Jurnal Pendidikan Islam PORTRAITS OF RELIGIOUS MODERATION IN THE SALAF PESANTREN EDUCATION SYSTEM IN INDONESIA

In the history of the development of Islam, many faces of Islam have been tainted by understandings that are not actually from the teachings of Islam itself. Radicalism, liberalism, and extremism have created intolerance and terrorism in the religion. The existence of Islam as a wasaṭiyah religion is an answer to the phenomena that occur in Islam as stated in the al-Qur’ān. Due to these waves of understandings, religious institutions or even the country were unable to position themselves as moderate institutions. Salaf pesantren are considered to be the only institutions that represent religious moderation in the Islamic revival century in Indonesia. The presence of the salaf pesantren is considered as a forum for negotiating Islamic identity as a wasaṭ wa i’tidāl religion and displays a polite and peaceful Islamic figure, by offering a salafiyah curriculum and kiai as the main actors in the management of the pesantren, as well as the role of pesantren graduates in social, religious and patriotic ontexts that are proven to carry a mission and moderate values that can bring Indonesian Islam to become a peripheral.


Abstract
In the history of the development of Islam, many faces of Islam

A. Introduction
Since long time ago, Islam has existed as a religion that brings peace 1 . Its existence which covers various fields and aspects of life such as the relationship with His god (ḥabl min Allāh) and between human beings (ḥabl min al-Nās).
However, several Islamic groups desecrate this peaceful religion by representing it as a radical religion 2 and terrorists 3 . Even so, extreme action in religion is a reality that is often found in the historical series of development of Muslims 4 , so that wars in the name of "religion" are always repeated in history 5 . Therefore, amiddle-path (wasaṭ) face of Islam is needed to bridge the challenges of Islam in this era of globalization 6 .
Islam has presented the argument that calls for being in the middle (i'tidāl or moderation) and avoiding transgressing attitudes. In the holy book al-Qur'ān, moderation is identified with 2 (two) words namely 'adl, al-wasṭ, and al-mīzān  which have the same meaning, namely "middle" which can be interpreted that Islam is a religion that has a middle attitude; neither harsh, nor weak, but balanced. 7 Lots of religious institutions and even countries are unable to position themselves as moderate institutions. 8 In the Indonesian context, there is an institution that is considered a prototype of religious moderation in the development period of Islamic civilization in Indonesia, namely the salaf pesantren.
The Salaf Pesantren have Islamic scientific buildings that focus on "ngaji", the learning model using turāth (The Yellow Book or Kitab Kuning), as a characteristic of the pesantren as stated by Zamachsari Dhofier 9 and Martin van Bruinessen 10 . The education system carried out in pesantren is a traditional learning system (salaf) which has been going on for hundreds of years which has been preserved until today. If we examine the contents of the books being taught, they provide understandings and practices to the students of the importance of being moderate (moderation) in various matters. Also in religious activities, Islamic boarding schools instil the values of moderation education in religion in activities such as pengajian, selametan 11 , istighāthah, and others. This paper is based on logical reasoning 12 that something Islamic basically teaches religious moderation, because Islam is a religion that is Rahmaṯ lil 'Ālamīn. So it is very appropriate if the pesantren is an institution that teaches religious moderation to students and society. A question in people's minds is why some Muslims sometimes display the face of radicals, liberals, and even terrorist extremists. Schwedler (2011) in an inclusion-moderate study also questioned why people who present "Islamists" tend to have harsh, unfriendly, and some exclusionary understandings. Even conflicts in several developing countries that have resulted in war are caused by elements of terrorism that are intentionally installed to worsen the image of Islam, as Schwartz's findings (2011)  Islam can be seen in Switzerland, where Islam is seen as an exclusive and extremist religion so that several public entities such as government, private institutions, and educational institutions with Islamic nuances will be marginalized. However, Yendell's research in 2020 found that not all Islamic public entities are viewed negatively by Swiss society. Based on his findings, those with spiritual attitudes who put humanity first are seen as closer and accepted by society than those who do not. 15 This research was conducted to provide an understanding on the assumption of pesantren as a portrait of an institution that teaches religious moderation through its salaf education system that has been preserved and preserved for centuries. Moderate Islamic values instilled in students and adaptive to the times is a unique phenomenon that is interesting to study, especially now that Islamic boarding schools in Indonesia are in a process of development and progress that combines religious knowledge with general sciences, and finally, pesantren is the only educational institution that continues to maintain the value of moderation in religion and socializing in the society.

