Teaching Beyond Labels

Contemporary studies on Islamic education have often emphasized institutional and textualinstruction, leaving limited understanding of how faith is lived and taught through moralexperience. This study addresses that gap by exploring the dynamic tension betweeninstitutionalized religion and lived spirituality within the Samin community of Dukuh Krajan,Indonesia. It investigates how faith and moral understanding are expressed through dailyethical practice beyond the constraints of bureaucratic religious classification. Although thestate officially identifies the Samin as Muslims, they continue to live by Agama Adam, anancestral spiritual tradition grounded in honesty, humility, and social harmony. Using aqualitative hermeneutic ethnographic approach, the research integrates interpretive analysiswith immersive fieldwork to examine how Qur’anic values are embodied and transmittedthrough indigenous moral education. The findings reveal that moral and spiritual learningwithin the Samin community takes place through lived example, ethical dialogue, andcollective reflection, shaping what this study defines as a pedagogy of sincerity. This approachrepresents a form of Qur’anic education grounded in ethical embodiment and lived practicerather than in textual instruction. Within this framework, moral authority arises fromsincerity, empathy, and shared moral experience rather than institutional hierarchy,suggesting that faith is sustained through the integrity of human conduct. This livedhermeneutic exemplifies tafsir bi al-??l, or interpretation through moral action, in whichdivine revelation is realized in the flow of everyday life. The study contributes to the discourseon Islamic education by proposing an inclusive and contextually responsive framework inwhich tafsir tarbawi operates as a human-centered process of ethical formation and spiritualawareness. Received: 02 December 2025 / Accepted: 21 February 2026 / Published: March 2026

Bureaucracy · Ethnography · Faith · Indigenous · Islam · Moral authority · Spirituality · Asian Studies and History · Cultural and Religious Practices in Indonesia · Qur’anic Interpretation Studies