Islamic Education In West Sumatra : Historical Point Of View

Paper ini berfokus pada sejarah singkat pertumbuhan dan perkembangan pendidikan Islam di Minangkabau sebelum dan sesudah munculnya gerakan pembaharuan Muhammadiyah. Perkembangan pendidikan Islam itu sendiri dimulai berbarengan dengan kedatangan Islam di Sumatera Barat. Gagasan reformis gerakan Muhammadiyah dalam bidang sosial keagamaan pada abad ke-20 memberikan sumbangsih yang besar terhadap perkembangan modemisme Islam di Sumatera Barat dan telah memberikan wama terhadap sistem pendidikan di Indonesia.


A. Introduction
Many scholars have argued that the rise and growth of Islamic education in one region began with the preaching oflslam which mainly conducted through the medium of education.Mahmud Yunus, 1 a great Indonesian educator, for instance, thought that Aceh, a region located at the northern tip of Sumatra, was the first part of Indonesia whose its inhabitants were converted to Islam. 2 However, scholars do not agree on the exact moment that Islam was introduced into the Indonesian archipelago.This difference of opinion stems from the fact that the factual data on the earliest period of Islam in the archipelago are so scanty.Nevertheless, we can classify their opinions into two categories.The first group, most of them Dutch scholars, such as Pijnappel, hold the opinion that Islam was first introduced into Indonesia in the twelfth century by Shii.f'fArabs from Gujarat and Malabar.His opinion was based on the fact that these regions are mentioned so frequently in the early history of the Indonesian archipelago. 3e same holds true for Snouck Hurgronje, who believed that the twelfth century was the most probable date for the lslamization of the Indonesian archipelago.His opinion was based on the fact that Islam once Islam had gained a firm hold in the port cities of South India, "the inhabitants of the Deccan, who resided in great numbers in the port cities of this island-world as middlemen in the trade between the Muslim states and the East Indies, were as if in the nature of things scatter the first seeds of the new religion.Arabs, especially those who passed for descendants of the Prophet under the name of Sayyid or Sharif, later found a welcome opportunity to demonstrate their organizational ability.As priests, priest-princes and as sultans, they often out the finishing touches to the formation of the new realm". 4Unfortunately, Snouck Hurgronje did not define in more detail which part of South India this is.On the contrary, a little further on he observed that he could not for the time being indicate the section of South India where the threads linking the spiritual life of the Indonesians with that country come together.
In line with both scholars above, Moquette asserts that Islam came into Indonesia from Gujarat, because the gravestones found in Pase district, on the coast of North Sumatra, dated Zulhijjah 17, 831 H/September 27, 1428 M, and the gravestone of Malik Ibrahim in Gresik apparently originated from Cambay in Gujarat. 5king a very different approach from the first group, the second group, most of them Eastern scholars like Naqib al-Attas, argues that the well-known theory that Islam came from India and was conveyed to the Archipelago by Indians cannot be accepted.His opinion is based on the conclusion of his study on Malay literature before the seventeenth century, in which he says that there was no religious literature written by Indians in its corpus.In addition, he stresses that analysing Malay literature itself also plays a prominent role in determining the coming of Islam to the Malay Indonesian archipelago.In fact, it is true that some works were written in India, but their origin, he argues, lies in Arabia and Ulul Albab, Vol. 5 No. 1, 2004  Persia, or they could even be, in comparatively small measure from Turkey or the Marocco and, what is more important, their religious content is Middle Eastern, not Indian. 6ong the same lines as Al-Attas, in their seminar on the arrival of Islam into Indonesia Indonesian Muslim scholars also concluded that Islam was first introduced by Arab traders followed by Gujarat Muslims from India in the seventeenth century.Therefore, they think that it is quite certain that Islam came to Indonesia neither in the seventeenth century or in the thirteenth century, nor that it was first introduced here from lndia. 7

B. The Rise and Growth of Islamic Education in West Sumatra
Giving his views about the coming oflslam to West Sumatra, Hamka argued that Islam was introduced into Minangkabau through two lines.First, it spread from Malacca along the Siak River and the Kampar River by Minangkabau traders living in Malacca. 8Hamka's opinion is based on the fact that at the beginning of the fifteenth century the Straits of Malacca were very famous as a trading route.Many traders from surrounding areas converged in towns along its shores.for instance from Minangkabau.So that, the Minangkabau traders who returned to their villages were the spreaders of Islam.Secondly, it originated from Aceh and was brought directly by Shaikh Burhanuddin Ulakan.Furthermore, according to Hamka, Shaikh Burhanuddin studied with Abdul Rauf, the famous 'ulama during the reign of Sultan Iskandar Muda MahkotaAlam in Aceh.When he finished his studies, he came back to his natal village, Ulakan, a small region in Pariaman, and started preaching Islam there.Building a surau as the centre of his teaching, Shaikh Burhanuddin began to inculcate the ideas of Islamic education in Minangkabau. 9 Taking the opposite tack to Hamka's opinion, Mahmud Yunus writes that Islam came into Minangkabau as early as 521 H/ ADJ 128.Since Shaikh Burhanuddin lived from 1066 HI AD 1646 to l 111 HI AD 1691. 10 He was neither the first spreader oflslam nor the founder ofls]amic education in Minangkabau.
