Multicultural Character Formation in Islamic Religious Education

Mohamad  Alifian Zanuar; Thoriq Al-Anshori; Dwi Mariyono

doi:10.37899/journallaedusci.v7i3.2940

Mohamad Alifian Zanuar Program Studi Pendidikan Agama Islam, Universitas Islam Malang, Indonesia
Thoriq Al-Anshori Program Studi Pendidikan Agama Islam, Universitas Islam Malang, Indonesia
Dwi Mariyono Program Studi Pendidikan Agama Islam, Universitas Islam Malang, Indonesia

DOI: https://doi.org/10.37899/journallaedusci.v7i3.2940

Keywords: Islamic Religious Education, Islamic Religious Education Multicultural Character, Jawahirul Adab Book, Tazkiyatun Nafs, Local Wisdom

Abstract

The implementation of multicultural education in Indonesia often encounters epistemological challenges, namely the dominance of Western educational theories that tend to be secular and only focus on socio-cognitive engineering, while ignoring the spiritual dimension that is the core of Islamic Religious Education. This condition triggers disparities in students who may understand tolerance intellectually, but are emotionally and spiritually fragile. This article seeks to reconstruct the position of Islamic Religious Education as the main discursive authority in character education, by making local wisdom in the Book of Jawahirul Adab as a pedagogical case study to fill this spiritual void. Using a qualitative approach with content analysis methods and contextual hermeneutics, this study dialogues the dimensions of James A. Banks' multicultural education with the concept of tazkiyatun nafs (purification of the soul). The results of the comparative analysis show that Islamic ethics provides axiological reinforcement to Banks' theory through the "Tazkiyah-Based Multiculturalism" model that prioritizes inner management. An analysis of the Jawahirul Adab (The Book of Adab) finds that the elimination of the trait of ujub (inheritance) serves as an internal mechanism for Prejudice Reduction, while the prohibition against ngutek-ngutek drengki (introverted behavior) is a psycho-spiritual prerequisite for the success of Equity Pedagogy. This study also reveals that the rhythmic structure of nadhom in the book serves as a more effective pedagogical instrument for internalizing values than instructional prose texts. This integration of traditional values offers a fundamental solution to the problem of "spiritual emptiness" in modern multicultural education.

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