She also dreams that one day, the Darussalam Pesantren will have a university so that the students staying there can also continue their education at University. Especially for female students who mostly do not pay much attention to their formal education by the family. In fact, with higher education, these students can have more choices in the future, for example, if they want to work as teachers or employees.
In addition to fighting for education for girls, especially girls around the Ganding and Lenteng sub-districts, she also pioneered and revived the NU Muslim organization in Bilapora Village and became an active pioneer of NU Muslimat activities in the two sub-districts. Nyai Siti started as the head of Muslimat NU at 14 and continues to work hard to grow the organization. In addition, she tries to educate NU Muslim women to dare to voice their opinions, lead, and be independent.
Nyai Siti also strongly encourages women’s active role and participation in social, political, and community activities. One of them is by promoting and seeking the election of female village heads in Bilapora. At that time, most of the residents rejected the advancement of Eni Setiasih, a NU Muslimat activist, to become a female village head candidate under her guidance. This is because of the belief that female leaders were not following religious law. There is so much opposition. Moreover, throughout history, there has never been a female village head there before.
Residents of the community were confused by this condition. However, when they were politely asked her about women’s leadership. She actually believed that the most important thing is leading and bringing the community into a better condition, not merely gender. Thus, Nyai Siti’s explanation was finally enough to ease the confusion that occurred in society.
When Eni Setiasih was finally elected village head, tensions did not subside. Many parties do not like the election of Eni Setiasih, who then provoked the residents and brought the issue into the religious conversation; that female leaders are not following religious law. However, once again, this was managed to calm down thanks to Nyai Siti’s firmness in defending and fighting for the position of women’s leadership.
The position of women, which in some areas in Madura is still secondary, does not apply to Nyai Siti’s life. Although she did not receive formal education until college and mostly only struggled with classical books, she was not fluent in Indonesian, but her perspective was quite progressive. She emphasized that Allah created equal human beings, both male and female, and all are entitled to the same fundamental rights without any exceptions. That is why Nyai Siti strongly encourages the fulfilment of the right to education for girls and boys. Even if, in the end, the girls choose to be housewives, at least they get married at an adequate age and have finished high school and completed their boarding school.
Although the reasons stated by Nyai Siti regarding her refusal to marry children can be said to be very simple. She is not familiar with sexual and reproductive health issues and the health effects in girls who marry at a young age. Still, her refusal against child marriage concerning women’s education is quite encouraging. The awareness that education for women is as important as education for men has sparked and created greater expectations, especially for the community around the Darussalam Islamic boarding school, Bilapora.
It is undeniable that the establishment of a women’s hut in Bilapora village and the number of girls who eventually study and go to vocational school in the area are more or less the fruit of her struggles.
Nyai Siti herself can even be said to be a pioneer of female ulama leaders in Bilapora Village. After the death of Kiai Ahmad Jazuli in 2004, Nyai Siti has taken care of the Darussalam Pesantren until now. She is the one who leads the management of both the boys’ and girls’ cottages. And she may be the only female caregiver at the Islamic boarding school in the area. On various occasions, she also often leads tahlil or istighosah in Madura, Banyuwangi, Jember, Lumajang, Ponorogo, with congregations for women and men.
Even though Nyai Siti is getting older, her activities have not diminished at all. In addition to taking care of the boarding school students, she is also still actively managing the NU Muslim organization and several activities. For example, she also founded the Darussalam Pesantren’s alumni organization, which became a forum for all alumni spread across various regions in Indonesia to keep them stay in touch.
For Nyai Siti, the community, alumni, and students are like her own family. All are considered as children who need to be nurtured and loved. And the surrounding community treats Nyai Siti like their own parents. They came in droves to her to share their complaints, problems, and anything. Perhaps this is what also made Nyai Siti think deeply about society, especially in education.
Female Cleric Role Model
Her persistence in educating students and the community has been an inspiration to many people, including several alumni of both male and female students who make Nyai Siti a role model in their lives. Many of the santri alumni who eventually founded the pesantren and took care of the boarding school followed the methods indirectly exemplified by Nyai Siti. The Islamic boarding schools are scattered around Madura to East Java, especially Jember and Banyuwangi. The hope is that Nyai Siti’s struggle in fighting for education for everyone, not only for men but also for women, can be imitated by her family, students, alumni, and community. And may she be given health and a long life full of blessings to realize her dreams in the world of student education.
*This article won 1st place in the Writing Competition of Ulama Perempuan: Their Role and Gait in Society in the Feature/Profile category organized by Rahima, Fahmina, and Alimat in the framework of the 2016 Indonesian Ulama Perempuan Congress.