Instilling Moderation Values in Contemporary Fiqh Learning at Pesantren Al-Jauharen Jambi: A Qualitative Case Study of Curriculum, Exemplarity, and Method: A Qualitative Case Study of Curriculum, Exemplarity, and Method

Aris Dwi Nugroho (UIN Sulthan Thaha Saifuddin Jambi)

Social Science Academic
Vol. 3 No. 1 (2025)

Religious moderation has become a central objective of Islamic education policy in Indonesia, yet relatively little is known about how pesantren that possess no formally titled moderation programme nevertheless transmit moderate dispositions through their ordinary teaching. This study examines how the values of tasamuh, tawassuth, tawazun, and i'tidal are instilled through contemporary fiqh instruction at Pondok Pesantren Al-Jauharen Jambi. Adopting a descriptive qualitative design in the form of a single-site instrumental case study, data were generated through in-depth interviews with seventeen informants comprising the kiai, six fiqh teachers, and ten santri, through structured observation of two fiqh sessions in grades XI and XII, and through examination of nine categories of institutional document. Analysis proceeded through thematic coding supported by cross-source matrix displays, with triangulation organised by both technique and informant category. Sixteen themes were developed under four conclusions. First, moderation at this pesantren is an embedded ethos rather than a named programme: the kiai states plainly that no policy carrying that title exists, while the value is carried instead by the choice of turats texts in which scholarly disagreement is visible on the page. Second, a dual curriculum combining pesantren texts with the Ministry of Religious Affairs syllabus is operationalised through a fixed weekly allocation, giving the arrangement an institutional form rather than leaving it to individual discretion. Third, teachers converge on a sequencing principle in which juridical foundations precede contemporary cases, and on an inquiry-based rather than corrective response to absolutist opinions, though they diverge markedly on what counts as evidence of success. Fourth, the linguistic depth that makes the turats a resource for moderation is also the principal constraint on teaching it, since the four-step reading sequence consumes the time in which values would be discussed.