B. Method
The method used in writing this article is in the form of a literature review or based on literature review, which is a study with a tendency to carry out text.
The stages of compiling this article begin with collecting data by reading, understanding and analyzing the required reference sources according to the theme of the portraits of religious moderation in the salaf pesantren education system in Indonesia

1) Al-Tawassuṭ wa-l I'tidāl: Moderate Concepts in Pesantren Education
The concept of diverse moderation in the Qur'ān which is commonly referred to in moderate Islamic conversations is QS. Al-Baqarah: 143; "And likewise (also) We have made you umma wasaṭ so that you become witnesses of (actions) humans ...". Afsaruddin (2009)  extremes: excess and deficiency (al-ghuluw wa-l taqsīr). The position of Islam as the "middle religion" makes Islam a religion that carries wasaṭiyah.
Third, umma wasaṭ is the "best people". This is the interpretation of mufassir such as al Zamakhshari (d. 538/1143) and Ibn Kathir (d. 774/1373). This meaning is closely related to the second one but emphasizes that wasaṭ means "centre", "funnel", "role model" or "chosen". A wasaṭ society is those who excel not only because a just society can avoid excesses, but also because they have a central position, as the Prophet Muhammad SAW said: "khair al-umūr ausaṭuhā" (the best things are born out of or are always in the middle ). This meaning is often assumed that "the middle one" is the best. The term umma wasaṭ is used to show that Islam is a portrait of Allah's perfect religion for all beings on Earth.

2) Adoption of NU to Moderate Islam
The moderate Islamic discourse on large mass organizations such as NU is a dispute. NU is very excited to adopt this idea and even multiplies itself as a representative of Moderate Islam. Although this is not completely justified because NU is more oriented towards political opportunism 18 . Mark R. Woodward find the big reasons that are used based on these accusations. First, the institution for ruling on religious matters Baḥt al-Masāil at the end of the Dutch colonial rule in Indonesia issued a controversial fatwā which decreed the defence of the Netherlands from the Japanese aggression. A polemic decision which gave the fact that the Dutch gave freedom to Muslims to practice their religion even though the colonial government had colonized Indonesia 19 . Second, Nakamura and Siddique (2001)  Another accusation is that NU's moderate attitude was pointed out by several groups of extreme right Muslim activists carrying missions from the West, especially American donor agencies 21 . This accusation reinforces that the principle of moderation is an opportunistic attitude to flexible Western ideals in programs of pluralism, tolerance, human rights, democracy and gender equality 22 .
Even so, NU as one of the Islamic organizations in this era has received full trust in the hearts of the people and the government. The moderate direction has brought NU as the best choice for the emergence of Islamic mass organizations that tend to be more radical, intolerant and exclusive.
This mass organization exclusively has a strong jargon claiming to be an Aswaja (short for Ahl al-Sunnah wa al-Jamā'ah) mass organization and is often referred to as Sunni. This designation is a characteristic inherent in NU, although several mass organizations also claim to be Aswaja such as MMI (Majelis