Furthermore, Yun us stresses that it was Shaikh Burhanuddin al-Kami] ( d. 610 HI AD 1214) from Kuntu, a region in Kampar, who was the first spreader of Islam in Minangkabau.He came from the Arabian Peninsula with his friend, Abdul Ulul Albab, Vol. 5 No. 1, 2004  Alif.While Abdul Alif went directly to Aceh, Shaikh Burhanuddin went to Minangkabau.There he settled in Batuhampar, a small village in Payakumbuh, for ten years.Then he moved to Kumpulan in Bonjol.After teaching there for about five years, he moved to Ulakan and taught there for about fifteen years.Finally, he moved to Kuntu, a region in Kampar, and died there in 610 H/1214AD after having taught for twenty years. 11Therefore, as far as Mahmud Yunus is concerned, Islam was introduced into Minangkabau more than 500 years before the coming of Shaikh Burhaduddin Ulakan.However, whether Shaikh Burhanuddin al-Kami) put the system oflslamic education as this was organized in 1680 into practice, by using the special place such as a surau for study, or whether he had his own system of Islamic education, has to remain a mystery for lack of evidence Nevertheless, according to research carried out by the Indonesian Department of Education and Culture, Islamic education in the sense of the teaching and spreading of Islam began in Minangkabau from the coming of Islam to that area till the end of the seventeenth century.The period between the fifteenth century and the end of the sixteenth century is marked as the great Islamization era in Sumatra, because the Sultan of Aceh occupied most of the northeast part of Sumatra, such as Bugis, Pariaman, Talu, and so forth.Meanwhile, the conducting oflslamic education using special places for study began in 1680. 12s mentioned above, the seventeenth century marks as the basis of the preaching Islam in Sumatra, and many students from area around the Aceh region went there to study.One of them was Burhanuddin from Ulakan, Pariaman.When he finished his studies in Aceh, he built a special place to study named a surau in 1680.As far as is known this was the first surau in Minangkabau. 13After this, Islam spreads to every region of Minangkabau through the preaching of Shaikh Burhanuddin's student, Tuanku nan Tuo, from Paninjauan in Padang Panjang.He mastered various Islamic disciplines, such as Ma 'ani, Nahwu, and Fiqh.After the death of Shaikh Burhanuddin Ulakan, Tuanku nan Tuo, helped by his student Fakih Sangir, suggested to the Minangkabau people that they abandon their bad customs and reject their adherence to the adat jahiliyah. 14 1803, the atmosphere of Islamic education in Minangkabau changed, particularly after the return of three Hajjis, Hajji Miskin, Hajji Sumanik and Hajji Piobang from Mecca.They saw it as their mission to spread the Hanafi madzab Ulul AJbab, Vol. 5 No. 1, 2004  to which they had adhered in Mecca, and forced the people to relinguish their adat which was considered unsuitable to Islamic teachings.Unfortunately, they lacked tact and because of their radical ways not unnaturally many rebellions were fomented in Minangkabau.Strong opposition came from the kaum adat since they wanted to preserve their authority in adat.Later this movement was known as the Wahhabi movement.
