NU Online discusses ulema's writing tradition

Jakarta, NU Online
At a Thursday's meeting at the NU Online's newsroom, Jln. Kramat Raya 164, Central Jakarta, took up issues on the productivity of Islamic scholars (ulema) in the field of writing. The findings of their rare and out-of-print works have pushed the NU's new portal to trace the spirit of the country's ulema for keeping producing knowledge through their works.<>

Son of General Chairman of Lamaking Body of NU KH Sahal Mahfudh, H Abdul Ghofarrozin (Gus Rozin) said that the Indonesian clerics (kiai) have written their works with various languages such as Arabic, Indonesian, and local ones. Their works could be in such forms as religious books, books, lengthy articles, short treatises, even poetries.

Asked about his father's motivation to produce great works, Gus Rozin said that "writing for my father (KH Sahal Mahfudh) has become a must."

His book titled Thariqatul Hushul ala Ghayatil Wushul, Gus Rozin added, was initially his notes from KH Dahlan bin Zubair (Sarang), his teacher while teaching the book Ghayatul Wushul. Besides the notes were 'immortalized' from the results of his dialogue and conversation with his teacher in even a vehicle.

Like many other works, Kiai Sahal had deliberately written a masterpiece on account of the need of his santri (students) in understanding various difficult-to-understand books for requiring lengthy explanations. While writing articles in the media was done due to the impasse over legal, political, and social issues, Gus Rozin added.

Unfortunately, he said, the ulema works of the archipelago could not easily be found in bookstores, especially at supermarkets. In fact, the their works were just circulated in Islamic boarding schools (pesantren), instead of widely being accessed by the people in general. 

"This reality is based on the pesantren's reluctance to use the works written by the ulema of the archipelago," he said, adding that there had also been many works written by the ulema which have not widely printed.

Editing by Sudarto Murtaufiq