Thursday, October 18 2018, to Saturday, October 20 2018, the Arabic Study Program, Faculty of Cultural Sciences, Universitas Gadjah Mada again held a community service program as a form of the tri dharma of higher education. This time, the service program was held in the hamlet of Klampok, Giripurwo, Purwosari, Gunung Kidul, Yogyakarta. Activities in the form of Arabic language training for worship for the Muslim community in the village.
This activity is centred at the Baiturahiim Mosque which is located in the Klampok hamlet. Apart from Arabic Study Program lecturers, this community service also involved students in its implementation. This is because the students involved have the opportunity to learn to apply the knowledge they have learned so far. In particular, these students were assigned to be tutors to accompany the training participants when giving the material. In addition, they are also involved in the preparation of service material modules.
The selection of locations and forms of community service program activities is based on the results of a survey before the event is held. From the survey results, it is known that Klampok hamlet is a hamlet with a Muslim majority population. From a total of 469 families with a total of 1543 people, 98% are Muslims. However, of the total population, only a few have mastered the ability to use Arabic in their worship, especially those that use loudspeakers such as Friday sermons, reading the imam’s prayer, and the call to prayer.
Given this fact, the community service team of the UGM Arabic Study Program then took the initiative to hold special worship Arabic language training for the call to prayer, Friday sermon and prayer readings for the priest. This is because such forms of worship will certainly be heard by many people, so of course, it will be very beautiful—and rightfully so—if the Arabic pronunciation is carried out according to the rules; properly and correctly and with the right voice and tone.
During the activity, the event started with a friendly meeting between the service team and community leaders and local village officials. Present at the gathering were the village head, village secretary, welfare, head of the village head, as well as the chairman of the takmir of the Baiturahiim Mosque and several representatives of the Klampok hamlet community. The meeting took place from 16.00 to 17.00 WIB. Furthermore, after the congregational Maghrib prayer, the event officially started by starting with a public lecture delivered by Dr Moh. Masruhi, M. Hum. He explained the material about the relationship between Arabic and worship performed by the community. He also advised that the existing obstacles in the form of not learning the Arabic language of worship in writing should not be an excuse for being reluctant to improve themselves during training activities. In addition, he also emphasized that the short duration of the training should be used as well as possible.
After the public lecture, intensive training was then carried out for the next two days. The participants were divided into four major groups, namely the muezzin, imam, preacher and ordinary congregation. The group of muezzins was intensively trained to pronounce the call to prayer. The material provided was in the form of training on the pronunciation of Arabic letters in the call to prayer, breathing exercises so that the call to prayer is not cut off in the middle or ends due to running out of breath, techniques for using a mic in high and low notes and introduction to the basic rhythm of the call to prayer.
The groups of preachers and imams are trained intensively to be able to carry out sermons and lead prayers properly and correctly. The material given to this team was in the form of how to read the opening sermon, choosing verses according to the theme, choosing a prayer at the end of the sermon and training to read Surat al-Fatihah. Meanwhile, groups consisting of the general public are trained to be able to memorize and recite the daily prayers and prayers properly and correctly. During the training, the service team stayed at the residents’ homes and mingled with them. It is hoped that, with this training, Arabic reading in the worship of the local community which was previously only obtained orally from generation to generation, can become better and by Arabic rules, so that reading errors can be avoided.