‘Ulama’ Tiga Serangkai’ and their contribution towards reviving Islamic education in the early post-colonial Indonesia

• Main Author: Ahmad, Nadzrah
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: IIUM Press 2021
• Subjects: BP134.S3 Quran and Science; BV1460 Religious Education
• Online Access: http://irep.iium.edu.my/93887/7/93887_%E2%80%98Ulama%E2%80%99%20Tiga%20Serangkai%E2%80%99%20and%20Their%20Contribution%20towards%20Reviving%20Islamic%20Education.pdf; http://irep.iium.edu.my/93887/; https://journals.iium.edu.my/jiasia/index.php/jia/article/view/1055

Ulama’ Tiga Serangkai of North Sumatera was a name coined for three distinguished scholars of the Malay World for their many contributions in the area of Islamic Studies. Abdul Halim Hasan, Zainal Arifin Abbas and Abdul Rahim Haitami received the title of Ulama’ Tiga Serangkai for their collective work of Tafsīr al-Qur’ān al-Karīm. They envisioned towards reviving Islamic understanding among the Malays of post-colonial era. Apart from the Qur’ānic commentary, these three figures offered their Malay Muslim readers a collection of knowledge on Is-lam in Malay language. Their writings were on faith (’īmān), practices (ʿibādah), theology (tawḥīd) as well as on reformation and modernisation. This paper at-tempts to highlight works done by the Ulama’ Tiga Serangkai and examine their nature of contribution towards reviving Islamic knowledge and education among the Muslims of the era. The finding shows that the three had numerous contributions in terms of published and written works in the area of Islamic studies. Among the three, Abdul Halim Hasan was known to have significantly contributed in restructuring Islamic schools and education in the attempt to prevent unwelcomed interventions from the colonial authority.