Home | Conversation | TOEIC Preparation | Reading Comprehension

Qolbu Management

KH. Abdullah Gymnastiar was born in Bandung on January 29, 1962, from a Moslem and very discipline couple Letkol H. Engkus Kuswara and Hj. Yeti Rohayati. As a matter of fact, Aa Gym doesn’t want to be called Kiyai or Ustadz, that’s why people like to call him Aa Gym.

From his marriage with Ninih Muthmainnah Muhsin, the granddaughter of KH Mohamad

Tasdiqin, (Pondok Pesantren Kalangsari’s patron in Cijulang, South Ciamis), Aa Gym got seven sons and daughters, Ghaida Tsuraya, Muhammad Ghazi Al Ghifari, Ghina Raudhatul Jannah, Ghaitsa Zahira Shofa, Ghefira Nur Fatimah, Ghaza Muhammad Al-Ghazali and Gheriyya Rahima. Aa Gym also raises five orphans who live with them.

Aa Gym’s educational background was not from a strict pesantren environment – particularly in traditional point of view. He admitted that his first teacher was his own younger brother, Agung Gunmartin, a paralyzed brother who was deaf and unable to move by himself. But his brother was a persistant person, he kept studying and never missed his shalat tahajud. Although he suffered a lot of difficulties, he liked going to mosque. With love, Aa Gym would carry him to the mosque or his campus.

Unfortunately, day by day his brother’s physical condition was getting weaker, he even couldn’t sit and move his hands anymore. He faced all this with full patient and without complaints. “He died in my arms, he took his last breath while I was holding him,” Aa Gym said.

The core of Aa Gym’s teaching is qolbu (literally means heart), simply, a human body is assumed to be a kingdom. And the king of the body is heart. How can you take care of other things if you cannot take care of the king? The target of Qolbu management is public society, without looking at his or her ethnic, race or religious background. There are two keys in Qolbu Management. First, try to clean your heart. Second, try to improve your personal ability in all fields.  A clean heart is a heart that always works effectively because it only thinks about kindness. Honesty is the basis source for forming better mentality and good dedication in our daily activities.

Today, Aa Gym holds position as the head of Pesantren Daarut Tauuhid established in 1990. Now, it has expanded to three cities, Bandung, Jakarta and Batam. With the motto, Dzikir, Fikir and Ikhtiar, these pesantrens try to educate people to be kind, polite, and effective in using their time, For Aa Gym, to live means to present the best things for this world and to gain worthy life in heaven.

by Charles Roring for Englishland  

Pesantren: School of Koranic studies for children and young people, most of whom are boarders.

Shalat or solat: ritual prayers and actions performed five times daily

wound: melukai                                admit: mengakui

Granddaughter: cucu perempuan    raise: membesarkan                        

persistant: gigih                               reflection: renungan

unfortunately: sayangnya                 core: inti

assumed: diasumsikan                     intend: bermaksud

< Back Next: Titi Kamal