TRACKING RELIGIOUS MODERATION DISCOURSE CONTENT ON STUDENT’S FINAL PAPER IN INDONESIAN ISLAMIC HIGHER EDUCATION

Albeit research into religious moderation at Indonesian Islamic Higher Education (PTKIN) has been widely undertaken, little empirical research reports on tracing students’ final works as critical research to examine the alignment of PTKIN’s vision in support of government programs to build an inclusive and moderate discourse on religious understanding distribution. This study employs Tracing of Research Studies in three steps, taxonomy analysis, citation analysis, and statistical analysis of diversity. The analysis was conducted on Qur’an and Hadith theses and dissertations published by five institutions. The findings indicate that the religious moderation discourse established in PTKIN’s dissertation and thesis truly conveys the ambiguity of its concept. The ideas employed in the research obscured the government's concepts in establishing religious moderation in the Indonesian setting. This research proposes that mainstreaming religious moderation in PTKIN be implemented more thoroughly, particularly in compiling students’ final papers


INTRODUCTION
In Indonesia, the dynamics of Islamic Religious Higher Education (PTKIN) are still slow in disseminating discourses of religious moderation. It is because the discourse of religious extremism continues to exist within the PTKIN academic community in Indonesia (Sahri, 2016). In line with this, the Setara Institute claims that up to 23.4 percent of students from 10 State Universities (PTN), including two PTKIN, have been exposed to radicalism or religious extremism (Halili and Aini, 2019). Universities, particularly PTKIN, play an essential role in disseminating religious moderation discourse through science (Ekawati, Suparta and Sirin, 2018). Scientific production in the form of scientific work, mainly student final assignments, is one of the representations of construction (theses and dissertations). Those publications reflect the evolution of the scientific paradigm in each university. It is accessible via an Online Public Access Catalog (OPAC)-based database in every university library service in Indonesia.
The Study of the Qur'an and Hadith (SQH) is one of the PTKIN-sponsored Study Programs (Prodi[Program Studi]) in each Ushuluddin Faculty. The study program has become the mainstream scientific construction in every PTKIN, based on religious moderation (Irama and Zamzami, 2021). It is because fundamentalism and liberalism's extremism is closely related to the practice of misinterpreting extremism toward the editors of holy books, particularly the Koran and Hadith (Mahood and Rane, 2017;Yom, 2017;Nur et al., 2020). As a result, the SQH Program plays a vital role in producing moderation discourse as the foundation for counter-narratives to inclusive and moderate religious discourses.
The study of discourse on religious moderation is still absent from theses and dissertations in the field of Qur'an Hadith studies. Prior studies highlighted the implementation and approach of mainstreaming religious moderation in PTKIN. Hasyim Muhammad and Naili Ni'matul Illiyyun (2022), for instance, examine the rationale behind arguments and the initiation of religious moderation mainstreaming at PTKIN. Meanwhile, Wildani Hefni (2020) examines PTKIN's digital space approach for mainstreaming religious moderation, Usfiyatul Marfu'ah, et al. (2021) investigated the institutionalization of the Rumah Moderasi (Moderation House) at PTKIN, Ngainun Naim et al. (2022) demonstrated the successful integration of the Madrasah Diniyah curriculum with IAIN Tulungagung in boosting religious knowledge and religious moderation among students. Abdul Malik and M. Anwar Hindi's research (2021) focuses on scientific work, however, the emphasis is only on journal papers. Journal articles essentially differ from theses and dissertations, which undergo a more thorough research stage in terms of their qualities.
Departing from this description, this research proposal aims to assess the content of religious moderation elements through scientific products for student final assignments (Theses and Dissertation) of the SQH Program at each PTKIN in Indonesia, particularly at the State Islamic University (UIN) level. These works have been explored and critically investigated over the last five years (2017)(2018)(2019)(2020)(2021) through repository access to find ideas for religious moderation. It was done because these works manifest scientific interactions formed by the learning curriculum's focus and the relational scientific relationship between lecturers and students. This research is necessary to investigate the alignment of PTKIN's vision and mission in Indonesia to support government programs that create an inclusive and moderate religious distribution discourse. If this research is not conducted, it will be challenging to determine the relationship between the state's vision for religious moderation and the knowledge that develops in every higher education institution, particularly PTKIN in Indonesia.

CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK
Previous researchers have never specifically conducted studies on the dynamics of religious moderation discourse by exploring scientific work products for students' final assignments at the SQH Study Program at PTKIN, particularly at the UIN level. There are, however, several studies that are identical to the variables used in this study. The following is a description of the studies:

Tracking Study
Researchers have not widely conducted previous studies on student final project results. Fadli Lukman is one of the researchers who has done so. The study's goal is to follow the content of the integration-interconnection paradigm in the dissertation at UIN Sunan Kalijaga (Lukman, 2017). Adriansyah conducted a similar study in which she attempted to describe the quality of thesis writing on Hadith science at PTKIN. Three PTKIN locations took the object: UIN Raden Fatah in Palembang, UIN Syarif Kasim in Pekanbaru, and UIN Imam Bonjol in Padang. According to him, the students' final assignments at the three PTKINs have not yet been thoroughly researched. As a result, he questioned the three PTKINs' role in encouraging their students to be more active in applying their knowledge after completing their studies (Adriansyah, 2018). Teguh Budiarso did the same thing, but in his dissertation, the focus of his research was limited to metacognitive or essay writing techniques. His research only used four dissertation samples from the State University of Malang, also known as IKIP (Budiharso, 2018). Purwani Istiana and Sri Purwaningsih of Gajah Mada University studied critical analysis of the use of e-journals in citation writing in student theses (Istiana and Purwaningsih, 2016). These studies, however, differ from the material object locus aspect in that they involve comparative studies at five different PTKIN rather than just one. Some studies look at a different PTKIN locus but only at the methodological aspect. This study examines this aspect and the discourse content in various student final projects.

Religious moderation indicators
Experts have presented numerous conceptions of religious moderation. The terms Tawassuṭ, tasāmuḥ, tawāzun, and i'tidāl are frequently employed as indicators of religious moderation. Nonetheless, the Ministry of Religious Affairs (hereinafter Kemenag) has established the notion of religious moderation following a life philosophy and the Indonesian setting. This study employs the notion of the Kemenag, keeping in mind that this research aims to determine the extent to which academics implement this concept in government-run higher education institutions. Kemenag has developed four indicators of religious moderation: national commitment, tolerance, anti-violence, and cultural accommodation.
National commitment is urgent to be observed in the contemporary context Because of new understandings and movements that counter the nation's culture and transnational understanding. Anti-cultural understanding does not accommodate the nation's fundamental values and traditions, which leads to a mindset that contrasts religious teachings with culture because religious teachings appear to be enemies of culture. Transnational understandings and movements, on the other hand, are oriented toward the formation of a state system that no longer wants to rely on the concept of a nation-state, or a nation-based state, to establish a global leadership system that is unwilling to recognize national sovereignty (Aziz et al., 2019). National commitment is significant as an indicator of religious moderation because, from the standpoint of religious moderation, practicing religious teachings is the same as fulfilling obligations as citizens, and fulfilling obligations as citizens is a form of practicing religious teachings. Furthermore, national commitment is an essential indicator for determining the extent to which a person's or a specific group's religious perspective and expression towards the national ideology, particularly their commitment to accept Pancasila as the state's foundation. Pancasila is fundamental to the idea of national commitment. Pancasila occupies a middle ground between Islamic ideology and Indonesian nationalist ideology. That is why Pancasila is the fundamental source of moderation in Indonesian religious, national, and state life.
Tolerance is an attitude that allows others the freedom to believe, express their beliefs, and express their opinions, even if they differ from what we believe. The ability to demonstrate religious attitudes and expressions that truly respect the differences that occur in society is an indicator of religious moderation related to tolerance. Tolerance thus refers to an open, airy, voluntary, and gentle attitude toward differences. Tolerance is always accompanied by respect, acceptance of others as equals, and positive thinking. The main focus of religious tolerance is inter-religious and intra-religious tolerance, both related to social and political tolerance. We can see attitudes toward adherents of other religions, willingness to dialogue, cooperate, establish places of worship, and experience interacting with adherents of other religions through interreligious relations. Meanwhile, intra-religious tolerance can be used to address minority sects that are perceived to deviate from the religion's mainstream.
Violence in the context of religious moderation is associated with radicalism. Violence or radicalism is defined as an ideology (idea or concept) and an understanding that seeks to alter the social and political systems through violent/extreme means in the name of religion, including verbal, physical, and mental violence. Acts of radicalism are defined by the attitudes and actions of a specific person or group that employs violent means to effect the desired change. Radical groups, on the other hand, want these changes to happen quickly and dramatically and are opposed to the current social system. Because radical groups can use any means to achieve their goals, including terrorizing those who disagree with them, radicalism is frequently associated with terrorism.
To determine the extent to which people are willing to adopt religious practices that are tolerant of local cultures and traditions, religious practices and behaviors that are tolerant of local cultures and traditions can be used. Moderates are more tolerant of local traditions and culture in their religious behavior, as long as they do not contradict religious fundamentals. Religious traditions that are not rigid, for example, are distinguished by a willingness to carry out religious rituals and behaviors that highlight normative truths and religious practices based on virtue as long as they do not contradict religious teachings.

