Students’ Rational Interpretation Of Social Morality At An Islamic Senior High School: Perspectives From Fazlur Rahman And Émile Durkheim

Abstract

This study is grounded in the importance of examining students' social morality not merely as obedience to religious teachings and school rules, but as a rational process of meaning -making shaped by the interaction between moral awareness, social experience, and the institutional structure of the madrasa. This study aims to analyze students’ rational interpretation of social morality at State Islamic Senior High School (MAN) Salatiga through the perspectives of Fazlur Rahman and Emile Durkheim. The research employed a qualitative descriptive-analytical approach. Data were collected through in- depth interviews, observation, and documentation of school regulations, religious activities, and moral development programs. The data were analyzed through data reduction, data display, and conclusion drawing, while data validity was strengthened through source and technique triangulation. The findings reveal that students’ rational interpretation of social morality is constructed through six main aspects: moral awareness, regulatory pressure, social habituation, peer influence, teacher authority, and contextual religious understanding. These findings affirm that students’ social morality is a moral construction shaped religiously, socially, and institutionally within madrasa life.