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7/30/2019 Conference Paper Newesti

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The Role of Women as the Madrasatul Ula

(First School) for the children in creating

High Quality future Leaders

By Amelia Indrajaya Januar

On behalf of Indonesian Women

Abstract

Women is the first care giver and educator for the Islamic

future leaders. The Islamic Awakening will be supported by a

strong foundation on each and every Islamic household, by

educating the children the Total Islamic way (kaffah). The Islamicway do not classify general study or religious study, rather that

everything in life is a holistic spiritual discovery learning. A

mother will be the facilitator to make sure that the learning process

will always be based on the search of Allahs blessing. A mother

will be an example that our life is a never ending thawafof the

universe, ibadah along the way, where every steps is carefully

taken based on Allahs safety path. Mankind will have to show

that they are capable of the holly mission as the Khalifah fil Ard,

vicegerents of Allah.


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A successful mother will have children with high quality

leadership traits (Akhlakul Karimah). This is a result of an

Integrated Islamic teaching as the Way of Life in every path of

living for herein and hereafter.

Introduction

The negative influence of westernization and globalization

has resulted into quite a rampant destructive act by the youth of

Indonesia. As my social voluntary activities, I become the head of

education departement of ASA Indonesia (Aliansi Selamatkan

Anak Indonesia, the alliance of Safe the Children of Indonesia).

We have already visited schools in some major cities in Indonesia

to find out the impact of media and global life style and

westernization to the youth tendencies toward destructive acts. The

findings had shown a sad reality amongst the students and youth of

Indonesia. One of the survey we had conducted was the students

(grade 6-9) behavior on pornography. One of the question we

asked was whether they had deliberately or undeliberately had an

exposure toward pornography through any kind of media. The

answer was that all respondents had an exposure whether it is

willingly or unwillingly. This means the era of internet and media

access had opened up myriad of informations to our society and

has created lots of possibilities. Some are positive in terms of

easeness of useful information and data, but lots of them are

threatening in terms of brain washing and addicting content.


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It becomes an urgent matter to anticipate the negative

influence by awakening the power of mothers as madrasatul Ula,

the role of principal educator at home. With a motherly touch and

the quality of discovery learning process shared and given example

by Rasulullah (peace be upon him), the kids will learn the true

concept of Illahiyah and the holly purpose of their creation in the

universe and will be able to act accordingly no matter what comes

to their life through the media or the surroundings and the

beguiling environment.

Tarbiyah the holly mission of opening up the hijab ofkalb

of the children should be started from home, with the support of

mother, as the form of the first educator for children. Tarbiyah, the

root word Rab: means Allah, has a holly mission to share the

secrecy of Ilahiyah, and let the kids understand the meaning of life,

purpose of living and obedience to Allah. Tarbiyah merely

translated as education in English word, had lost its transcendence

meanings, since the real meaning itself is far more thorough and

comprehensive, as a way to open up the paradigm of the kids to

understand the glory of Allah and purify ones heart to only

spreading the holly mission as the vicegerent of Allah.

Once the children has understood the reason of life, and the

meaning of life, it would certainly be a strong principle that will

keep them in the way of Allah. Everything they do will strive to

please Allah and will be to pursue the Ridha of Allah. The


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understanding amongst the children should started as early as

possible and women has a tremendous role as the Madrasatul Ula.

Imam Khomeini repetitively emphasized the importance of

womens roles in the society. In his will he stated that he took

pride in the widespread presence of women in the society; a

presence that might have been greater than mans. As we

understand that every future leaders of Islam will be educated by a

mother as their Madrasatul Ula.

Islamic view on Women

The current practices show extremes view of women. In

one hand they fight for liberalism and feminism. They believe they

have a right to dress in whatever manner they wish, to behave in

whatever act they wish. But the truth is that the freedom had paid

its price on women. They are still being looked upon as object,

beguiling creatures which suffer injustice treatment in the society

and work situations. The other extreme views of women had

hampered their activities as only housewives not being able to

share significant roles in the society.

