INTRODUCTION

This chapter explains the role of Qom alumni in the development of the Shici community in Indonesia. The phrase “Qom alumni” refers to those who have completed courses in Islamic education in the Hawza cIlmiyya (College of Learning) of Qom, which is at present the most important centre of Shici Islamic education in the world. Today there are more than 200 Qom alumni in Indonesia, even excluding those who travelled to Qom to attend short-term courses. The growth in the number of Qom graduates has made a marked contribution to the formation and development of the Shici community in Indonesia; indeed, the majority of renowned Shici ustadz (religious teachers, from the Arabic ustadh, teacher) are graduates of the Hawza cIlmiyya. As a consequence, Shici ustadz are frequently identified with the Qom alumni, even though a number of ustadz were in fact educated in Egypt or Saudi Arabia. For example, Umar Shahab and his younger brother Husein Shahab, two Shici ustadz who are connected with prominent Shici foundations in Indonesia where important pengajian (religious gatherings) are held, are among the most popular Shici figures engaged in educational and dacwa activities in Jakarta. Another prominent Qom returnee is Abdurrahman Bima, former director of the Madinatul Ilmi College for Islamic Studies, a tertiary educational institution located in Depok, Southern Jakarta, and currently a member of parliament for the leading Democratic Party, led by current president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. In Pekalongan, Central Java, Ahmad Baragbah leads a famous Shici pesantren (traditional Islamic educational institution) called al-Hadi.

Frequently, Shici ustadz who are graduates from Islamic schools in other Middle Eastern countries, as well as intellectuals from secular universities, also come to Qom to take short-term training programmes in order to gain Islamic knowledge and establish connections with Shici leaders and the culama of Qom. Hasan Dalil, for example, having finished his undergraduate programme in Riyadh, took a three-month training programme in Qom. Even the renowned Indonesian Shici intellectual Jalaluddin Rakhmat and his family stayed in Qom for a year, during which time he attended learning circles and lectures carried out by ayatollahs. This illustrates the great importance attached to Islamic education in Qom by the Shicia of Indonesia.