Unveiling Islamic Educational Values in Tembang Sorong Serah Aji Krame: A Cultural and Religious Perspective

Abstract

The Sorong Serah Aji Krame tradition represents a significant matrimonial custom within Lombok's Sasak community that embodies the synergistic relationship between Islamic values and indigenous cultural practices. This ethnographic study investigates how this traditional ceremony functions as an informal medium for Islamic moral education by transmitting embedded ethical values in its poetic form, Tembang Sorong Serah. Through extensive fieldwork conducted over four months in Montong Baan Selatan Village, data were collected from multiple sources, including in-depth interviews with eleven key informants, participant observation of five ceremonial events, and document analysis. Data were analyzed using constructivist grounded theory methodology for coding and analysis. The study identifies nine core Islamic educational values transmitted through the tembang: hospitality, humility, courtesy, gratitude, deliberation, tolerance, cooperation, moral conduct, and religious piety. Findings demonstrate that oral tradition is a culturally contextualized vehicle for Islamic character formation, exemplifying the historical convergence between custom and shariah in Indonesian Muslim societies. The study contributes to understanding how indigenous pedagogy complements formal religious instruction and offers specific recommendations for cultural preservation, educational integration, and community engagement strategies. This research advances theoretical frameworks on situated learning within Islamic contexts and demonstrates how traditional rituals can effectively transmit moral values across generations despite modernization challenges.