However, the research of the Department of Education and Culture points out that the Wahhabi was not really a movement to reform Islamic education in Minangkabau, but it was rather an effort to purify religious understanding among the people of the area.They recommended that people not commit any kind of heresy in religious doctrines.This opinion is based on the fact that the Wahhabi movement never used a surau as a centre for Islamic education as was done in the nineteenth century. 15e conclusion has to be that we cannot settle this complicated debate on the beginnings of the spread of Islam in West Sumatra.However, even if we adhere to the opinion that traces this moment back to as early as the twelfth century, we have no evidence about the nature of Islamic education in that period.However, we know that the first surau as the center of Islamic education was surau Ulakan in Pariaman which was established by Shaikh Burhanuddin Ulakan.

C. The System of Education
As mentioned above, as far as it is possible to trace historically it was Shaikh Burhanuddin who first founded an institution of Islamic education in Minangkabau.Once established this educational institutions then rapidly developed until the nineteenth century.It is not out of the question to find several sources dealing with the system of education in the nineteenth century, even so scanty, but to find sources before the nineteenth century is an enormous task.According to Karel Steen brink, the reason for this was that the Dutch government disregarded the existence of the Islamic education system in its educational inspections.As a result, statistical data on the Islamic education are always incomplete.Even as late as 1927 it was not mentioned in the annual government report. 16

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Like Karel Steenbrink, Mahmud Yunus underscores that no data are available on the Islamic educational system in Minangkabau in the seventeenth, eighteenth, and the nineteenth centuries.However, he writes that some data about the end of the nineteenth century are available and these represent the situation in Islamic education prior to the Muhammadiyah reform.He calls this educational system the System Lama (the old system).In the following pages I shall give some details on this "old" Islamic educational system. 17 Basically we can classify this old educational system into two levels.The first was the Pengajian al-Qur 'an.In this system teaching was conducted according to the halaqah system.Students sit in circles around the teacher.While listening to the explanation of the teacher, they write down notes in their books.Next, when the teacher reads the lesson aloud, the students repeat what is said word for word. 18This level can be subdivided into two classes, tingkat rendah and tingkat atas (basic class and advance class).In tingkat rendah the students learnt the Arabic alphabet by heart.Then, they learnt the marks kasrah, fathah and dhammah, and so on.They were then apply them by reading a short surah of Qur 'an. 19Students who successfully complete this step could continue their lessons by reading the Qur 'an right to the end.Striding ahead of the students in tingkat rendah, the students in tingkat atas were supposed to finish the recitation of the Qur 'an.This was usually celebrated by a special ceremony called perayaan khatam Qur 'an.Students who passed this celebration could continue their study to '/lm al-tajwfd and the art of reading Qur 'an (qiraat).Moreover, they also learnt to perform various parts of ibadah, such as praying and fasting, Islamic ethics (akhlaq) and theology (aqidah).Beside that, under the old educational system, there was no time limit for students to complete their study.It all depended on the diligence and the intelligence of the students themselves.Consequently some students could finish their study in a short period of time, while others had to spend more time.
The second level is pengajian al-kitab (studying books).In this pengajian students learnt various old Arabic books in disciplines, such as 'ilm al-sha,f, nahw, fiqh and tafsfr in-depth.These books had to be read one at a time.In other words, only after finishing book in 'ilm al-sha,fthe students were allowed to continue their study to other books.Mahmud Yun us claims that the Dhammun' s book was the only book in 'ilm al-sha,f at that time.This book was so old it was Ulul Albab, Vol. 5 No. 1, 2004 undated and knowledge of when precisely it was written had been lost.But it was used untill 900. 20The students had to master the contents of the book.After finishing this book, they continued their study by tackling the book al-Minhdj in 'ilm al-fiqh.Usually by this level the number of the students began to decrease because the lessons started to be hard to understand.Teachers just read the book in front of the students.Before continuing the lesson, they did not pause to ask whether or not the students had understood the previous lessons.Consequently, the lesson could only be followed by brilliant students.Students who could not follow this lesson would withdraw one by one from their class, meaning they ieft the surau without obtaining specific knowledge.In the meantime, the brilliant students could continu~ their lessons to analyse the book Jalalain in 'ilm tafsfr.

