Director Yunus Emre Enstitüsü Jakarta Dr. Cemal Sahin visited Pondok Pesantren Daar el-Qolam 3 Dza ‘Izza Campus on Thursday (22/2/2024). He was warmly welcomed by Mudir al-Ma’had K.H. Zahid Purna Wibawa, S.T. and the Majelis Khidmah. Dr. Cemal also conveyed his impressions of the Pondok Pesantren Daar el-Qolam 3 Dza ‘Izza Campus.
“In my ten years in Indonesia, the first time I felt very highly motivated. I rarely visit many institutions, pesantren, high schools, middle schools, elementary schools, but in my opinion, Daar el-Qolam is the 10 best in Indonesia,” said the director of the Turkish language and culture institute.
Dr. Cemal was impressed by the education at the Pondok Pesantren Daar el-Qolam which represented the integration of religious knowledge and science. Because one of the weaknesses of Muslims today is the dichotomy between these two disciplines. Meanwhile Daar el-Qolam succeeded in integrating it.
“What influences me the most, the Islamic world today is the problem of integration between religious knowledge and science. I see in Daar el-Qolam unifying, integrating science with religious knowledge. This is a shortage of Muslims in the world, but alhamdulillah if Muslims look for examples of how to integrate religion and science, of course there are examples in Daar el-Qolam. This is very close to the vision and mission which is very important, as the leader K.H. Zahid, his father too, and K.H. Ahmad Rifa’i. They all feel how to be able to preach perfectly and establish Daar el-Qolam,” he explained.
“So, Daar el-Qolam for 60 years has shown us how to preach well and perfectly. Daar el-Qolam in my opinion is a picture of the quality of preaching at a high standard. So, that’s what really influenced me,” he continued.
Emulating the Daar el-Qolam Experience
Dr. Cemal expressed his hope to build cooperation with the Pondok Pesantren Daar el-Qolam 3, which he said could become collaborative partners to learn from each other’s strengths. What is good from Daar el-Qolam 3 can be learned by the Muslim community in Turkey, and vice versa.
“Here the students, santri, all of them are very highly disciplined. Everyone knows their targets and aspirations in full. We, as the cultural center of the Turkish government, insyallah, will collaborate with Daar el-Qolam and insyaallah, we will not only provide it here Turkish language, we as an Islamic society in Turkey are also looking for how we can model the integration of science and religious knowledge in one place and can represent the 21st century. We as Turkish people really need it,” he said.
The spirit of learning from each other and working together for good is Dr. Cemal, as a figure representing the Turkish Muslim community and a representative of an official institution belonging to the Turkish government which operates in the field of culture and language.
“With this we will transfer the experience of Daar el-Qolam to Turkey as well. If in Turkey there is a good experience we will transfer it to Indonesia through Daar el-Qolam. I am very grateful in Indonesia, hopefully Daar el-Qolam I hope, Insha’Allah, definitely Daar el-Qolam will be realized to be the best,” he said enthusiastically.
Dr. Cemal is also optimistic that in the future Daar el-Qolam will lead to the establishment of a higher level of education (university). He assessed that the integration of religious knowledge and science in Daar el-Qolam was complete and high school had also been implemented well. “Because Daar el-Qolam’s vision and mission are sufficient to implement this vision,” he concluded.