In Indonesia the Moslem society believes that women are

given equal position and opportunity as men, but in the household,

the leader by nature would be the husband. This is a counterpart

relationship, were woman plays an important role; every decision


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should be discussed with the women, even though the leader would

still be the men.

The share teaching on women also being quoted by Imam,

share a wonderful alternative of a special role on women. Woman

as mankinds educator, as one who helps fulfil mankinds

aspirations and as one from whose lap man ascends. His view of

women is such that he goes so far as to say: If nations were

deprived of courageous women, of women to rear true human

beings, they would decline and collapse.

Imams historic message to Gorbachev, through the

composition of the delegation he sent to the former leader of the

now defunct Soviet Union, provides a valuable and meaningful

example of Imams views on the role of women should play in an

Islamic society. In a symbolic move, he appointed a delegation

made up of clergymen, academics and a woman to announce thedeath of communism to the world.

Indeed, perhaps one can even claim that the composition of

the delegation itself conveyed a message as correct as that old

sages miraculous prediction forewarning of the fall of the Eastern

bloc: that the revival of Islam and the worlds future power lay in

the capable hands of these three sections of society, and that it

would be through their correct understanding and implementation

of their true mission that the tree of Islamic revolution would


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blossom forth and overshadow the ruins of communism and

capitalism.

The message of Imam is a very strong message for women.

This is the chance for the Islamic awakening, the third wave of

Islamic resurrection. The first seven decades started since the days

of the Prophet (peace be upon him), until the dynasty of Abbasid

(7th century to 14th century), Islam had ruled the world by its

eminent influence in technology, education and philosophy. The

second phase was the fall of Islamic glory (14th century to the 21th

century) marked by the imperialism of Westernization in all the

Islamic regions. Islamic countries were under suppression of the

Western world for such a long time, that they have forgotten the

real value of Islamic teaching. Most remnants of understanding are

just on the ritual and cultural side of Islam. Women were

oppressed and did not receive equal treatment. The Western world

had mistakenly understood that this was the real value of Islam,

despite the great history of the real teaching of Islam during the

ruling of Rasulullah. Now is the time of the awakening of the third

phase (21st

century - future), where Islam had come to realized its

real perfect value of holistic and kaffah teaching using the

integrated approach to solve all problems of herein and the

hereafter.

Scholars around the world had found myriad of facts that

Islam is a modern teaching and even had findings of technology


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which has just been proven now in the scientific world. During

this third wave of Islamic awakening, women have to play an

important role, since they are the key to prepare the future of the

Islamic leaders even before conception.

Stages of the Womens Role in Becoming the

Madrasatul Ula (the first school) for the children.

The stages of preparing oneself as a Madrasatul Ula, must

start very early, even before choosing the right leader to become

ones husband and partner in life.

First Stage before Marriage

Women in their youth should have an access to good

quality education with thorough understanding of the Islamic

principles yet also have exposures to the whole big picture of the

world and how diverse it is. They have to master the real teaching

of Islam where every foot steps are dedicated to please Allah.

Second Stage the Search for a Soul Mate

Women need to find a soul mate with an inherent

understanding on Islamic principles. The future husband should be

someone who can be the imam/leader in the family, someone who

would lead the spiritual journey of the whole family to enlighten

the heart to get ready in receiving the blessing of Allah. .


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Third Stage Preparation of Maternity

Even peasant would be very thorough in preparing their

lands with a lot of cautions before plantation. Mothers with the

ability to have future leaders developing in their womb, should be

even more cautious about what they eat, and how they nurture

themselves to have a healthy and sound children. The precautions

should not just be from the nutrition side but also more in the

spiritual side. Every woman should prepare themselves for the

challenging motherhood era.

The Fourth Stage: Child Rearing

The function of Madrasatul Ula comes to life once women

have an alert baby in her womb. Baby can be stimulated with

sound and stimulating environment. Baby with the mother who

chants the Quran will be used to the soothing sound since they

were still in the mothers womb.