21
The method of teaching was still the halaqah system.The process of studying and teaching was the same as that in pengajian Qur 'an.It was just more advanced in the teaching material.The teachers read the book and translated the meaning of the words into the Malay language.
Moreover, it was a tradition in the old Islamic educational system that the students who had successfully completed all of their studies would become coteachers (guru tuo). 22They were permitted to teach the lower level student.In due time, when they had acquired enough Islamic knowledge, they would also permitted to build another surau in their village of origin.They again established the same Islamic educational system and had new students.This then is a brief sketch of the development of the Islamic educational system in West Sumatra prior to the nineteenth century and it was still being used at the end of the nineteenth century when some Minangkabau students arrived home from Mecca and introduced their reform of Islamic education in Minangkabau.
According to Azyumardi Azra, during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries there was already a network established between Indonesian 'ulama and those of Mecca and Medina (Haramain). 23Visiting these cities in the pilgrimage many Indonesian 'ulama adopted the traditional Islamic discourses there and developed them in Indonesia on their return.Therefore there can be no doubt that the Islamic educational system in Indonesia was influenced directly from Mecca. 24ul Albab, Vol. 5 No. 1, 2004  Mahmud Yunus states that the old educational system (pengajian lama) that was established in Indonesia was derived from that in Baghdad and Cairo at that time. 25As the capital city of the Muslim world, Baghdad had become a centre of knowledge.Many students from around the Muslim world studied there, including students from Indonesia.At this time.the progress of transportation technology facilitated their travelling to Mecca and Baghdad.As a result, after 1900 the Islamic educational system in Minangkabau changed.Many Minangkabau 'ulama such as H.M. Taib Umar, Shaikh Abdullah Ahmad, Shaikh Abdul Karim Amrullah, and Shaikh H.M. Djamil Djambek reformed several aspects of the Islamic educational system in Minangkabau, for instance the teaching material. 26he material of education was only limited not to 'i/111 al-sha,f, nahwu and tafsir, but it stretched to 'ilm al-tauhfd, hadfth, mantiq, bayan, ma 'ani, and fiqh.Along side this, many new Arabic books were also introduced such as al-Jurumiyah, Asmawf, Azharf, Qatr al-Nada', and Alfiyah in 'ilm al-Nahwu, al-Kailani and Taftanzani in 'ilm al-Sharf, Fath al-Qarfb, Fath al-Mu 'in, lqna and Mahalli in 'llm al-Fiqh, and Tafsir Jalallain, Baidhawi and Kha~fn in 'i/m al-Tafsfr.Consequently, the book al-Dhammun and al-Av.•amflwere laid aside.
The method of teaching was less affected, as in the old system, the halaqah method remained in use.Mahmud Yunus argues even though it employed the system of education as that of the old one, that method successfully produced many famous 'ulama in Minangkabau because the quality of education in Minangkabau at that time was as good as that in the Middle East.
In short, the Islamic educational system in Minangkabau till the end of the 19 th century remained traditional.There were no well-arranged system and programme in education, and no good tools and proper equipment for teaching.

