Nineteenth International Conference on Interdisciplinary Social Sciences

Abstract

Western society and even among traditional fellow Muslims consider that women are prohibited from religious leadership for their alleged shortcomings in essential authoritative traits such as reason and wisdom. However, this does not appear in Pesantren Al-Ashriyyah Nurul Iman which is led by Umi Waheeda, the widow of a charismatic religious teacher named Habib Saggaf. This study examines how Umi Waheeda faced the difficulty of transitioning from Habib to her, who previously lacked leadership experience. This paper also explains her strategies in building a social entrepreneur-based pesantren that provides free education for 15,000 students and her maneuvers in building networks with other institutions to be trusted as a trainer of other pesantren that want to develop entrepreneurship. This study used qualitative methods by field observation, in-depth interviews, and relevant secondary data. Fines to students and staff who commit violations have proven effective in increasing discipline. The vision of “free education until the end of the world” encourages every element in developing its entrepreneurial unit. Although there are still limitations that Umi cannot do as a woman, for instance becoming an icon of the Pesantren, however, she determines who deserves to be the icon as the successor of her late husband.