Sabtu 30 Aug 2014 19:44 WIB

Minister says no radicalism in Pesantren

Red: Julkifli Marbun
Lukman Hakim Saefuddin
Foto: ROL/Fian Firatmaja
Lukman Hakim Saefuddin

REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, BANDAR LAMPUNG -- The minister of religious affairs Lukman Hakim Saifuddin said Islamic boarding schools, locally known as pesantren or pondok pesantren, do not teach radical ideologies such as that of Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS).

"It is not possible for radicalism to be taught in pesantren. If any educational institution has been teaching radicalism in the name of pesantren, it is definitely not pesantren," the minister emphasized here on Saturday.

According to one popular tradition, the pesantren education system had originated from Javanese tradition.

He noted that the Islamic clerics and scholars, or locally known as kyai and ulama, who are the founders of Islamic boarding schools, have good manners, educated, and are pious. They are not likely to teach intolerant and violent radicalism.