Role of Abdullah Ahmad on the Modernization of Islamic Education in Minangkabau

The objective of this study is to explore the role of Abdullah Ahmad on the development of Islamic education in Minangkabau. The research used qualitative method with individual life history approach. All data was collected through a biography of the character, literatures, documents and evidence of object legacy in terms of both written and physical data. Data collection was conducted through the process of collecting, reducting, and presenting the data and was followed by a conclusion. Overall, the result of the study shows that there are six methods applied by Abdullah Ahmad in developing the Islamic education in Minangkabau. The six methods are: i) religion-based education, ii) integration of classical and modern educational models, iii) educational consortium, iv) development of a scientific culture, v) receptiveness to modernization, and vi) informal education. This study also proves that the Abdullah Ahmad’s six methods of education are the prototype of the establishment of today’s various modern educational institutions in West Sumatra. It is no wonder that Minangkabau was formerly known as the land for producing Islamic scholars, intellectuals and powerful politicians such as M. Yamin, Buya Hamka, M. Nasir, and Muhammad Hatta. Based on the historical facts, this study found that Minangkabau scholars, intellectuals and politicians are influenced more or less by the thoughts of Abdullah Ahmad.


Introduction
Historical facts have proven that Minangkabau society is one of the leading ethnic in Indonesia, as they are unique in term of social culture, character, and religion. Various compliments for the Minangkabau community's superiority continue to be discussed and written scientifically in various literatures and scientific publications. Thus, it is no wonder that as one of the major ethnic groups in Indonesia, the presence of the Minangkabau ethnic is always worth to be accounted for national and international events.
The above mentioned statement is not excessive. Elizabeth (2007) even argues that the Minangkabau society is claimed to be the most successful and  (1908) and some other famous names that became the first generation of Indonesia's modern elite. These figures with their names are still mentioned with pride by the Minangkabau community, over their legacy of thoughts, ideas, and contributions in religious, political, social, cultural and educational aspects (Navis, 1984). Based on the above entry, the authors were encouraged to learn about the roles and contributions of the Minangkabau's figures from the aspect of education, especially Islamic education. After collecting, reading, reviewing and analyzing the data, it was the name Abdullah Ahmad that emerged as the spotlight for the movement and reforms of education, the most appropriate person as a reference, a person who has dedicated himself and served for education's sector until the end of his life. His legacy still remains in the present, and it could become a model of education a future reference.

Biography of Abdullah Ahmad
Abdullah Ahmad was born in 1878 in Padang Panjang, and died at 55 years of age in Padang in 1933. He was one of the reformists of Islamic scholars of the Minangkabau, and was also the founder of the Sumatera Thawalib School, the Adabiah School and the PGAI in West Sumatra. Abdullah Ahmad was the son of Haji Ahmad, a Minangkabau scholar who was also a merchant, but his mother came from Bengkulu. Historically, it was found that in addition to Buya HAMKA, Abdullah Ahmad was also one of the earliest Indonesian scholars who earned honorary doctorates from the Al-Azhar University, Cairo, Egypt Asnam, 2007).
Abdullah Ahmad's education did not start from a formal school, since it was so difficult to gain education from the Dutch's imperialists who colonized the Indonesian nation at that time. Nevertheless, he still gained knowledge from his father, Haji Ahmad Asnan, 2007). Abdullah Ahmad's father was also a teacher who possessed religious knowledge and he was a man ahead of his time (Asnan, 2007;Daya, 1990). Besides obtaining knowledge from his father, Abdullah Ahmad also directly studied under his father's brother, Sheikh Abdul Halim (also known as Sheikh Gapuak), the founder and caretaker of Masjid Raya Gantiang (Asnan, 2007;Daya, 1990 Therefore, it is no wonder that the existence of Adabiah School and the PGAI in the present and in the future is seen as real, and it could not be separated

The works of Abdullah Ahmad
As an agent of change and an educational figure, Abdullah Ahmad was known for his productivity in writing. Among his works was the publication of al-Munir magazine : Fachri, 2004. Published in 1911, the Al-Munir magazine was the first modern Islamic magazine in Indonesia (Schrieke 1973, Abdullah, 2011). This magazine was directly managed by Abdullah Ahmad himself. Besides establishing the Al-Munir magazine, he was also an expert in other fields such as Astronomy, Tawheed, and Ushul fiqh. According to  Another factor for the establishment of Adabiah School was that Abdullah

