The Students of USA Pay a Visit to The Grave of Gus Dur

TIMESINDONESIA, JAKARTA – During the month of Ramadhan, Pondok Pesantren (Islamic boarding school) Tebuireng is getting crowded with visitors. They are not only Indonesian  from across the country, but also from foreigners who want to learn more about Islam.

This month, at least 11 students from Miami Dade College visited Pesantren Tebuireng to learn about pluralism and tolerant values that are taught by the boarding school. According to the staff of the Pesantren, Nur Hidayat, their coming is facilitated by the International Office of the University of Airlangga (Unair), Surabaya. During their stay in the boarding school, the students discussed some important issues such as on the issue of pluralism and gender equality in Islam. Besides that, they also visit the grave of the founders of the Pesantren : KH. Hasyim Asy’ari, Abdul Wahid Hasyim  KH Abdurrahman Wahid (Gus Dur).

To know more about those figures, the students of Pesantren Tebuireng explained about their role in the society and how the people are now paying respect to their graves in daily basis for what they have done during their lifetime. It is also mentioned that in addition to visiting  to their graves, the people are also donating some money and put them in the iron donation boxes that are available in surrounding areas of Pesantren Tebuireng. 

“Those iron donation boxes are managed by the Pesantren Tebuireng Social Fund (LSPT) for the purpose of helping other people in terms of social service, healthcare and economic empowerment in our community,” stated  Nur Hidayat.

Listen to that description, Professor Michael Lenaghan, the Miami Dade College students’ supervisor,  spontaneously take some money from his pocket and put them in that iron box. This act is also followed by his two students (Joshua Elias and Enrique Sepulvedas), who also donate their money to the same box. Furthermore, the students collectively gathered their money and donated them to the Pesantren Tebuireng Social Fund (LSPT). (*)

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