3) Religious Moderation Curriculum in Pesantren
The perspective of extremism arises as a result of incompleteness in understanding religious teachings. Those who are extreme tend to understand textually so that they are trapped in the puddle of fanatical groups from one perspective. Even in the findings of Asif, et.al. (2020), the attitude of a group's 20 Abdurrahman Wahid, "The Nahdlatul Ulama and Islam in Present Day Indonesia," Civil Society in Southeast Asia, 1986, 175-86. 21  sentiments towards religious teachings which causes them to take an extremist position is due to the textual understanding of religion through information from social media which is continuously "boomed" to brainwash several people. Tines' findings (2019) 24 and Farnen (2014) 25 in line with Asif, terrorism propaganda is mostly caused by the letterlijk understanding of several community groups on the phenomena that arise from textual social media.
The cause of this case phenomenon is due to the superficiality of information and the relatively low level of education of the Indonesian people.
Also, economic factors and uncertain political stability are the causes of society to accuse certain parties (such as state officials and religious organizations) of not being able to manage the state and society, resulting in a "motion of no confidence" which causes the seeds of terrorism to emerge. With the application of this curriculum model, pesantrens are the vanguards that prevents the society from radicalism, extremism, to terrorism. Moderation is not only shown by "welas asih" towards fellow Muslims, but also by high tolerance because Islam teaches good values for the benefit of the entire universe (Rahmaṯ lil 'Ālamīn).

4) Implementation of Religious Moderation in Pesantren
Pesantren is the basis for the internalization of moderatism as mentioned in the al-Qur'ān (umma wasaṭ). This wasaṭiyah paradigm differentiates Islam from other religions and also groups that claim to be Muslim but are not in line with what is categorized by the al-Qur'ān. This attitude must be a reflection of Muslims in the midst of the onslaught of "slander" at the end of time which deliberately destroys Islam from within. Pesantren have become miniature implementers of institutions that teach religious moderation in Indonesia, which has proven to be umma wasaṭ.
Pesantren as educational institutions with understanding Ahl al-Sunnah wa al-Jamā'ah has guaranteed that all students in the pesantren have been shaped with religious knowledge that teaches moderate attitudes. Another example of implementation is to exemplify the attitudes and morals of the kiai and ustādh as moderate caregivers and teachers. Santri imitate all the actions of kiai and ustādh as a reflection of morals and blessings of knowledge. The moderate attitude in religion is exemplified by the example of being tolerant with society 32 . This attitude will not be able to be obtained if the students do not imitate the nature and actions of the kiai and their ustādh.  illustrates why Islam is accepted in Indonesia due to the exemplary role of community leaders such as kiai and the community itself who teach exemplary (uswah) in every word and action 33 . Nilan (2009) even illustrates that pesantren is an institution that uses "bio-power" with moral and behavioural exemplary as the main identity in attracting people's interest. When connected with Raya's research (2020), pesantren has a special icon, namely educating the "morals" of the students as a trend that is needed by today's society 34 .
Also, before graduating and entering society, students are required to devote themselves to the kiai or what is called khidmah. The form of his service can be ordered to teach in the boarding school, serve the needs of the kiai (or called khaddām), even be sent to remote areas to teach the people in the area. Upon their return from khidmah, the students were ready to preach in society with examples and carrying Islamic values. The students are educated with exemplary in such ways, thus they will not be possible to commit radical acts, even acts of terrorism.

D. Conclusion
The existence of Islam as a religion of grace in a series of histories, has been tainted by the negative stigma of an intolerant, radical, extreme face of Islam, and has resulted in acts of terrorism committed by certain individuals. The presence of a peaceful and tolerant Islam is a form of wasaṭiyah Islam as reported in the al-Qur'ān as umma wasaṭ, a representation that Islam is the best ummah ever on Earth. In the Indonesian context, the entity that reflects wasaṭiyah Islam is the pesantren. There are evidences from the entire historical records that this institution has embraced Indonesia with justice, tolerance, and a middle attitude, neither radical, illiberal, nor extremist. Pesantren as the oldest Islamic educational institution can provide an example of how beautiful the religious moderation protests in this country are by carrying out the concept of al-Tawassuṭ wa-l I'tidāl which can balance various understandings that threaten the country. Pesantren comes with a unique curriculum that has been maintained for hundreds of years by 'ulamā' who rely on turāth books using unique learning methods (bandongan and sorogan). The portrait of religious moderation which is exemplified by the pesantren in the daily life of the santris can change the social order of society to have good morality and be moderate.