100 Years OF NU: The History Of The Collaboration Of Kiai Hasyim Asy'ari-Kiai Wahab, The Role Of Teachers And Students Building Nahdlatul Ulama

The administrators of Nahdlatul Ulama at the 1958 NU Congress, on February 7, 2023, the organization was even 100 years old. (Wikimedia Commons)

JAKARTA - Living in the Dutch colonial era was not easy. The natives - Muslims especially - are not only fighting for independence, but also against ignorance. Kiai Haji (KH) Abdul Wahab Hasbullah realized this. For him education is a weapon against colonialism.

He also built Nahdlatul Wathan (Interior Awakening), then Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) with his teacher, KH Hasyim Asyari. Therefore, NU grew into a large organization that brought the life of renewal education and Islam.

The spread of Islam is quite massive in the archipelago. The import' religion can be transformed into the most common beliefs of the bumiputras. Every day the practice of Islam is carried out with totality. In fact, most bumiputras prefer to study religion and go on pilgrimage to Mecca, rather than studying in European schools.

The famous cleric Kiai Wahab, who in fact was a student of KH Hasyim Asy'ari, helped preserve the pilgrimage. he went to Makkah with the aim of studying religion. However, he actually learned many things including the realm of struggle.

Everything because he received information that in the Dutch East Indies (now: Indonesia) has the first Islamic political organization, Sarekat Islam. He together with KH Mas Mansoer and other scholars initiated the presence of the Sarekat Islam branch of Makkah.

The goal is to spread the struggle of Muslims in Makkah. Kiai Wahab returned to the archipelago in 1913. He settled in Surabaya and initiated a modern Islamic school organization with KH Mas Mansoer in 1916. Nadhlatul Wathan, his name. The organization is the first religious educational institution with a moderate nationalist character in the Dutch East Indies.

Without urging changes to education methods in Islamic boarding schools that mostly use the halalkah system, Kiai Wahab Hasbullah through Nahdlatul Wathan founded a madrasah that uses the school system. Furthermore, in contrast to the pesantren which is fully under the control of a kiai as the only main character, Nahdlatul Wathan madrasah is regulated by the team, Kiai Wahab Hasbullah as supervisor of teachers and Kiai Mas Mansoer as director of madrasas.

Nahdlatul Wathan's main concern is Muslim education. In five years this organization has shown significant progress, by forming branches in a number of cities in East Java and Central Java, all of which manage their respective madrasas, "said Djohan Effendi in his book Updates Without Dismantling Traditional (2010).

The ambition of KH Wahab to educate the nation's children continues to light up. He never stopped distributing organizations to accommodate various activities of Muslims. He initiated the presence of Muslim youth organizations, Sjubbanul Wathan (Indonesian Youth), to Nahdlatul Tujjar (Current of Traders).

KH Wahab was also reluctant to be complacent with the presence of many organizations formed. Moreover, later, he and KH Mas Mansoer focused differently. KH Mansoer became part of Muhammadiyah. While KH Wahab remained in his stance in the traditional Islamic lane. Both of them also run their own schools.

Since then KH Wahab wants to organize with a wider cangkupan. He wants to embrace all the great scholars in the archipelago, especially Java. Everything, so that the agenda of educating the nation's children can be carried out massively.

He also shared his intentions with his teacher, KH Hasyim Asy'ari. Kiai Wahab was fully supported. The support of KH Hasyim Asyari was able to make all the existing clerics join in formulating the birth of Islamic organizations that carried educational renewal missions.

As a result, the kiai and alim ulama gathered at the residence of KH Wahab in Surabaya to form a social organization with the character Ahlussunnah wal Jamaah on January 31, 1926 (16 Rajab 1344 Hijri). That day was later remembered as the birthday of Nahdlatul Ulama (Ulama Awakening).

The organization which was later known as NU was formed with the aim of accommodating the interests of educational institutions such as Islamic boarding schools in Java. East Java especially. KH Hasyim Asyari was also asked to be the first leader of NU.

Leadership is full of impression. Thanks to KH Hasyim and his students, KH Wahab, NU has existed until now. In fact, NU age can reach one century on February 7, 2023 (16 Rajab 1444 Hijri), not on January 31, 2023. Everything is because NU follows the Islamic calendar, not the BC calendar.

In 1924, Kiai Hasyim did not seem to see the need to establish such an organization and did not give his approval. However, after Ibk Sa'ud's invasion of Makkah, he changed his mind and agreed to the need to form a new organization in 1926.

He then wrote, as the opening of the NU Articles of Association, an Arabic-language minutes. In this minutes he quoted several verses of the Al Quran calling on Muslims to unite and close with the statement that the formation of an organization to defend Islam is a logical and necessary consequence of these divine commands, "explained Martin van Bruinessen in the bookNU: The tradition, Relations-Relations of Power, Search for New Discourse (1994).