On several occasions, when my children gather together and communication happened, I tell them about my parent’s best friend. There are some purposes that I want to reach, namely first of all, as friendship connecting rope among parent’s best friend although both of my parents have passed away and the second; to tell story about his amazing personality so it can become inspiration to them.
As well as my admiration of Mbah Jumeno that starting from my father’s narrative about him. My father describe him as individual that almost taught religion to society by himself which society used to be not understanding anything about Islam and also many of them did not perform their prayers yet.
The awe was increase when I grew up, I saw a sturdy and big madrasah had been built. While almost everyone knew that financing of madrasah was most taken from Mbah Jumeno’s salary as religion teacher in the madrasah. The salary was also used to pay fee for honorarium teachers who taught there.
Then, where did he get money to feed his family? I used to make simplification by stating that it was common for him because he was son of former groove of his era, so he must have a lot of land for cultivation. Beliefs that are too simplistic are still preserved, until one day when he would go for haj pilgrimage. It’s common in our area when we led the pilgrimage just like we led someone to death, and before he went haj pilgrimage he equiped his son and society with a testament . the testament was “all of you know that I had planted trees on land in the road side, river side and grave, so take care of it! Later, if madrasah needs to be repaired or this musholla needs to be built becoming masjid, then cut down the trees and plant it again”.
I was curious about the testament, so in the morning I asked Misro -an employer who lived in the same village as Mbah Jumeno- about what Mbah Jumeno had done. Mbah Jumeno bought seeds of Sengon, Mahoni, Akasia, Mindri, Rimpang, Bambu, etc. Then he ordered kids and youth to plant the land, also land in the village side around the river and in the entrance road to village, grave. Just as there was idle land he asked to plant it, this thing triggered residents to help him.
This event causing different thought that his productive action may be the key of “prosperity” in the meaning of sufficiency in his family although he built madrasah ibtidaiyah by himself, paid the teachers, then bring the light for society in Sindoro slopes.
This amazing personality taught us some things as following: no matter how old we are but obligation to do good thing does not stop or we can say there is no retirement for fighter. Second, optimism as we all know hadits if we know tomorrow there will be Judgment Day and still there will be a chance to plant tree then plant it. Third, high productivity so there can not be idle land, even further, there can not be idle resources.
We know that make resources idle is wasting. So in relation to an activity, idle is not neutral position, but a burden. Idle land will be land Bero that can be critical land, idle water can cause disease, idle energy causes laziness and cost, at least for sleeping and other needs. Idle thoughts become death of creativity and empty happiness, then moving all resources to be productive is the core of life. Is not Allah who turned the earth after its death?
transform it into community so it become a joint movement in the social community.
A few years ago in Kuningan, I ever saw a custom that in one house there should be fishpond, vegetable garden, and cote. This habit from Welath Management side is a production activities also saving and investment all at once.
Prodution process is created from planting and breed that produce fruit or vegetable and birds that produce eggs or meat, at the same time the activities are also saving where livestock and fish can be taken anytime if it is needed, there could be a guest or for social activities and it can add added value like investment all at once.
There are many benefits from productive life, such as children grow up well, become smarter, and have become accustomed to be productive. On the other side, this kind of community has endurance to higher shock, because such a mechanism in the form of savings in terms of non-cash reserves or any kind of placement that are not in the form of money, so when unexpexted problem occurs such as accident, disaster, disease, etc the community has relatively higher immunity.
When I often went around Wonogiri, Sragen, Karanganyar or Bogor and every time I saw idle land or muddy river and full of garbage, I always missed Mbah Jumeno’s personality.

Baitul Mal Wat Tamwil (BMT) field can be said to be Ahmad’s Sumiyanto SE Msi daily life (born in Yogyakarta, 8 June 1970, as child of a farmer). Once a student he completed the Diploma programme in Faculty of Economics, University of Gadjah Mada (UGM), in 1993, he founded the first Al-Ikhlas BMT and had it in the garage of his family home with only Rp 500.000. Continue Reading