Religious moderation discourse at the Higher Education level
In the global context, religious moderation discourse began with a movement in some Muslim countries beginning in 2003. In Jordan and Kuwait, respectively, the International Assembly for Moderate Islamic Thought  In Indonesia, the discourse of religious moderation grew more robust in 2019 as a government breakthrough in combating the narrative of extremism, which is also becoming more prevalent in society. The long history of the Indonesian country demonstrates the existence of taxonomies that constantly confront everything in binary opposition, such as traditional Islam and modern Islam. NU is frequently associated with traditional Islam, whereas Muhammadiyah is associated with modern Islam. Furthermore, the terms substantial or essentialist Islam arise in contrast to scripturalist Islam, which focuses on the scripture's literal meaning (Babun Suharto, 2019) Previous researchers, such as Wildani Hefni, who focused on studying the role of PTKIN in mainstreaming religious moderation in the digital space, have made studying religious moderation discourse in universities popular. According to him, PTKI's role is a way of balancing the issues of radicalism that are frequently found on social media (Hefni, 2020

Qur'an and Hadith Studies in Indonesian Islamic Higher Education
Many previous researchers have also conducted studies on the development of Qur'an and Hadith studies in universities, primarily concerned with developing learning curricula.

Muhammad
Alfatih Suryadilaga attempted to map the dynamics of Hadith study in universities. According to him, these studies are no longer limited to text studies but have expanded to include context studies. According to him, this is a part of the progressive form of religious text studies, so it is not only normative (Suryadilaga, 2015).
Abdul Wahid attempted to integrate the study of the Qur'an and Hadith with scientific sciences in his research (sociology, politics, linguistics, physics, chemistry, biology, and others). According to him, it is critical to meet the relationship between religious studies and science so that the two do not appear to contradict each other but rather support each other (Wahid, 2014).
M. Zuhri Abu Nawas and Sapruddin conducted a similar study. They are attempting to integrate Hadith Studies with Islamic Education Studies by developing a curriculum for Tarbawi Hadith learning. According to him, the two Study Programs can present an educational learning system based on the tarbawi concept offered by Hadith, and they can mutually support each other (Nawas and Sapruddin, 2020). Even though these studies focus on developing Qur'anic and Hadith studies in universities, no one has attempted to see the conceptual implementation in a student's final scientific work. Indeed, these works reflect the dynamics of scientific development at each university.

