Perebutan fungsi intelektual: alumni Timur Tengah, IAIN, dan dayahContesting intellectual roles: Middle East, IAIN and dayah graduates

Sejak 1990-anSince the 1990s

Perbedaan sistem rekrutmen dan pendidikan melahirkan persaingan peran di antara alumni Timur Tengah, alumni IAIN, dan alumni dayah di Aceh. Alumni Timur Tengah dekat dengan rakyat kecil dan dianggap mampu menjawab persoalan agama di perkotaan. Alumni dayah tetap kuat di pedesaan, tetapi tergeser di kota. Persaingan atas lapangan kerja ini mendorong kalangan dayah mengejar ijazah sarjana demi akses ke pemerintahan.

Differences in recruitment and education have produced competition for roles among Middle Eastern graduates, IAIN graduates and dayah graduates in Aceh. Middle Eastern alumni are close to ordinary people and seen as able to answer religious questions in urban settings. Dayah graduates remain strong in the countryside but are displaced in the cities. This competition for jobs pushes dayah circles to seek university degrees in order to access government positions.

Alumni Timur Tengah menempati posisi khas dalam masyarakat Aceh. Mereka tidak hanya berperan sebagai ustaz, tetapi juga dipandang sanggup menjawab persoalan agama di wilayah urban. Harapan bahwa anak yang pulang dari Timur Tengah mampu menghidupkan agama di lingkungannya dan bekerja di Departemen Agama menjadi pendorong kuat bagi orang tua Aceh untuk mengirim anak mereka ke sana. Pada 1990-an, IAIN pun banyak disuplai oleh alumni Timur Tengah, yang sebagian besar berangkat tanpa beasiswa dan harus berdikari.

Dari sini muncul perebutan lahan pekerjaan di daerah antara alumni Timur Tengah, alumni IAIN, dan alumni dayah. Kalangan dayah, yang sebelumnya cukup dengan legitimasi keulamaan, mulai mengejar ijazah S-1 dan S-2 agar dapat bekerja di lingkungan pemerintahan. Persaingan atas pekerjaan ini kemudian menjelma menjadi persaingan atas fungsi intelektual: siapa yang berwenang menafsirkan agama, mendidik, dan menasihati masyarakat.

Peta kekuatannya bersifat ruang. Di pedesaan, alumni dayah masih memainkan peran mereka secara apik. Di perkotaan, peran itu mulai digeser oleh alumni IAIN dan Timur Tengah, terutama ketika alumni Timur Tengah menjadi pengajar di perguruan tinggi negeri maupun swasta. Pola ini sejalan dengan pergeseran yang lebih luas dari teungku ke ustaz sebagai figur otoritas keagamaan.

Secara analitis, gejala ini memperlihatkan bagaimana ijazah formal menjadi mata uang baru otoritas keagamaan, berdampingan dengan, dan kadang menggantikan, legitimasi tradisional yang berbasis sanad dan pengakuan masyarakat.

Middle Eastern graduates hold a distinctive place in Acehnese society. They act not only as religious teachers (ustaz) but are also regarded as capable of answering religious questions in urban settings. The hope that a child returning from the Middle East would revive religious life at home and find work in the Ministry of Religious Affairs strongly motivates Acehnese parents to send their children there. By the 1990s, the IAIN was largely staffed by Middle Eastern graduates, most of whom had gone without scholarships and had to fend for themselves.

This gave rise to competition for local employment among Middle Eastern, IAIN and dayah graduates. Dayah circles, previously content with the legitimacy of religious learning, began pursuing bachelor's and master's degrees to qualify for government work. Competition over jobs thus became competition over intellectual functions: who has the authority to interpret religion, to teach and to counsel society.

The balance of power is spatial. In rural areas, dayah graduates still perform their roles admirably. In the cities, those roles are being taken over by IAIN and Middle Eastern graduates, especially as the latter become lecturers at state and private universities. This pattern parallels the broader shift from teungku to ustaz as figures of religious authority.

Analytically, the phenomenon shows how formal degrees have become a new currency of religious authority, standing beside, and at times replacing, traditional legitimacy grounded in chains of learning and community recognition.

Gagasan kunciKey ideas

Ijazah sebagai otoritasDegrees as authority

Gelar formal menjadi syarat baru akses ke peran keagamaan dan pemerintahan.Formal degrees become a new condition for religious and government roles.

Kota dan desaCity and village

Alumni dayah kuat di desa, sedangkan alumni IAIN dan Timur Tengah menguat di kota.Dayah graduates dominate villages, while IAIN and Middle Eastern graduates rise in cities.

Posisi dalam kerangkaPlace in the framework

Tokoh, lembaga, dan konsep yang paling dekat dengan entri ini, beserta sifat hubungannya.The figures, institutions and concepts closest to this entry, and how they relate to it.

sejajarparallel Dari teungku ke ustaz: pergeseran otoritas keagamaanFrom teungku to ustaz: a shift in religious authority Pergeseran otoritas keagamaanShifting religious authority pihakparty Dayah Basis alumni tradisionalBase of traditional graduates indukparent Alumni luar negeri di AcehForeign-educated graduates in Aceh Gambaran umumOverview kontekscontext Islam rasional dan reintegrasi ilmu di IAINRational Islam and the integration of knowledge at IAIN Arah keilmuan IAINIntellectual direction of the IAIN

Pertanyaan reflektifReflective question

Apakah otoritas keagamaan seharusnya ditentukan oleh ijazah, oleh sanad keilmuan, atau oleh pengakuan masyarakat?Should religious authority rest on degrees, on chains of learning, or on community recognition?

Kutip entri ini:Cite this entry: “Perebutan fungsi intelektual: alumni Timur Tengah, IAIN, dan dayah”, Acehnologi — Gerbang Studi AcehAceh Studies Gateway, https://acehnologi.com/entri/perebutan-fungsi-intelektual-di-aceh/