Kyai Authority in Nonformal Qur'anic Education: Enlivening The Qur'an, Interpretive Authority, and Religious Practice

Siti Fahimah; Lujeng Luthfiyah

doi:10.14421/w4dacf19

Authors

Siti Fahimah IAI TABAH Lamongan
Lujeng Luthfiyah

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.14421/w4dacf19

Keywords:

Kyai authority, Enlivening the Qur'an, Nonformal Qur'anic education

Abstract

This article examines kyai authority in nonformal Qur'anic education by focusing on how religious leaders obtain and exercise interpretive authority through their capacity to enliven the Qur'an according to community needs in Pelangwot Village, Lamongan, East Java. The study addresses two research questions: (1) what are the forms of kyai authority in nonformal educational contexts? (2) why do these kyai obtain authority in their community? Employing a qualitative case-study design, the research gathered data through participant observation in TPQ learning sessions and mau'izhah forums, semi-structured interviews with teachers, kyai, and students, and analysis of institutional documents and teaching references. Data were analyzed using thematic coding to identify recurring patterns. Findings reveal two key dimensions. First, the forms of kyai authority in nonformal settings are predominantly socio-cultural, rooted in teacher-student transmission chains and community recognition rather than formal institutional structures. Kyai authority operates through teacher-student knowledge transmission, tolerates interpretive differences to maintain harmony, and remains fragmented across institutions. Second, kyai obtain their authority through the continuous labor of enlivening the Qur'an—selectively mobilizing established verses and hadith including "khairukum man ta'allam al-Qur'āna wa 'allamahu," QS Āli 'Imrān 3:18, QS az-Zumar 39:9, and QS al-'Alaq 96:1-5 as motivational and legitimizing devices in daily pedagogical practice. The article argues that kyai authority in nonformal settings is assembled through persistent community-building labor that translates scriptural meanings into locally relevant moral guidance. This contributes to scholarship on Islamic religious authority by demonstrating how authority emerges not from formal credentials but from the ongoing work of making sacred texts alive for community needs.

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