METHODS
The primary data in this study are scientific works from final assignments in the SQH Study Program at five PTKIN at the UIN level. The works are accessed through each UIN's OPAC-based repository database. In the last five years, product data for this student's final scientific work has also been limited (2016)(2017)(2018)(2019)(2020). Because the time scale was sufficient to represent the dynamics of the scientific construction paradigm in each PTKIN, each repository website is shown in Table 1. supporting reference to round out the data described in this study.
The method of observation and documentation was used to collect data in this study. Observations are carried out using three data reading techniques: skimming or quick data observation, comprehensive data observation, and critical interpretation or critical observations (Bowen, 2009). Skimming reading is used to read the abstract and conclusion of an article to see if there is a match between the data and the material object under study. If the article falls under the category of material object being studied, it is then chosen for extensive reading. This reading is done thoroughly to identify any signs of moderate content in the articles chosen. The article's moderating load indicators are then critically examined to group the number of indicators accommodated in them statistically.
Data tracking is done by accessing digital archives or libraries specifically dedicated to theses and dissertations. The researchers searched based on the parameters of the data display because each school has unique qualities for showing student work. The thesis and dissertation clusters selection process in the UIN Sunan Kalijaga digital library takes place under the "division" section. The "Studi al-Qur'an dan Hadis" sub-cluster and the "Hermeneutika al-Qur'an" sub-cluster were chosen for the thesis cluster, whereas the "Studi Islam" sub-cluster was chosen for the dissertation cluster. Data from the UIN Syarif Hidayatullah's repository was accomplished by selecting the "Sekolah Pascasarjana" section, then the Dissertation and Thesis cluster, and then searching using the "date issue" function.
In the digital library of UIN Sunan Ampel, accomplished by selecting the "division" section, followed by the "Program Doktor" cluster, then selecting "Dirasah Islamiah", "Studi Islam", "Ilmu al-Qur'an dan Tafsir" sub-cluster, and in the "Program Master" cluster, then "Ilmu al-Qur'an dan Tafsir", "Ilmu Hadis", and "Tafsir Hadis" sub-cluster. The UIN Walisongo eprints were conducted using the "browse by divisions" section, after which the "Program Doktor" cluster with the "Studi Islam" sub-cluster and the "Program Master" cluster with the "Ilmu Al-Qur'an dan Tafsir" sub-cluster was selected.
Regarding the UIN Alauddin repository, it was accomplished by selecting the "Telusuri berdasarkan Fakultas dan Lembaga" section, followed by the "Program Pascasarjana" that contains Dissertation and Thesis clusters. In the dissertation cluster, the "Hadis dan Tafsir" subcluster was chosen, whereas in the thesis cluster, the "Ilmu Al-Qur'an dan Tafsir" and "Tafsir Hadis" sub-cluster were chosen.
The keywords used in the data search are terms connected to religious moderation, both side by side and conflicting, such as the words moderate/moderation, tolerance, extremism, jihad, war, radicalism, terrorism, majorityminority, Muslim-nonmuslim, faith-kafir, and other keywords suggesting the presence of socio-cultural material in the study of tafsir and hadith. All findings are presented as data without regard to the language of teaching, which can be either English, Arabic, or Indonesian.
Following the observation method, the documentation method was used in this study. This method is carried out by first categorizing the findings from articles containing indicators of religious moderation, namely dominant, medium, and minimum, based on the quantity and quality scale. The collected data is then accumulated and advanced to the data analysis step. Following the collection and grouping of data for this study, the selected datum is analyzed using the Tracing of Research Studies framework concerning analysis. A philosophical hermeneutic reading is used to analyze each component of the framework. This reading refers to the researchers' analysis of the text and the context behind each narrative they used. Each narrative is examined at both the micro and macro levels. The micro-narrative is made up of diction, phrases, and sentences, whereas the macro-narrative is made up of the overall scope of abstractions found in the article under consideration. Religious moderation indicators employed in analyzing data are the formulation of the Kemenag RI, namely national commitment, tolerance, anti-violence, and accommodating local culture (RI, 2019).
After applying steps of the analysis technique, conclusions are formulated to determine the findings of the research that has been conducted. These findings will be a foundation for recommending to relevant parties to advance religious moderation studies in higher education.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Based on the results of data searches, this study discovered some theses with the theme of the study of Qur'an and Hadith. The collected data can be accessed via the repository pages or digital libraries at the five PTKINs between 2017 and 2021, as shown in Table 2-11. There were 45 scientific publications discovered in total, including 32 theses and 13 dissertations on studies of the Koran and hadith that contain indicators of religious moderation. To avoid providing a large amount of data, the table displays and analyzes a representation of each institution whose discussion on the issue of moderation is most intense.    The results described a description of the thesis and dissertation of the study of the Qur'an and Hadith, randomly selected from the repository pages at the five PTKIN samples for this study. Two theses and two dissertations were selected from each PTKIN and briefly described in terms of background, methods, and research findings from these theses and dissertations. This discussion describes a critical content analysis of these theses and dissertations to investigate their moderation content. The content of moderation in question consists of four indicators based on Ministry of Religion standards: first, the aspect of national commitment; second, the aspect of tolerance; third, the aspect of anti-violence; and fourth, the aspect of acceptance of tradition. As a result, the following four aspects are described in this discussion, along with a description of the suitability of the data explored in this study.

