Internalizing Smong Local Wisdom into Disaster Mitigation Curriculum: A Contextual Islamic Education Model

Muhammad Iqbal; Ismawirna; Wahdaniah; Ririn Rahayu; Shiti Maghfira

doi:10.47766/idarah.v10i1.7963

Authors

Muhammad Iqbal Universitas Malikussaleh, Lhokseumawe https://orcid.org/0009-0002-0005-2065
Ismawirna Universitas Serambi Indonesia, Banda Aceh https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4542-3061
Wahdaniah Politeknik Negeri Lhokseumawe https://orcid.org/0009-0006-1239-6198
Ririn Rahayu Universitas Malikussaleh
Shiti Maghfira Tohoku University https://orcid.org/0009-0002-3700-2838

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.47766/idarah.v10i1.7963

Keywords:

Contextual Islamic Education, Disaster Curriculum, Local Wisdom, Smong, Tsunami Mitigation

Abstract

Simeulue Island, Aceh, Indonesia, lies within one of the world’s most tsunami-prone seismic zones. Yet during the catastrophic 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, which killed more than 230,000 people across the region, the island's community recorded only seven fatalities. This study aims to develop a contextual Islamic education model that internalizes Smong, the oral-tradition tsunami early-warning knowledge of the Simeulue community, as the core of a disaster mitigation curriculum. A qualitative grounded theory design was employed. Data were collected from January to December 2025 through in-depth interviews with 15 key informants, focus group discussions, participatory observation, and document analysis in three sub-districts of Simeulue Regency. The internalization of Smong proceeds through four progressive stages: ma’rifah (knowing), fahm (understanding), tasdiq (believing), and amal (acting). These stages align with the maqasid al-shari'ah principle of hifdz al-nafs (preservation of life). The study proposes a five-component Smong-Based Disaster Mitigation Curriculum, ‘aqidah-based disaster awareness, fiqh of evacuation, sirah of survival, akhlaq in emergency, and local wisdom integration. This study is among the first to systematically integrate an indigenous oral-tradition disaster knowledge system into a formal Islamic curriculum framework grounded in maqasid al-shariah, extending prior scholarship on local-wisdom-based Islamic education into the domain of disaster-mitigation. Islamic education in disaster-prone regions must be contextual and disaster-responsive. The findings suggest that Smong can be transformed from folklore into a living, life-saving curriculum model that may be transferable to comparable contexts in Indonesia and beyond.

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