Fiqh Sosial in Practice: An Inclusive Framework for Religious Education of Blind and Deaf-Mute Santri in Two Indonesian Pesantren

Abstract

Indonesia's rapid expansion of inclusive-schooling policy has left Arabic literacy, Qur'anic recitation, and worship instruction (fiqh 'ibādah) largely untouched, while existing studies of Arabic and Qur'anic pedagogy for blind and deaf-mute learners remain technically rich but normatively thin, disconnected from any indigenous Islamic jurisprudential framework capable of legitimating inclusive practice within pesantren culture. This study addresses that gap by reconstructing the social jurisprudence (Fiqh Sosial) of KH Sahal Mahfudh into an operational framework and examining it against two Central Java field sites: TPQ Inklusi Al-Mubarok, Pati, studied through sixteen months of insider practitioner-researcher engagement, and Pondok Pesantren Tahfidz Tuli Irhamny Robbi, Jepara, studied through one month of outsider ethnographic fieldwork, together yielding twelve key informants and extensive observational data analysed through deductive framework analysis against Fiqh Sosial's five founding principles. The findings show five convergent pillars operating through markedly different sensory pathways for blind and deaf-mute learners, including a pre-takbir vocalised intention (niyyah) that could not be identified in the literature surveyed for this study, and a Sufi-linked devotional practice that informants reported as helping santri become calmer and more emotionally regulated. The study concludes that Fiqh Sosial offers pesantren-based educators a theologically grounded and field-informed proposition for inclusive practice, complementing rather than replacing imported disability-education frameworks, subject to further verification across additional sites.