D. The Institution of Islamic Education
Un till the end of the nineteenth century the surau in Minangkabau played a prominent role in education.As an Islamic institution, it was different from the meunasah in Aceh or the maktab in Cairo.The surau was no longer just a place which children or unmarried men slept, instead it became the most important centre for Islamic teaching.It is a common phenomenon in the Muslim world Ulul Albab, Vol. 5 No. 1 1 2004 that as soon as Islam takes roots in a particular society, educational centres are also established for the children of new converts.This is because education is the most practical way to strengthen the roots of Islam in a society.This holds true if we see the development of Islam in other regions, such as in Africa.In Africa Islam could only strengthen its roots after it adopted education as an important means of communication amongst its people.Accordingly, the oldest missionary organization in Africa, the Qadariyah, initiated its activity by teaching the people. 27 Minangkabau.as mentioned above, Shaikh Burhanuddin's surau was the first institution in West Sumatra.Its work in Islamic teaching, although it was done in a modest way.strengthened the roots of Islam in Minangkabau in its early development.Below, I shall mention some famous surau which have produced many 'ulamlis in West Sumatra.Furthermore, according to Azyumardi Azra, the surau in the sense of pesantren in Java and Madura or meunasah in Aceh, i.e. as an Islamic "boarding school", was represented by the surau of Shaikh Abdul Rahman in Batu Hampar, Payakumbuh. 29It provided thirty dormitories for students, namely Kampung Ulul Albab, Vol. 5 No. 1, 2004  Dagang which were built around the major building, the home of the Shaikh.Each surau was given the name of the students' village of origin, for instance surau Tilatang Kamang, surau Solok and surau Suliki. 30e main building was Masjid Dagang which was used for praying and reciting the Qur •an led by Shaikh Abdul Rahman.Besides this, there were also two buildings near the Masjid Dagang that were used for practising suluk and as a dormitory for guests.Behind them was a special cemetery for the Shaikh and his ancestor. 31Meanwhile, to provide the daily necessities of the students, the Shaikh also arranged a shop for students, a place where students could buy what they needed, such as books.pencils, and pens.In short, Shaikh Abdul Rahman's surau was the most outstanding one in its set up and equipment for study.
Furthermore, at the end of the nineteenth century or in the initial years of the twentieth, the Islamic educational institutions in Minangkabau gradually began to change their function.The return of many 'ulama from Mecca bringing new ideas initiated this change.Those 'ulama and with their students gradually spread the thoughts ofMuhammadAbduh and Rashid Rida on Islamic modemization. 32n imitation of al-Manar in Egypt and Mecca, the magazine al-Munfr was issued to carry on the same mission. 33Consequently, many Minangkabau people became conscious of their lack of education and religious understanding.They realized the importance oflslamic education in eliminating taqlfdthinking andjumud.As a result, the number of students as well as halaqah circles in surau increased.Eventually the surau were no longer adequate as a place in which Islamic education could be propagated.A much larger establishment was needed which later became known as madrasah. 34e same holds true if we see other parts of Muslim world, such as Cairo.
In Cairo mosques which were the first educational institution in the early period oflslam gradually changed into madrasah, since mosques, mainly built for worship where everyone should be quiet, were no longer proper places to house hundreds of students.As the number of students increased, this also required that the circle of halaqah be improved too.Consequently, according to Ahmad Shalaby, given the circumstances the change of the place study from mosque to madras ah was natural. 35ul Albab, Vol. 5 No. 1, 2004  Von Kramer adds that the progress and diffusion of knowledge created a body of men who found it difficult to make a decent living from their abstract learning.Therefore madrasah were established with twofold purpose: to promote further study and to provide sufficient stipends for such men. 36 Minangkabau by the early twentieth century many surau had been changed into madrasah.Mahmud Yunus says that, Sumatra Thawalib in Padang Panjang was the first surau that used the class system. 37It was then followed by Sumatra Thawalib Parabek in Bukittinggi and Sumatra Thawalib in Maninjau.The new education system was introduced in these madrasah, so that classes were categorized into seven stages.Consequently, it no longer used the halaqah system and its curriculum extended beyond mere religious studies. 38rthermore, new madrasahs were also created.The Adabiyah school was the first school in Minangkabau which to offered religious studies in its curriculum.This school already used chairs and blackboards.It was founded by Shaikh Abdullah Ahmad in 1907.But after a short time, it was closed because many Minangkabau people would not accept its system which they though was too similar to the Dutch school system. 39Abdullah Ahmad then moved to Padang and built the second Adabiah School in 1909.This school was readily accepted in Padang because the people there were more tolerant.Later, in 1915 Abdullah changed his school's name to the Hollandsch lnlandsche School Adabiah because it adopted the Dutch school system totally and received financial aid from the government.Besides that, the principal of this school was a Dutchman, who was assisted by two Dutch teachers. 40 1910 Shaikh Taib Umar also established a madrasah in Sungayang namely the Madras School.Unfortunately, in 1913 this school was closed because of financial difficulties. 41However, in 1918 Mahmud Yunus opened it again and renamed it the Diniyah School in 1923.Recently it has become well-known as Al-Hidayah lslamiyah and S.M.P/P.G.A.P. 42 On October 10, 1915 a Diniyah School was opened in Padang Panjang.It was founded by Zainuddin Labai al-Yunusiah. 43Unlike theAdabiyah School, the Diniyah School was still conducted in a mosque.Despite this it already used the new system based on the Dutch system, with classes, blackboards, and chairs.
