Islamic Literature: Instructional Strategies in Contemporary Indonesia

Although Islamic literature has gained serious attention by Islamic world since 1940s, it has not yet taken a significant place in the world literature, let alone in the English language research areas. For its opponents, Islamic literature is not yet underpinned by a solid definition, while for its proponents, Islamic literature needs further exploration in the sense of its instructional implication. This article seeks to strengthen the existence of Islamic literature by offering its theological and social grounds as well as by proposing possible instructional strategies of using the Islamic literature in teaching English within the contemporary Indonesian context. Research method including R & D and a library research were employed to collect and analyze the data. This study finds that Islamic literature has a strong theological ground and a long established social ground. It is also found that using appropriate visuals, high text exploitability, and relevant glosses are among the effective instructional strategies.


Introduction
Literature has been long connected to 'religious domain' (Moody, 1971: 4); spiritual guidance (Showalter, 2012); knowledge (ilm) and the experience of knowledge (ma'rifa) (Abdullah, 2018). A specific term used to depict a strong connection between literature and religion is called didactic literature (Abrams, 1999). From this point of view, the term Islamic literature should be sensible.
Islamic literature refers to all genres of literary works written, in any language, within the Islamic perspective (Hassan, 2016). Among the notable international works of Islamic literature are those written by Hafez, Rumi, and Iqbal (Abdullah, 2018). Within Indonesian contexts, some figures like Hamzah Fansuri, Sanusi Pane, Amir Hamzah are considered to be among the poets connected to the existence of the so-termed Islamic literature of Archipelago (kesusastraan Islam Nusantara) (Muthari, 2016).  (Braginsky, 2004). Thus, Islamic literature is internationally and locally self-evident.
Nevertheless, previous studies still suggest three main problems related to the existence of Islamic literature. First, the term Islamic literature is still debatable and problematic within Indonesian context. A plenty Indonesian literary works are not categorized as Islamic literature although they resonate similar messages and characteristics to the Islamic literature (Rokib, 2016).
Second, most of literary works counted as Islamic literature are written in English (Kubarek, 2016), yet they are not yet warmly welcomed in most of the English departments of the Islamic countries (Areqi, 2016). Third, the instructional manifestation of Islamic literature (literatur keislaman) into classroom, such as through learning materials, is often ignored in the midst of Indonesian scholarly discussion (Hasan, 2018). These facts raise problems on the nature of Islamic literature and on the need to accentuate the instructional strategies of utilizing Islamic literature in English language teaching. This article is, therefore, aimed at: (1) exploring the nature of Islamic literature by clarifying its theological ground and social grounds. Such clarification is needed to set a common ground on what constitutes Islamic literature; and (2) offering the instructional strategies of Islamic literature.
That is by exploring the strategies which are possibly used to enhance the acceptability of the Islamic literature.
Not only do the findings of this research make the existence of Islamic literature self-evident and solid among the world art studies, but they also provide a practical instructional implication of the Islamic literature to teach English in contemporary Indonesian context particularly in the Islamaffiliated universities.

Nature of Islamic Literature
In the broadest sense, the term Islamic literature refers to "a committed literature with the aim of propagating an Islamic vision of the world" (Çayir, 2016, p.xxi). Any piece of literary work presenting Islamic culture and values; containing concepts derived from the principles and teachings of Islam; and valuing artistic aspects of a literary work, belongs to Islamic literature (Areqi, 2016). Islamic literature, which covers all genres and all languages, should be evocative of the messages of Allah subhaanahu wa ta'aala (meaning the most glorified; henceforth SWT) to His servants (Hassan, 2016). It also covers all literary works creatively written by Moslems although the contents of the work do not directly talk about the teachings of Islam (Poeradisastra, 2008). For those who are literate in English, Islamic literature is easily connected to such works as Arabian Night and Rubaiyat of Umar Kayam (Kritzeck, 1964). Islamic literature embraces all literary works, although  (Kubarek, 2016).
It is evident that the term Islamic literature covers all genres of literary work, written in any language and by any writer, that in tune with the spiritual values, principles, doctrines, and teachings of Islam without ignoring the aesthetical aspects of the works. The term has been recognized in the Arab and Muslim world as well as in the Western world.
The use of Islamic literature, particularly the story of Nasreddin Hodja, has been introduced by a few scholars in the field of English Language Teaching (ELT). Lie (1999) utilizes the story of Nasreddin Hodja to emphasize the importance of cooperative learning in ELT. Sullivan (2002), for example, argues that the stories of Nasreddin Hodja is relevant to ELT; and Clark (2004) maintains that the stories of Nasreddin Hodja can serve as basis to design interesting English language classroom activities. Further exploration of the Islamic literature in the English language classrooms should deserve English language teachers in Islam-affiliated educational institutions.

