I was amazed when I read the news about MA Gymnastiar Putra, a student at the Amanatul Ummah Islamic Boarding School from Pacet, Mojokerto, East Java, being accepted at 11 prestigious universities abroad (duniasantri.co, 3rd July 2022). However, my amazement was not his passing the tests at 11 campuses in several countries but his choice of the discipline he would pursue.
Of the 11 universities that accepted it, Gymnastiar Putra finally chose the Colorado School of Mines, United States of America. In the land of Uncle Sam, Gymnastiar Putra will study and pursue mining science. That way, in the future, he will be able to contribute to Indonesia’s progress in the mining sector.
Perhaps, many of Gymnastiar’s friends from the Pesantrens chose Mecca, Medina, Egypt, or other Middle Eastern countries, to study interpretation, hadith, jurisprudence, faraid Science, mysticism, and others that are claimed to be “religious sciences” or become hafiz of the Quran and memorize the hadith.
Gymnastiar’s choice caused amazement amid the hardening of the dichotomous separation of knowledge; on the other side, there is religious knowledge; on the opposite side, there is non-religious Science or General Science. And, misguided, the dichotomy is simplified: religious knowledge comes from and is for believers; general knowledge is sourced for disbelievers. Religious knowledge to pursue the afterlife. General Science to catch up with the world. And the “derivatives” of this dichotomy are increasingly hardened at the grassroots level. Studying religion is a guarantee of going to heaven. Those who study general knowledge wallahualam…
This misunderstanding has also penetrated our education system, which is so dichotomous. There are religious and educational institutions, and there are public educational institutions. And not only in the education system, but this misunderstanding has also deeply penetrated our Muslim society’s subconscious. as a result, Our children, from an early age, are forced to row between two rocks, attending religious and general education. Or attend religious education institutions (including Islamic boarding schools) which are “attached” to the general sciences —but the two remain dichotomously separated.