Deconstructing Pesantren Feudalism: Santri Obedience and Religious Authority at Pesantren Langitan, Tuban

Ahmad Mustakim; Isa Anshori; Tasmuji

doi:10.15408/refleksi.v25.i1.53373

Authors

Ahmad Mustakim Sunan Ampel State Islamic University Surabaya https://orcid.org/0009-0000-4352-3264
Isa Anshori Sunan Ampel State Islamic University Surabaya
Tasmuji Sunan Ampel State Islamic University Surabaya

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.15408/refleksi.v25.i1.53373

Keywords:

Epistemic-ethical obedience, Pesantren Langitan, Religious authority, Deconstruction, Feudalism

Abstract

This article examines how the label “pesantren feudalism” frames santri obedience and religious authority at Pesantren Langitan, Tuban. Rather than treating obedience as either submission or autonomy, it asks how santri themselves experience, interpret, and negotiate obedience as an ethical and epistemic practice. Using a qualitative case study with a hermeneutic-phenomenological orientation and a deconstructive reading strategy, the study draws on semi-structured interviews with eight participants four active students, two alumni, and two pesantren administrators supported by participant observation and document analysis. Analysis proceeded in three linked stages: reconstruction of lived meanings; thematic interpretation of sanad, adab, embodied practice, authority, and agency; and deconstructive examination of binary oppositions such as obedience/freedom and authority/domination. The findings show that participants commonly described obedience as ethical formation grounded in the chain of scholarly transmission (sanad), adab, and trust in religious knowledge, while also identifying boundaries beyond which authority becomes domination. Six of the eight participants explicitly distinguished respectful obedience from unquestioning submission; two did not articulate this distinction as explicitly. The article proposes “epistemic-ethical obedience” as a bounded concept linking epistemic legitimacy, ethical formation, embodied practice, and reflective agency without denying the possibility of coercion or symbolic domination.

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