M. FAIZI AND ECOTHEOLOGY IN ACTION: THE FRAMING OF WASTE AT PESANTREN ANNUQAYAH, MADURA

Abstract

Studies of religious actors in Indonesia’s environmental initiatives have mostly examined leadership and institutional achievement, while the construction of ecological meaning has received little systematic attention. This article analyzes the ecotheological thought and practice of M. Faizi, head (pengasuh) of the Al-Furqan Sabajarin unit of Pondok Pesantren Annuqayah, Sumenep, through Snow and Benford’s theory of collective action framing. The data comprise his book, essays, and public statements, an interview with the Coordinator of the Cleanliness Bureau of Annuqayah, and direct observation; Faizi himself was not interviewed. Three findings emerge. First, Faizi diagnoses the ecological crisis as a consumerist fallacy that equates purchasing power with a license to waste. He names structural causes such as the privatization of water sources but places primary responsibility on the morality of consumption. His ecotheology rests on adab, the prohibition of israf, and tirakat, and is richer in moral psychology than in doctrinal or juristic elaboration. Second, he aligns this message with the worldview of santri by bridging scientific data with the dining etiquette of the kitab kuning, amplifying long-held values, extending the fiqh of water beyond ritual purity, and transforming the meaning of cleanliness from waste disposed of properly to waste not produced. Third, the frame is enacted through personal tirakat, pesantren rules, and the kompolan forums he leads. It is effectively enforced and modeled where his authority operates, but only thin traces appear beyond, because his structural diagnosis is not followed by structural prognosis or an organizational vehicle. The case is therefore better understood as a movement-like practice of personal piety than as an organized movement. Audience reception was not measured directly.