A CURRENT PORTRAIT OF ISLAMIC EDUCATION IN ACEH ISLAMIKA INDONESIANA, 1:1 (2014) 1 A CURRENT PORTRAIT OF ISLAMIC EDUCATION IN ACEH Kamaruzzaman Bustamam-Ahmad Visiting Research Fellow, Academy of Islamic Studies, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia kamaruzzaman13@gmail.com ABSTRACT There have been many studies on Islamic education in Aceh, especially among traditional institutions. However, the new coming of usta>dh from Java has led to social dynamics in the province. This paper aims to examine the contemporary of Islamic authority in education in Aceh, Indonesia. It will focus with two social concepts and their role in society. It is based from fieldwork in Aceh in several areas. It is argued that there is a change of Islamic authority in the society in which the usta>dh plays more important role in education than teungkue. Meanwhile, the teungkus are more interested in political arena. Keywords: Aceh; Islamic education; Teungku; Usta>dh; Terrorist INTRODUCTION This paper discusses the socio-cultural context of Islamic education in Aceh. It will focus on the changes in religious authority in the Acehnese community, that is, from the figure of the teungku to the usta>dh. It has been widely argued that authority in Islamic education in Aceh is held by traditional Islamic religious leaders called teungku. They play important roles not only in the dayah (Islamic boarding school), or religious schools, in the reproduction of ‘ulama>, but also as guardians of Acehnese society. However, in the everyday life of Islam in Aceh, some teungku also play major roles in society and politics rather than just in Islamic education. Usta>dh, on the other hand, means guru (teacher). They play important roles not only in Islamic boarding schools (pondok modern), but also as religious preachers (juru dakwah). Both teungku and usta>dh are commonly used terms in Aceh. However, in the last two decades, the name usta>dh became more accepted by the Acehnese people. It is said that “the modern dayah was first established in 1983, the Dayah of ‘Ulumul Qur’an – Bustanul ‘Ulum,’ in