a. The theological ground
As something valuable, Islamic literature is underpinned by theological ground referring to the Holy Qur'an and the prophetic tradition. Hamid (1990) states that among the verses serving as the foundation of Islamic literature While the prophetic traditions that support the existence of Islamic literature are: "The ink of the scholar is more sacred than the blood of the martyr."; "Seek knowledge from the cradle to the grave"; and "The word of wisdom is the lost property of the believer. Wherever he finds it, then he is most

Instructional Strategies of Islamic Literature
Prior to the instructional strategies, a recognition of three major approaches to the use of Islamic literature in a language classroom is needed.  (Maley, 2012). It is worth noting that those three approaches should not exclude each other in that a practitioner might use them singly or alternately. Having determined a teaching approach, a teacher might consider providing prompting visuals, increasing text exploitability, and designing relevant glosses.

a. Providing prompting visuals
Visuals might refer to font size, layout, and illustration. They should be used to support the content of the Islamic literature used to teach English.
While the font size and the layout should be easy on the eyes, the illustration should provide the students with historical background, cultural setting, and relevant prior knowledge. Figure 1. shows some samples of visuals used in this study.

Figure 1. The Visuals of Islamic Literature
The visuals, particularly the illustration, in Figure 1. were appropriated by the researcher, by inserting relevant pictures or drawings, so as to help students anticipate the possible content of the Islamic literature. Nevertheless, it should be noted that the visuals might be prompting from the researcher's, experts' and practitioners' point of views, but might not be so from the students' perspectives. Figure 2. highlights the students' responses toward the visuals of the developed learning materials.

Figure 2. Students' Assessment toward the Visuals
It was obvious that illustrations should deserve more attention as few students extremely thought them poor. A more colorful and modern design of  Figure 3. depicts the exploitability of the Islamic literature.

Figure 3. Students' Assessment toward Text Exploitability
It is safe to state that to make the students think that Islamic literature is useful, relevant, and interesting, it should be supported by other texts that students could think, recall, imagine, and associate when they are reading a piece of Islamic literary work.

c. Designing relevant glosses
The word 'gloss' could generally mean making an explanation acceptable and attractive. Technically, the term 'glosses' referred to an explanation or translation of difficult words, phrases, or expressions within a given reading text (Maley, 2008). For the purpose of this research, glosses were used to make a linkage between the Islamic literature and verse of the Holy Qur'an, the prophetic tradition, and the saying of companion (sahabah), which were set out in at the end of the text. The Prophetic tradition Jabir reported: the Prophet Muhammad SAW, said, "The believer is friendly and befriended, for there is no goodness in one who is neither friendly, nor befriended. The best of people are those who are most beneficial to people." Moses and Al-Khadir (Katheer, 2001: 30) The saying of companion (sahabah) "I am a slave to anyone who ever taught me even a single word" (Ali bin Abi Thalib) The Golden Touch (Kasser & Silverman, 1986: 55-56) Verse of the Holy Qur'an "Competition in [worldly] increase diverts you. Until you visit the graveyards. Then no! You are going to know." (Qur'an 102: 1-3) Grown Up (Toh, 2000: 14-19) Verse of the Holy Qur'an "O mankind, indeed We have created you from male and female and made you peoples and tribes that you may know one another. Indeed, the most noble of you in the sight of Allah is the most righteous of you. Indeed, Allah is Knowing and Acquainted." (Qur'an 49: 13) Glosses were helpful for students with limited prior knowledge of Qur'an, hadits, and the saying of the righteous predecessors (qawl al-salaf alsalih). It is worth noting that the glosses might be explicitly or implicitly connected to the content of a given Islamic literature. The explicit connection enriched the students' knowledge about the principles and teaching of Islam, while the implicit connection strengthened their intertextual skills.

D. Discussion
The first problem formulation of this writing is related to the nature of Islamic literature which for some remains debatable. The finding suggests that Islamic literature refers to any literary texts which are in tune with the principles and teachings of Islam. It should cover some particular terms that
The second problem formulation is pertinent to instructional strategies of utilizing Islamic literature to teach English. The findings confirm that prompting visuals, high text exploitability, and relevant glosses are effective strategies. These strategies might provide an answer for the previous study related to the unpopularity of the Islamic literature in the English departments in the Islamic countries (Areqi, 2016). When an Islamic literature is equipped with stimulating illustrations, accessible intertextuality, and attractive glosses, it would serve as an effective instrument to teach English and to nurture Islamic values.

E. Conclusion
Islamic literature is self-evident as it is supported by a solid theological ground and social ground. It is not restricted to literary texts written by Muslims as it also includes those written by non-Muslims. Practical instructional strategies have strengthened the position of the Islamic literature within the language classrooms. As most Islamic literary texts are currently