The next stage is to show the kids the concept of life as

being a never lasting yearning to please Allah. The following

Quranic verses will be samples of the foundation on how Moslem

sees life as a continuous thawafof the universe. Everything they do

is a continuous and relentless effort to please Allah, in the form of

dua (prayer) remembering that Allah is watching and caring for usalong the way.


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Mother as a Role Model

Mother has to be a role model in showing akhlakul karimah

based on the Quran. She has to show a total submission to Allah.

Mothers touches are like magic. If a mother can give the right

approach at the right time it will have a healing effect, and the kids

will grow up into adults with strong characters. Mother will be the

first adult responsible for a kids character building process. The

children will imitate and memorize the act of a mother the first

care giver they ever knew. Before teaching the quranic ways of

living, a mother must live an exemplary way of life. Save all the

energy for giving sermon and preaches, because it is the

everydays behavior that counts and petrifies inside their minds.

Discovery Learning to Learn New Spiritual Insight

Mother needs to show the children that everything is aboutremembering and praying to Allah. Everytime a mother needs to

introduce new things to the children, make sure to reveal the

spiritual side of everything. Every problem should be an

opportunity to learn new principles of thinking, and ways to

understand that Allah always give what you need, instead of just

giving what you want.

Every problems situation should be looked upon as a

discovery learning process to absorbed a new spiritual insight. An


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easy approach to deal with a problem can be summarized into 5

steps:

A: Attain a positive way of thinking Husnuzhon

F: Focus to the core and root of the problem (dont mix it with

your own ego or emotion)

E Empathy. Relate to the childrens feeling and show your

understanding eventhough you may not agree with theirfeelings

C Communicate assertively by sharing the facts and the

impact. Reveal the spiritual way of thinking and let them

decide.

T Total Commitment. Support them to take total commitment

on their own decision after the discovery learning process.

An example of Affect (A Ff E C T) process, show us that it really

affects how children will learn new things through dealing with

problems everyday in their life. Case example:

The little boy (4 years old) broke a jar of milk and spoiled your

new Persian carpet you have prepared for tomorrows Ied. In an

emotional scenario, the mother might be angry and scream to thelittle child, but with the A Ff E C T process:


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A Attain a positive way of thinking (husnudzon).

Alhamdulillah the little boy tries to be independent and

dare not to disturb the mother by trying self help.

Ff Focus on the core of the problem. The problem is not the

broken jar or the spoiled carpet but the boy who tried very

hard and now is in the verge of learning an important

character building traits from the problem he is facing.

Being independent is one of the traits of Allah which a kid

needs to practice.

E Empathy. Show your understanding by sharing that

independent is a good trait, and self help is a good example

of independence.

C Communicate assertively (share the facts, your feeling and

the impact of a chosen behavior): A sample conversation:

When you try to lift something too heavy, it might fall and

messed up everything, so what do we need to do the next

time, so that you can practice being independent without

harm?

T Total commitment. The boy will perhaps offer the solution

such as he will ask an adult to move the milk to a smaller

place before he can carry it, or other possible things to do.Mother will show that eventhough independent is good but

Allah also taught us to take cautions and to not waste and


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create harms. Mothers will encourage the children to take

responsible actions in whatever he is doing in the future.

Remind the children that Allah is watching everything that

we do, and we want to make sure to do things that please

Him. Conclude each problem with a chance for the little

one to make his own commitment for the future. The best

way is to put it on writing and signed by the kids and

witnessed by parents. Hence each problems serve as a

powerful learning process intelectually, emotionally andspiritually.

