israel. British Journal of Religious Education, 38(3), 279–307. https://doi.org/10.1080/01416200.2015.1113933
Laksana, B. K. C., & Wood, B. E. (2019). Navigating religious diversity: Exploring young people’s lived religious citizenship in Indonesia. Journal of Youth Studies, 22(6), 807–823. https://doi.org/10.1080/13676261.2018.1545998
Maulana, D. (2017). The exclusivism of religion teachers: Intolerance and radicalism in Indonesian public schools. Studia Islamika, 24(2), 395–401. https://doi.org/10.15408/sdi.v24i2.5707
Menchik, J. (2014). Productive intolerance: Godly nationalism in Indonesia. Comparative Studies in Society and History, 56(3), 591–621. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0010417514000267
Menchik, J. (2019). Moderate Muslims and democratic breakdown in Indonesia. Asian Studies Review, 43(3), 415–433. https://doi.org/10.1080/10357823.2019.1627286
Mietzner, M., & Muhtadi, B. (2018). Explaining the 2016 Islamist mobilisation in Indonesia: Religious intolerance, militant groups and the politics of accommodation. Asian Studies Review, 42(3), 479–497. https://doi.org/10.1080/10357823.2018.1473335
Mietzner, M., & Muhtadi, B. (2020). The myth of pluralism: Nahdlatul Ulama and the politics of religious tolerance in Indonesia. Contemporary Southeast Asia, 42(1), 58–84. https://doi.org/10.1355/cs42-1c
Muhtifah, L., Prasojo, Z. H., Sappe, S., & Elmansyah. (2021). The theology of Islamic moderation education in Singkawang, Indonesia: The city of tolerance. HTS Teologiese Studies/Theological Studies, 77(4), a6552. https://doi.org/10.4102/hts.v77i4.6552
Mujahid, I. (2021). Islamic orthodoxy-based character education: Creating moderate Muslim in a modern pesantren in Indonesia. Indonesian Journal of Islam and Muslim Societies, 11(2), 185–212. https://doi.org/10.18326/ijims.v11i2.185-212
Mulya, T. W., & Aditomo, A. (2019). Researching religious tolerance education using discourse analysis: A case study from Indonesia. British Journal of Religious Education, 41(4), 446–457. https://doi.org/10.1080/01416200.2018.1556602
Murzyn-Kupisz, M., & Działek, J. (2013). Cultural heritage in building and enhancing social capital. Journal of Cultural Heritage Management and Sustainable Development, 3(1), 35–54. https://doi.org/10.1108/20441261311317392
Nasir, M., & Rijal, M. K. (2021). Keeping the middle path: Mainstreaming religious moderation through Islamic higher education institutions in Indonesia. Indonesian Journal of Islam and Muslim Societies, 11(2), 213–241. https://doi.org/10.18326/ijims.v11i2.213-241
Nurtawab, E. (2019). The decline of traditional learning methods in changing Indonesia: Trends of bandongan-kitāb readings in pesantrens. Studia Islamika, 26(3), 511–541. https://doi.org/10.36712/sdi.v26i3.11026
Parker, L. (2014). Religious education for peaceful coexistence in Indonesia? South East Asia Research, 22(4), 487–504. https://doi.org/10.5367/sear.2014.0231
Parker, L., Hoon, C.-Y., & Raihani. (2014). Young people’s attitudes towards inter-ethnic and inter-religious socializing, courtship and marriage in Indonesia. South East Asia Research, 22(4), 467–486. https://doi.org/10.5367/sear.2014.0230
Pedersen, L. (2016). Religious pluralism in Indonesia. The Asia Pacific Journal of Anthropology, 17(5), 387–398. https://doi.org/10.1080/14442213.2016.1218534
Pektas, S. (2021). A comparative analysis of three Sunni Muslim organizations on ‘moderate’ and ‘radical’ Islam in Egypt, Morocco and Indonesia. Religion, 51(2), 190–213. https://doi.org/10.1080/0048721X.2020.1868383
Prasojo, Z. H., Elmansyah, & Masri, M. S. H. (2019). Moderate Islam and the social construction of multi-ethnic communities in the hinterland of West Kalimantan. Indonesian Journal of Islam and Muslim Societies, 9(2), 217–239. https://doi.org/10.18326/ijims.v9i2.217-239
Raihani. (2014). Creating a culture of religious tolerance in an Indonesian school. South East Asia Research, 22(4), 541–560. https://doi.org/10.5367/sear.2014.0234
Raihani. (2015). Minority right to attend religious education in Indonesia. Al-Jami‘ah: Journal of Islamic Studies, 53(1), 1–26. https://doi.org/10.14421/ajis.2015.531.1-26
Raihani. (2018). Education for multicultural citizens in Indonesia: Policies and practices. Compare: A Journal of Comparative and International Education, 48(6), 992–1009. https://doi.org/10.1080/03057925.2017.1399250
Sakai, M., & Isbah, M. F. (2014). Limits to religious diversity practice in Indonesia: Case studies from religious philanthropic institutions and traditional Islamic schools. Asian Journal of Social Science, 42(6), 722–746. https://doi.org/10.1163/15685314-04206003
Verkuyten, M., & Yogeeswaran, K. (2017). The social psychology of intergroup toleration: A roadmap for theory and research. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 21(1), 72–96. https://doi.org/10.1177/1088868316640974
Verkuyten, M., Yogeeswaran, K., & Adelman, L. (2019). Intergroup toleration and its implications for culturally diverse societies. Social Issues and Policy Review, 13(1), 5–35. https://doi.org/10.1111/sipr.12051
Zaduqisti, E., Mashuri, A., Zuhri, A., Haryati, T. A., & Ula, M. (2020). On being moderate and peaceful: Why Islamic political moderateness promotes outgroup tolerance and reconciliation. Archive for the Psychology of Religion, 42(3), 359–378. https://doi.org/10.1177/0084672420931204
