The earlier history of the pondok tradition has a link to the Islamic Middle Eastern learning tradition.
These pondoks were founded by individuals, mostly ulamak or religious scholar or by the local community. Some early pondok founder studied in the Middle East, particularly Mecca, which strengthens assertion about its interrelationship.
The pondok played a central role in Islamic and Malay educational networks where they began to appear in Pattani by the 15th and 16th centuries.
Before the Siamese government annexed the Pattani sultanate 1902, Pattani has been a regional center for Islamic learning, with students from across Southeast Asia spending time at a Pattani pondok before travelling to the Middle East for advanced Islamic education.
At that time the pondoks of Pattani were highly regarded in the Malay world and in the entire Southeast Asia archipelago.
The word pondok derived from the Arabic world funduq which means hotel or lodging place. The students live in dormitories, study religious subject for a full day, and also assist the teacher and his family in various household chores.
Pattani scholars and religious teacher in pondok had translated Islamic religious works from Arabic into both Malay and the local Jawi language.
In Kedah, Kelantan, Terengganu and Perlis, during late nineteenth century a system pondok evolved from a system of Qur’anic classes held in the homes of lebais, suraus and mosques.
In the early twentieth century, the system of pondok then evolved into madrasah.
History of pondok and madrasah
