ISSN 0852-7172 (p) 2461-064X (e) © 2019 Walisongo: Jurnal Penelitian Sosial Keagamaan http://journal.walisongo.ac.id/index.php/walisongo 221 Walisongo: Jurnal Penelitian Sosial Keagamaan Vol. 27 No.1 (2019) pp 221-250 DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.21580/ws.27.1.3101 HALAL TOURISM IN LOMBOK ISLAND: POTENTIALS, CHALLENGES, AND THE ROLE OF ISLAMIC EDUCATION MOHAMAD IWAN FITRIANI*, NAZAR NAAMY Universitas Islam Negeri Mataram Abstract Although Lombok of West Nusa Tenggara has gained an excellent international reputation for its halal tourism (2015-2018), tour- ism in the region is not without obstacles. Several elements of the Sasak-Lombok community, for instance, still refuse the concept of halal tourism because it is likely to cause harm to conventional tourism. This article will examine potentials, challenges, and the role of Islamic education in halal tourism in Lombok. It employs a descriptive-qualitative approach, where data collection is obtained from focus group discussions, in-depth interviews, document anal- ysis, and media reporting. Meanwhile, data validity testing is car- ried out with the triangulation technique. After a profound anal- ysis, this research found that: (1) the potentials for halal tourism in Lombok are made of its natural beauty, cultural distinctiveness, and tradition of the local community predominated by Muslims; (2) the challenges of halal tourism in Lombok include two things: a) conceptual challenges that deal with the absence of terms rep- resenting the desires of all parties, and b) practical problems that deal with economic, environmental, social, and cultural matters; (3) Islamic education—as a value, activity, or institution—plays a vital role in disseminating representative concepts for halal tour- ism acceptable to all parties, i.e. the local community, tourism ac- tors, and government. This acceptance is one of the keys to the successful development of halal tourism in Lombok. * Corresponding author: Jl. Pendidikan No. 35, Dasan Agung Baru, Selaparang, Mataram, Nusa Tenggara Barat, Indonesia, 83125. E-mail: iwanfitriani@gmail.com.