National commitment aspects
The aspect of national commitment is an aspect that includes indicators of acceptance of an idea against the principles of the state based on Pancasila, the 1945 Constitution, and all regulations that refer to both. This feature is visible in the T-5, D-8, and D-9 data. The three data contain a moderating charge on these aspects, which are explicitly and implicitly described.
Data T-5, D-8, and D-9 discuss exegetes' thoughts in interpreting political verses. The three works imply that the product of interpretation is heavily influenced by the ideological identities of the commentators as well as the atmosphere of their era's political context, including their position in certain regimes of political power. The three works highlight a dialectic of interpretation directly related to the regime's interests at the time, so this identity heavily influences the product of their interpretation. However, because the three works are limited to explaining exegetes' thoughts, it is difficult to find an evident attitude from the researchers in positioning their views on national commitment to understanding the verses of the Qur'an.

Tolerance aspects
Tolerance is part of the moderation content, which includes indicators of respect for differences in beliefs and opinions among religious adherents, equality, and working together to create peace. This aspect is a moderation content element most commonly found in the scientific works of students' final assignments at the five PTKIN studied in this study. Tolerance is present in at least 11 of the final projects studied. T-2, T-3, T-4, T-5, T-8, T-10, D-1, D-2, D-5, D-6, and D-10 are the data referred to.
These works present a social criticism study as a counter-narrative to religious attitudes that do not accommodate tolerance values in religion, society, and the state. T-2 data describing the implications for the interpretation of the Qur'anic normative verses. According to the researcher's work, it is not uncommon for intolerance to be influenced by partialistic interpretations and to precipitate the emergence of extremist ideology in religion.
Similar findings are explained in the T-4 data, indicating that the research method has a significant impact on the opinion of the commentators in determining their attitude toward normative views in understanding the verses of the Qur'an.

Anti-violence aspects
This aspect contains indicators of moderation, which can be articulated as an antiviolence attitude, both physically and verbally, by individuals or groups seeking to affect social change. Students in the five PTKIN studied in this study will also be interested in this aspect. This aspect can be found in up to seven works translated into data T-1, T-7, T-9, D-3, D-5, D-6, and D-7.
These works explain a lot about the interpretation of Qur'anic and Hadith verses that textually contain the meaning of violence, but this is not the case philosophically or historically. According to the panelists, understanding the verses of the Qur'an and the history of hadith without using a historical approach can lead to a misunderstanding. As a result, it is necessary to develop an interpretive methodology that can gradually accommodate historical and philosophical approaches to understanding revelations originating from Qur'anic verses and the history of hadith.

