THE GLORY OF RAMADAN 1443H

Friday April 22nd 2022

Every year, Muslims greet and celebrate the holy month of Ramadan with joy as a form of their gratitude to Allah as well as a symbol of Islam. The joy is manifested in various activities, depending on each person, group, culture, etc. Accordingly, this year, Al Azhar 55 organized several events, such as Tarhib, Amaliyah, 55 Ramadan Village, and Mabit. We call this series of events “The Glory of Ramadan”.

First of all, we did Tarhib Ramadhan, an activity to welcome the month of Ramadan. A week before Ramadan, students wrote a Ramadan greeting on a piece of colored paper and then sang the song “Marhaban Ya Ramadhan” while showing and waving the paper. This welcoming video has been uploaded on YouTube with the following link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AllumGz6OEI

Secondly, we did Amaliyah Ramadan, a set of religious activities during the month of Ramadan which is integrated into learning, including: zakat, infaq, sadaqah, tadarus, tahfidz, and Duha prayers. This activity took place from 4 – 21 April 2022. Kultum (speech) and tadarus were held every day in the testimony and morning meeting; ZIS payment were served daily during office hours; tahfidz in the form of memorization was done online/offline according to the agreement between the teacher and students (once a week); while Duha prayer was done every day before starting the first lesson.

The series of events was closed by 55 Ramadan Village for all students and Mabit (Malam Bina Iman dan Takwa/Faith and Piety Building Night) for grade 5 students (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ppLGEaM56QY), which were also the highlights of the whole event. They were organized in a blended mode: some students went offline and some others joined online via zoom. Ramadan Village wrapped several activities at once, namely Islamic expo, iftar (breaking the fast) and maghrib prayer. The Islamic Expo provided students with various booths, including: calligraphy, Islamic reading and gamers’ zone, hadrah music, eid Mubarak greeting cards making, Arabic talking and singing and sharing zone (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8_jt_3m85cE). The Islamic Expo was also a form of “ngabuburit” (hanging out to wait for the coming of iftar time)before breaking the fast. So, after visiting booths in the expo, students sat in a circle and got ready to break their fast with takjil (snacks, usually sweet, to break the fast). After the ta’jil, they got ready to take an ablution and then do maghrib prayer at the Masjid Al Hafidh of Al Azhar Yogyakarta Islamic School campus.

Meanwhile, the Mabit program started after the Maghrib with a series of activities: group tadarus, Isya and tarawih prayers, watching an Islamic movie and making reflections, doing midnight prayer (tahajjud) together, suhoor, and subuh prayer together. In this activity, students stayed overnight at school, so they prepared their own needs during the Mabit.

Overall, the whole event ran smoothly and the students were very enthusiastic. Grade 5 students, who stayed overnight at school, got even much more enthusiastic as they experienced a full set of Ramadan prayers and ibadah. Hopefully in the upcoming month of Ramadan, the activities will be more diverse and interesting. Amen.

Testimony

Prof. Dra. Hj. Suwarsih Madya, M.A., Ph.D.

Amidst the globalized situation which poses challenges of which one is a possible threat to identity, yet provides ample opportunities to excel for those who possess the prerequisites, we need to equip our children as the continuing generation with necessary competencies—affective, cognitive, psychomotor and interactive. In other words, we need to help them grow and develop into total persons and this can be achieved through the whole-child development approach which ensures the development of all potentials. In addition to this is the need for developing some competence which enables the children to communicate globally. All of this will ensure that the children will develop their citizenships both at the national and global levels. How can this ideal development be realized?

If you want to find out about how efforts are made to develop children’s whole potentials, you can come to SD Islam Al Azhar 55 Yogyakarta. Here you can see how the four-year old school has grown fast due to the stakeholders’ trust to send their children to study here. With only 54 children in the first year, this school now has 185 students. These students are educated to respect and preserve the social-cultural environment by learning the local language (Javanese, including the script) and arts (dance). Simultaneously, they certainly learn the national language (Bahasa Indonesia) and national content, which is unquestionable since it is compulsory, and English, which has now become a global lingua franca; thus, a prerequisite for successful global communication. More importantly, children in this school also learn to practise their religion consistently. So, in this school children’s identity is rooted in the local culture, with nationalism and global awareness being inherently developed together with reliogiosity.

Does the whole-child development approach at SD Islam Al Azhar still give room for children to excel? In my belief, when all their potentials are developed, children will have a greater chance to excel and I can see the truth in my belief in this primary school. In the last two years, the students have made great achievements in various competitions held at the local and national levels–gold medals in English, math and science competitions (national), silver and bronze medals in IT competitions (national), silver and bronze medals at colouring and swimming competitions (local) to mention some.

In conclusion, SD Islam Al Azhar has given evidence of the right efforts of true education to develop both intelligence and character.

Prof. DR. Budi S. Daryono, M.Agr. Sc.

Testimoni Sebagai Orang tua menyekolahkan anak Di Al-Azhar 55

Sudah menjadi kewajiban bagi orang tua untuk memberikan pendidikan yang terbaik bagi putra putrinya. Tantangan untuk mendidik anak di Era Global dan Digital pun semakin besar, kita tidak bisa lagi membendung segala perubahan yang begitu cepat terjadi, dan harus mempersiapkan anak-anak supaya bisa survive dan sholeh/sholehah tentunya. Saat ini dunia bagaikan kampung, dimana tidak ada batas-batas untuk melakukan transaksi kehidupan, untuk itu anak harus bisa berkomunikasi dengan bahasa universal sebagai modal utama. Disamping itu, pendidikah Ahlak dan Aqidah harus diberikan secara dini sebagai dasar anak dalam menghadapi gejolak gelombang kehidupan. Atas pertimbangan tersebutlah, kami selaku orang tua memilih untuk menyekolahkan putra kami tercinta Hikari di Sekolah Islam, yang menggunakan dua bahasa pengantar, yaitu Al-Azhar 55.

Prof. DR. Budi S.Daryono, M.Agr. Sc.