The students wore pantalons, jackets, and ties.In the curriculum, both religious and secular subjects were given.Among the secular subjects were Dutch and Ulul Albab, Vol. 5 No. 1, 2004  English language, math and geography. 44For religious subject, new books were imported from Egypt.For the first time the number of students were 150.Male students were placed on the left side of the mosque and were taught by Engku Haji Mahmud and Haji Sholeh.The female students were placed on the right side of the mosque and were tought by Zainuddin Labai al-Yunusiah. 45is school was divided into two levels; Ibtidaiyah and Thanawiyah.In lbtidaiyah the students learnt the book Durus al-Fiqhiyah and Mabadi' 'Arabiyah, while in Thanawiyah they learnt the book Aqa 'id Diniyah and Irsyad al Murfd which were written by Zainuddin Labai.In addition, books from Egypt were also studied. 46vertheless, the rise and growth of Islamic institutions prior to the twentieth century in Indonesia, especially in Minangkabau, did not come about simply because of the influence of Islamic reform ideas, it was also encouraged by the Dutch government policy in education at that time.As we shall see, the government gave priority in the opportunity to study only for Dutch children.The reason for this, as mentioned by Sorimuda Nasution, was that the policy of the Dutch government was to respect the natives and their institutions, and leave the population under the direction of their own chiefs.Another reason may have been the great financial difficulties faced by the Dutch government as a consequence of the expensive and bloody Diponegoro war ( 1825-1830).followed by the conflict between them and Belgium from 1830 to 1839 . 47It was true that in 1808, on the initiative of Daendels, the government built a school for native people, but the school was financed by the nagari community. 4x Besides, as a result of the Ethical Policy ( 1900-1920), the Dutch government operated a school system that was designed to train lower government officials and to eradicate illiteracy.This school was then called a second-class school.Admission was limited to certain students whose parents worked in the government. 49 the early 1910s, the introduction of the volksschool (Sekolah Rakyat) by the government resulted in a rapid expansion of the educational system in Minangkabau.By 1913 there were 111 volksschoolen and by 1915 the number increased to 358. 50The upshot was that the number of students in surau decreased gradually.Consequently, many teachers of tarekat condemned this school system and regarded it as a sinful school (sekolah dosa). 51

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Although many schools were directly under government control, their financial affairs were still the responsibility of the local government. 52According to K.A. James, Kata Gedang, a small nagari near by Bukittinggi, produced a large number of teachers and government officials.By 1911, through its own locally financed Study Fund it sent two students to Holland for advanced education.
In 1914 the nagari had its own Dutch school (H.I.S). 53

E. Conclusion
This survey has shown that there were many Islamic institutions in Minangkabau prior to the twentieth century.Their rise and development was stimulated not just by the influence of the educational ideas of reform in the Muslim world, but because the policy of the Dutch government.As mentioned above, the surau, as the first Islamic centre in education, was no longer a suitable place in which to teach.but the policy of the government prohibited Islamic matters being taught in schools.p.156.Before the coming oflslam into Minangkabau, many Minangkabau people still adhered to some reprehenside customs, such as gambling, drinking, belief in spirits and devils, under the influence of Hindus Kingdom Pagaruyung from 1347 to 1809.For further discussion see Mansoer, M.D., Sedjarah Minangkabau, Jakarta, Bhratara,  1970, pp.119-120; Hamka, Ayahku Riwayat Hid up Abdul Karim Amrullah dan Kaum Agama, Djakarta, Widjaya, 1950. p. 12;TaufikAbdullah, "Islam, History, and  Although it is true that statistics have been kept since 1874, they were not complete and they were merely repetitions of previous figures, viz.around 20.000 institutions and 300,000 pupils.See Steenbrink, Karel, Pesantren, madrasah, Sekolah, Pendidikan Islam dalam Kurun Modern.Jakarta, LP3S, 1986, p. 9 See Yunus, Mahmud, Sejarah Pendidikan.p. 34.Snouck Hurgronje says that various voices could be heard in this halaqah system because pupils had to read their lessons a loud.Although it was noisy, they did not disturb each other.See Hurgronje.C. Snouck, Een en ander over het inlandsch ondennjs in de Padangsche Borenlanden, in VG IV, I, pp.27-52.