Modernization of Islamic Education in Minangkabau by Abdullah Ahmad
Ahmad did not want the Minangkabau Islamic generation to be educated under the influence of secularism brought by the Dutch imperialist (Noer, 1990 Islamic religion lessons to its students (Yunus, 1993).
The Adabiah School had also used the method of debating club, which is a method of discussion that provides opportunities for students to be creative. This method provides the widest possible opportunity for students to ask and to discuss openly about religious topics. This was made as an effort to change the old ways in which students are passive listeners and have lack of freedom, with the learning time dominated by the lecture of the teachers.
In addition, Abdullah Ahmad implemented the reward and punishment method as applied today. According to him, teacher should praise the students if they have a noble character and even rewarded him with a gift when necessary.
At the same time, punishment also needs to be executed if the student does the opposite. However, this punishment does not have to be rough, because rough punishment can diminish the courage inside the children (Ramayulis, and Nizar, 2005).
According to Abdullah, another method which needs to be applied is the method of playing and recreation. He stated that children need to be provided with time to play and have fun and to rest during the ongoing teaching and learning process. If there is no break time between learning, it could harm the children behavioral development. This will affect even the students who are obedient and intelligent, since boredom will drain their brain energy. As a result, their conscious mind will work slowly; it will be difficult for them to understand the lesson and it could inhibit their cognitive development entirely (Ramayulis, and Nizar, 2005).

The integration of classical and modern educational model has turned
Adabiah School into an educational institution characterized as 'religious-secular' (Asnan, 2007). Adabiah School even also has been regarded as the pioneer of Indonesia's national education pattern: as a public educational institution with a religious view on education, and as a religious educational institution with a more general vision (Daya, 1995).
Thus, it is confirmed that the modernization of Islamic education system in Minangkabau has been made through integration of classical and modern educational model. Modernization is also inseparable from the influence of thoughts of Minangkabau scholars who ever studied abroad, especially from the Middle East like Mecca and Egypt. Lastly, the reformation inside the Islamic educational institution was in the form of its system: the learning that was used to be in Surau is now practiced in madrasa, and the halaqah system was changed into classical system (Gazalba, 1983).

Role of Abdullah Ahmad on the Modernization of Islamic Education in Minangkabau
Khalifa Islamiyah (Rahman, 2015). There was also a change of learning system from the Halaqah model into classical system, and the grouping of students into levels and educational unit, as well as the curriculum used. These changes did not only happen to the education of religion but also other general sciences.
Fourth: Establishment of a scientific culture. In addition to managing the School he established, Abdullah Ahmad is also known as a productive writer. To foster his passion in writing, he founded the al-Munir magazine, the first journal of the modernists in Indonesia. According to some articles that the authors read, the al-Munir magazine was widely accepted by many Muslims, not only in Minangkabau but also in the peninsular countries: Malaysia and Singapore (Noer, 1981). The magazine featured some of the rubrics that include articles covering Islamic issues, question and answer forums that generally concerned syari'a jurisprudence, and the development of world's Islamic view which was usually translated from Middle Eastern Islamic magazines. However, due to financial constraints, the magazine stopped publishing in 1915. Even so, the founding of Al-Munir was soon followed by a similar publication by various Islamic movements nationwide (Rahiem & Mochtar, 2001).
The history of al-Munir magazine started in 1906 with the establishment of Al-Imam magazine in Singapore, which was pioneered by Tahir Jalaluddin Al-Azhari. In the course of its history, this magazine has a close connection with Al-Urwatul Wusqa, a magazine published by Jamal-al-Din Afghani and Muhammad Abduh in Paris, France. The Al-Imam magazine was distributed in the Malay Peninsula and the island of Sumatra. One community that was highly influenced by the Al-Imam publication was the Minangkabau community in West Sumatra (Daya, 1990).