Tradition (local wisdom) acceptance aspects
The aspect of local wisdom is one aspect of the content of religious moderation that is still rarely explored by students in their final scientific work. It can be seen in their attitude toward accepting local traditions in religion, society, and the state, but it does not contradict the main teachings of a particular religion. Based on the study's sample data, only four works were discovered that accommodate these aspects, namely T-2, T-6, T-8, and D-4 data. However, only two of them have studied this aspect independently. Others investigate this aspect in tandem with others.
The works investigating this aspect generally explain the significance of religious culture, society, and the state accommodating local traditions as one of its entities. However, according to the researchers, aspects of local traditions play an important role in shaping social understanding and behavior at the religious, community, and state levels. Furthermore, they attempt to present counternarrative arguments against religious beliefs that are exclusive or marginalize aspects of local traditions as part of a deviant religious practice. As a result, works that accommodate this aspect are inextricably linked to aspects of tolerance in religion, society, and the state.
After describing the aspects of moderation content embodied in ten final scientific projects completed by students at five PTKIN that are the subjects of this research, these data can be classified into a matrix or table form. It is intended to make data presentation easier and more understandable. As a result, after the classification analysis, the data is displayed in table 12. Table 12 shows that while the 10 scientific works of students' final assignments (thesis and dissertation) in the five PTKINs studied contained aspects of moderation, the majority only accommodated tolerance and anti-violence. The aspects of defending the state and accepting tradition are still not as extensive as the two previous studies on moderation. Furthermore, there is no content of the moderation aspects discussed comprehensively in the ten data, implying that it has not been studied holistically in a single research study. These two indicators indicate that the construction of the concept of moderation embodied in the final project studies of graduate students at the five PTKIN still leaves "homework" to be addressed so that aspects of moderation content can be thoroughly covered in scientific research works.
Discourse on religious moderation can be enhanced if the institution has its policies for mainstreaming moderation in the educational process. According to Fuad and Susilo (2019), universities have various options for mainstreaming religious moderation that can be implemented early, such as a new student orientation program. Furthermore, the next option is to shift the paradigm in curriculum development and declare a commitment to combat radicalism among lecturers. Related to it, Wardani et al. (2022) stated that the curriculum could be used as a moderation socialization strategy among students.   Commitment  Tolerance  Anti-violence  Tradition  acceptance  Magister Theses  T-1 - Although Islamic college students in Indonesia have the potential for religious moderation, they are still limited to three main indicators: national commitment, nonviolence, and accommodation of local culture. Subchi et al., (2022) state that the student's religiosity strongly influences these three aspects. Religious intellectuality, ideology, public practice, private practice, religious experience, and socioeconomic factors help a person moderate. Academically, master's and doctorate students have mature intellectual potential in terms of the importance of religious moderation, specifically in thinking and behavior. It is just that intellectual capacity is sometimes not matched with religiosity, leading to a tawassuṭ, tasāmuḥ, tawāzun, i'tidāl, and other moderate values attitude. Therefore, it is critical to maintaining student religiosity while developing their academic potential. One aspect of students' religiosity is their understanding of religious moderation teachings based on text and context (Wardani, Siti Sajaroh and Suprapto, 2022).
According to Kasdi et al., (2020), religious moderation in higher education can be realized through various regulations, such as the Islamic studies curriculum and local wisdom that can shape moderate thoughts and attitudes.

CONCLUSION
The final project of master and doctoral students at PTKIN on the subject of Qur'an and Hadith studies has shown to be a method of mainstreaming religious moderation amid government programs. On the other hand, the various concepts and indicators of religious moderation examined in theses and dissertations reveal ambiguity. The trend of studying Qur'an and Hadith to construct counter-narrative discourses against fundamentalism. Most students focused their research on fundamentalism-radicalism groups, ranging from criticism of textualist interpretation methods to religious attitudes of fundamentalism-radicalism groups. The researcher also discovered that 80 percent of the theses and dissertations studied used theories adopted from Western philosophers rather than classical theories, particularly those based on the Ulum al-Qur'an. There are, however, many theses and dissertations that combine different approaches. In general, the research substance of theses and dissertations is moderate, but the nuances of the study appear normative so that claims and justifications are negative for specific groups. This phenomenon is referred to as "scientific paradoxical" because, on the one hand, they echo the concept of moderation while also practicing "radicalism".
According to the findings of this study, there is a gap that makes the concept of moderation appear ambiguous, so there is no definition that is more in favor of religious understanding and practice that is truly following the religious context in Indonesia. As a result, this study recommends that the government, in this case, the Ministry of Religion, actively carry out socialization and evaluation to PTKIN regarding the development of a concept of religious moderation that is more in line with the religious context in Indonesia.