See Iskandar. N. St. Pengalaman Masa Kecil. Jakarta, Balai Pust aka. 1987, p. 16.Mahmud Yunus argued that Kitab al-Dhammun might have been written by Indonesian 'ulama.His opinion was based on the fact that the translation of Arabic words in the book was in Malay script.Unfortunately there is no further description of this book.See Yunus, Mahmud.Sejarah Pendidikan, p. 43.According to Mahmud Yunus's teacher, Thaib Umar, the halaqah method could produce but one fine 'ulama • out of a hundred students.See Yunus.Mahmud, ibid ..  p.50.See Iskandar, N. St. op.cit .. p. 16.See Azra, Azyumardi, op.cit., p. 59.A number of scholars are of the opinion that the Islamic educational system of Indonesia was adopted from India.They argue that some aspects of the Islamic educational system existed in Hindu teaching before the coming of Islam to the Indonesian Archipelago.For instance, the terms mengaji and langgar (in Java), surau (in Minangkabau), and rangking (in Aceh) are Sanskrit terms rather than Arabic terms.In addition, the giving of special land by devoted men for educational Ulul Albab, Vol. 5 No. 1, 2004  At that time the Minangkabau people till strictly held the fatw%c of 'ulamd which stated that whosoever imitates one community, he is amongst them.So it was absolutely forbidden to imitate the kafir behaviour, such as wearing a tie, a cap, and including new tools in education.See Sejarah Adabiah, p. 2; See also Steenbrink, Karel A., Pesantren, Madrasah, Sekolah, Pendidilwn Islam dalam Ku run Modem,  p.39.This initiative of Abdullah Ahmad led to a polemic in Minangkabau.His contemporaries called him a hollandisator particularly when he recognized the Guru Ordonnantie (teacher ordinance which stipulated that anyone wishing to give instruction on the Islamic teaching to person other than his immediate family should inform the regent, or patih , in Java or the district chief in the Outer Region) in 1925.See Steen brink, Karel A., Pesantren, p.37-41; Daya, Burhanuddin, Gerakan Pembaharuan,  p. 83.According to Deliar Noer, the identity of the Adabiah school as the mobilisator of Islamic education was dropped.Like another H.I.S. in Minangkabau, it no longer laid full attention to religious studies.As far as he was concerned the fame of the Adabiah school was that it was the first school in Minangkabau which was founded Ulul Albab, Vol. 5 No. 1, 2004 ", in Rahardjo, M. Dawam (ed), Pergulatan Dunia Pesantren,Jakarta,P3M, Surau Tabat Gadang in Padang Japang.It is founded by Shaikh Abdul Wahid.Surau Parabek in Bukittinggi.It was founded by Shaikh Ibrahim Musa in AD 1908.Nowadays it is well-known as Thawalib. 28 J. Surau Tanjung Sungayang in Batusangkar.It was founded by Shaikh Taib Umar in AD 1897.Nowadays it is well-known as al-Hidayah S.M.P.I (PGA).2.Surau Padang Japang in Payakumbuh.It was founded by Hajji Abbas Abdullah.Nowadays it is well-known as Darul Funun Abbasiyah.3.Surau Jambatan Besi in Padang Panjang.It was founded by Shaikh Abdul Karim Amrullah in AD 1914.Nowadays it is well-known as Sumatra Thawalib.4.Surau Candung Baso in Bukittinggi.It was founded by Shaikh Sulaiman al-Rusuli.Nowadays it is well-known as Tarbiyah Islamiyah.5.Surau Jaho in Padang Panjang.It was founded by Hajji Jami] Jaho.Nowadays it is well-known as Tarbiyah Jslamiyah.6.Nowadays it is well-known as Tarbiyah lslamiyah.7.