Role of Abdullah Ahmad on the Modernization of Islamic Education in Minangkabau
Khalifa Parabek, Abbas Abdullah, Zainuddin Labay El Yunusy, and Muhammad Jamil Jambek.
Al-Munir means a candle or flash light. The magazine was published every Saturday, at the beginning and in the middle of the Islamic calendar month (Asnan, 2000). Most of its editions consisted of 16 pages. The Al-Munir uses Arabic-Malay script, since in the early 20th century some Minangkabau people were still very good in writing and reading Arabic-Malay script. However, the spelling used the spelling standards applied by the colonial government schools (Asnan, 2007).
In distributing the magazines and collecting subscriptions fee, Al-Munir had 31 agents in various areas spread across Sumatra, Java, and the Malay Peninsula. One of the factors that caused the widespread distribution of this magazine is the existing network of Al-Imam magazine that stopped its publishing (Naldi, 2008). Since its first publication, Al-Munir had been distributed to readers throughout the regions of Sumatra, Java and Malay Peninsula (Hamka, 1986). However, in its subsequent development, there was addition and development of number of readers in Sulawesi and Kalimantan (Hamka, 1986).
In terms of its content, Al-Munir in fact has some similarities with Al-Imam. Many issues already published in Al-Imam were re-loaded in Al-Munir. In general, the contents of Al-Munir magazine can be grouped into several sections: editorials, mailings list, questions and answers, and domestic/foreign news. In addition, there were also translated articles from Middle Eastern magazines such as Al-Manar and Al-Ahram. Many written articles and the answering letters of the reader's column were related to issues on jurisprudence and aqeedah. Besides presenting arguments on compatibility of Islam with modern science and rationality, Al-Munir was keen to promote Muslims to return to pure Islamic teachings by abolishing taqlid and opposing the ecumenical practice of bi'dah, khurafat, and tarekat (Amir, 2000).
Through Al-Munir, the scholars of the Young People expressed their ijtihad to some issues which were previously unlawfully forbidden by traditional scholars, such as being photographs, or wearing ties and hats. Al-Munir ceased its publication in 1915 (Daya 1990). In the last edition dated in 15 Rabiulawal 1333 (Calendar AD: January 31, 1915), it presented a farewell essay titled "Khatama".
The essay stated that "Al-Munir could not be continued, but to the readers and the Islamic community it is advisable to continue to increase their knowledge by reading diligently (Daya, 1990). The magazine was suspended possibly due to lack of funds, as several last editions repeatedly reminded agents and subscribers to 46 H. Rafles, Muhammad Taufan and Sabiruddin

Role of Abdullah Ahmad on the Modernization of Islamic Education in Minangkabau
Khalifa send their subscriptions fee. Another reason why the magazine stopped its publishing is because the scholars who run this magazine had no background as merchants. At that time, the publications were held only for the purpose of da'wah, without having the necessary skills in business and professional publication (Hamka, 1986).
From the long history of al-Munir magazine as mentioned above, it could be said that Abdullah Ahmad was the first person who pioneer the idea to write scientific writings in modern way and to apply da'wah through publications in Indonesia. Padang (Daya, 1990, Yunus, 1993.

Conclusion
The social dynamics of Islam in Minangkabau developed very well, due to the high response of the public towards education and the interaction between scholars and educators with the foreigner, through their study in Mecca and Egypt and/or their interaction with Dutch imperialist. This interaction certainly provides a style of thinking that proves to be dialectic with the development of its era. Furthermore, the dynamics of Islamic education in Minangkabau is quite good, as seen from the change of the education system of surau with halaqah model in its initial period to a modern educational system with a classical model, revisions of the curriculum with the addition of religion subject and also the teaching of general subjects, an improvement in the educators' quality, and the implementation of learning evaluation as the benchmark for successful implementation of Islamic education.
Abdullah Ahmad is an education modernist figure in Minangkabau, and in Indonesia. He made a reformation in the education system, and he also dedicates his thoughts through writing scientific articles in al-Munir magazine. Through this magazine he expressed his ideas and concepts about knowledge to the people. In terms of conceptual thinking, Abdullah Ahmad is very receptive to various modern concepts which come from other thinkers outside Indonesia.
Thus, the authors believe that he deserves to be called as a modernist of education in Indonesia because of his receptiveness towards modernity that inspire other intellectuals in Indonesia today and in the future.