The Quran verse for teaching kids to remember Allah

The quran verses explains the essence of praying is not just

conducting shalatbut also observing and remembering of Allah in

everything that you do. The conversations between mothers and

their children should be interactive and in the form of discussions,

to let the kids think and explore and discover the spiritual way of

thinking, guided by facts, examples and Allahs (glorified and

exalted) teaching in Quran and Prophet Muhammad (peace be

upon him) Sunnah. The following are some of the verses of Quran

that mothers need to share on the concept of remembering Allah

along the way by showing akhlak Qurani.


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Ali Imran 191

Who remember Allah while standing or sitting or [lying] on their

sides and give thought to the creation of the heavens and the earth,

[saying], "Our Lord, You did not create this aimlessly; exalted are

You [above such a thing]; then protect us from the punishment of

the Fire.

An Nisa 103:

And when you have completed the prayer, remember Allah

standing, sitting, or [lying] on your sides. But when you becomesecure, re-establish [regular] prayer. Indeed, prayer has been

decreed upon the believers a decree of specified times.


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Surah Yunus 12

And when affliction touches man, he calls upon Us, whether lying

on his side or sitting or standing; but when We remove from him

his affliction, he continues [in disobedience] as if he had never

called upon Us to [remove] an affliction that touched him. Thus is

made pleasing to the transgressors that which they have been doing

Al Baqarah: 238

Maintain with care the [obligatory] prayers and [in particular] the

middle prayer and stand before Allah , devoutly obedient


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Al Baqarah: 239

And if you fear [an enemy, then pray] on foot or riding. But when

you are secure, then remember Allah [in prayer], as He has taught

you that which you did not [previously] know.

AL Ankabut: 45

Recite, [O Muhammad], what has been revealed to you of the

Book and establish prayer. Indeed, prayer prohibits immorality and

wrongdoing, and the remembrance of Allah is greater. And Allah

knows that which you do.

Conclusion

Mother certainly plays a significant role in the new wave of

Islamic Awakening. Through their loving touch the new generations

of Islamic leader will be born. Nevertheless mothers role as


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Madrasatul Ula needs to be supported by a Holistic approach from

the School Educational System, a caring society and a safe

environment. The best case would be the situation where a nation is

implementing the teaching of Islam in every aspects of the living.

Islam is a comprehensive teaching of the way of life, which

will ensure the safe path for the believers who really practice

everything thoroughly. Mother is the one who starts with a good

foundation for the kids to grow up to be the future Islamic leaders

and witness the Islamic awakening in the world.


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Appendices

The following data were only samples on one of the negative

excess which is pornography amongst students. We have listed that

the destructive acts consist of amongst all:

- Bullying- Pornography- Smoking /Marijuana- Alcohol- Addiction to destructive games- Narcotics and addictive agents

Survey result on junior high school student (grade 69) in

JAKARTA and PALEMBANG, Indonesia

Survey is done through questionnaire in the year 2008.

N : 961 Girls : 414, Boys : 547

1. Have you been by any chance exposed to pornography

through any kind of media such as TV, Internet, comics,

novel, magazines, tabloid or other sources

a. No 0 %b. Yes 100%


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2. When did you first get the exposure to pornography?

a. Kindergarten (TK) 1%b. Primary school (SD) 96%c. Junior High School (SMP) 3%

3.

Where were you the first time you were exposed topornography?

a. In school 1 % e. Friends 17%b. Theater 4% f. Mall 2%c. Internet caf 14%d. Home 62%

TK

1%

SD

96%

SMP

3%


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4. Through which media did you get exposed to pornography

the first time?

a. Handphone 33%b. DVD/ VCD 26%c. Internet 17%d. TV 11%e. Comic 5 %f. Movies (theater) 4%g. Magazine 3%h. Newspaper 1%

5. Do you still consume pornography content/media

a. Yes 68 %


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b. No 32 %

6. Why do you still access pornography?

a. Just feel like it 38%b. Life style 25%c. Not a geek 13%d. Curious 12%e. Addicted/habits 7%f. Not sure 5%

Iseng38%

gaul

25% Ingin tau

12%

Takut dibilang

kuper

13%

BT

5%

kebiasaa

n

7%

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