Islamic Education Narratives from the Turkisan Plain: Discovering the Heritage of al-Zarnuji’s Thoughts on Islamic Professional Teachers

This research aims to what al-Zarnuji thought about professional madrasa teachers on the development of contemporary Islamic education. This research uses concept analysis research, with data sources a book by al-Zarnuji entitled “ta’lim al-muta’allim”, and analyzed using content analysis. The result show that Islamic professional teachers according to al-Zarnuji are teachers who have al-a’lam competence (having extensive knowledge), al-awra’ (having a careful attitude in avoiding anything that is doubtful), and al-asann competence (more mature). These three competencies are very relevant for the professional development of today’s Islamic and madrasah teachers so that they are professional in carrying out their profession in the future. Professional Islamic teachers must have extensive knowledge, or in other words, teachers must have extensive knowledge so that students can be used as scientific references. These requirements are an elaboration of personal competence/personality, where personal competence is a requirement given by the government to teachers in Indonesia.