Julia Suryakusuma (The Jakarta Post)
This article was published in thejakartapost.com with the title “‘Tasawuf’, the environment and ‘ecopesantren’”. Click to read: https://www.thejakartapost.com/academia/2019/01/09/tasawuf-the-environment-and-ecopesantren.html.
But beautiful words are not enough. What are these Indonesian Sufi Muslims actually doing in real terms for the environment? It turns out, quite a lot. For example, Indonesia has ecopesantren. Pesantren are Islamic boarding schools that are the basic learning centers of Islam.
As it turns out, pesantren have been teaching students about the Islamic obligation to protect the natural environment since the 1950s. Fachruddin Mangunjaya, a leader at the NGO Climate Reality, who lectures at National University, wrote in his book on ecopesantren about how the movement for conservation can start from ecopesantren and spread to the wider community.
Some kyai (learned religious leaders) pesantren leaders have pioneered communities that restore the environment, for example by planting trees such as at the Annuqoyyah Sumenep pesantren in Madura, East Java, and organic farming in Al Ittifaq, Ciwidey, West Java, and Nurul Haramainpesantren in West Nusa Tenggara. According to Fachruddin, there are approximately 20 ecopesantren. Some of them have even received the prestigious environmental Kalpataru Award, such as Pondok Pesantren Pabelan in Magelang, Central Java. Do you want to take a tour of an ecopesantren? Go to Daruut Tauhid near Bandung, capital of West Java (wakafdt.org/mengenal-lebih-dekat-eco-pesantren-dt/).
This article was published in thejakartapost.com with the title “‘Tasawuf’, the environment and ‘ecopesantren’”. Click to read: https://www.thejakartapost.com/academia/2019/01/09/tasawuf-the-environment-and-ecopesantren.html.
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