Local Wisdom-Based Islamic Religious Education Model: Studies at Darul Hijrah Al-Aziziyyah Islamic Boarding School

Abstract

Islamic Religious Education (PAI) in pesantren (Islamic boarding schools) often faces challenges regarding relevance when Islamic values are taught purely textually, without connection to the local cultural context. This study aims to describe the model for integrating local wisdom into PAI instruction at Pesantren Darul Hijrah Al-Aziziyyah, identify the forms of local wisdom internalized, and analyze their impact on the students' character and religiosity. The study employs a qualitative approach with an ethnographic case study design. Data were collected through participant observation, in-depth interviews with the pesantren leader (pengasuh), religious teachers (ustaz), and students, as well as document analysis; the data were then analyzed using the Miles and Huberman interactive model. The results indicate that the pesantren integrates traditions such as customary deliberation (musyawarah adat), local hadrah arts, communal cooperation (gotong-royong), and the local language into the PAI curriculum. This is achieved through strategies involving the contextualization of classical Islamic texts (kitab kuning), the habitual practice of culturally infused Islamic rituals, and the role-modeling of the kiai as a cultural figure. A unique finding of this study is the emergence of a "custom-based hidden curriculum" model, one that is not formally written down yet consistently shapes the students' religious moderation. The study recommends formalizing the documentation of this local wisdom-based curriculum to ensure its sustainability beyond reliance on the kiai alone, as well as developing similar models in other pesantren with different sociocultural characteristics.