Genealogi Tokoh Pendidikan Islam Melayu: Relasi Ulama dan Umara dalam Sejarah UIR dan UIN Sultan Syarif Kasim Riau

Abstract

This study examines the historical genealogy of Islamic higher education in Riau by tracing the relationships among ulama, Malay social elites, and governmental authorities in the development of Universitas Islam Riau (UIR) and Universitas Islam Negeri Sultan Syarif Kasim Riau (UIN Suska Riau). The study aims to identify continuities, shifts, and institutional consequences in the relationship between religious authority and political-bureaucratic authority. This qualitative historical study uses institutional histories, official university documents, archival and manuscript-based studies, and relevant scholarly literature. Data were analyzed through heuristics, source criticism, interpretation, and historiography, while a historical-genealogical lens was used to trace actor networks, transmissions of educational ideas, institutional ruptures, and changing forms of authority. The findings indicate that Islamic higher education in Riau developed through two complementary institutional trajectories: a bottom-up trajectory represented by UIR, initiated by Muslim scholars and community elites through YLPI Riau, and a state-supported top-down trajectory represented by IAIN Sulthan Syarif Qasim, which was subsequently transformed into UIN Suska Riau. The study argues that these trajectories were not isolated; they intersected through intellectual networks, governmental support, and institutional transformation, producing a modern Malay Muslim intellectual arena that integrated Islamic traditions with modern higher education.