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Students of The King’s College of New York Learn Islam in Tebuireng

Kamis, 18 Mei 2017 - 22:28 | 38.79k
Gus Sholah meet Students of  The King's College of New York, USA, at his residence. (Photo: Nur Hidayat/TIMES Indonesia)
Gus Sholah meet Students of The King's College of New York, USA, at his residence. (Photo: Nur Hidayat/TIMES Indonesia)

TIMESINDONESIA, JAKARTA – The King's College (TKC), New York, USA, sends four students to Islamic Boarding School (Pesantren) of Tebuireng Jombang, East Java, to learn about Islamic educational system in Indonesia. This program is a cooperation between both institution that was agreed a year ago.  

The Secretary of Pesantren Tebuireng, Abdul Ghofar, said that the four students are from different departments in TKC. They are:  Rachel Cline, Cassidy Fahey, Stuart Clay, and Nick Gulley. Along with them is Dr Robert Dwight Carle, a Professor of Religious and Theological Studies at TKC.  

According to Abdul Ghofar, all of them will stay in Tebuireng for ten days. During their stay, they will have discussions of various topics. Such as, the history of Islam in Indonesia, the role of Pesantren Tebuireng, and the educational system and method in Islamic Boarding School (Pesantren).
  
Abdul Ghofar amazes with the students’s commitment to learn some ritual practices of Muslim. “In the first day, the TKC students struggled to learn how to use “sarong” before a meeting with KH Salahuddin Wahid. They were late to come to the meeting about 30 minutes due to their enthusiasm in trying to use sarong by themselves,” said Abdul Ghofar.

Moreover, Abdul Ghofar also mentioned that the female students use hijab in every meeting and disccusion that they attended. 

During their visit to the Madrasatul Qur'an of Tebuireng, both the students and the professor astonished with they method of how young Muslims recite and memorize the Qur'an. “To see how each student listens and corrects his friends’ memorization is truly remarkable," said Nick Gulley.  

The program to visit Pesantren Tebuireng has given a good impression to Robert D. Carle, a Professor in Religious Studies and Theology at TKC.  He mentions that all this time, many people have been saying that the Middle Eastern Islam is the representative of the Islamic world. However, after this visit, I can say that the tolerant style of Indonesian islam is the alternative of that saying. 

Besides visiting Tebuireng, the TKC students will also visit some historical sites in several cities such as The East Java Christian Church (GKJW) in Mojowarno, Jombang, and the grave of the first Indonesian president, Ir Soekarno in Blitar. In the end of the program, they will go to Mount Bromo in Probolinggo and Malang. (*)

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