Progressive Islamic Education Thought from the Perspective of Abdurrahman Wahid and Its Relevance to Religious Moderation

Abstract

This study aims to analyze the concept of progressive Islamic education in the thought of Abdurrahman Wahid (Gus Dur) and its relevance to the development of Islamic Religious Education in Indonesia. The study is motivated by various challenges facing contemporary Islamic education, including the rise of exclusivism, intolerance, radicalism, and the need to strengthen religious moderation within a multicultural society. Abdurrahman Wahid’s thought offers a paradigm of Islamic education that is humanistic, inclusive, democratic, and oriented toward respect for diversity as part of the universal values of Islam. This study employs a qualitative approach using library research. Primary data were obtained from the works of Abdurrahman Wahid, while secondary data were derived from books, scholarly articles, and relevant research findings. Data were collected through documentation techniques and analyzed using content analysis and intellectual thought analysis through the stages of data reduction, data display, and conclusion drawing. The findings reveal that progressive Islamic education according to Abdurrahman Wahid is built upon five main values: humanism, pluralism, democracy, social justice, and the integration of Islamic and national values. These values position education as a process of humanization that shapes learners into religious, critical, tolerant, democratic, and socially responsible individuals. Gus Dur’s educational thought is also highly relevant to strengthening religious moderation through the cultivation of tolerance, respect for diversity, national commitment, rejection of violence, and acceptance of local culture. Therefore, Abdurrahman Wahid’s concept of progressive Islamic education deserves to be used as a conceptual foundation for developing Islamic Religious Education that is inclusive, moderate, and responsive to the challenges of Indonesia’s plural society.