Archetypes of the Prophets’ Stories in Building Tolerance Attitude of the Islamic-based Elementary School Students

Abstract

ndonesia's wealth and pride over the gift of diversity, in fact, raises the issue of tolerance in the midst of the diversity itself. Therefore, the Indonesian people need to continue to foster a sense of diversity that has existed for years. In this modern era, the development of intolerance towards diversity is one of the causes of various incidents such as violence, anarchism, discrimination, division, and radicalism movements in Indonesia. Efforts to establish a sense of tolerance can be started at elementary school level through story telling. In general, the prophets’ stories have been told to Islamic-based elementary school students. The stories are actually not only about things specifically about Islam but can also be defined more universally. Some of the stories of the prophets’ life can be understood as role models or ‘uswatun khasanah’ for all mankind in the world. This is what makes some of the stories of the prophets have certain archetypes that can act as moral lessons in life, not only for the Muslims but also for all human being. The research method used is a descriptive qualitative that begins with the data collection on the stories of the prophets in some textbooks on the Islamic subject used in Islamic-based schools. The data that have been obtained are then analyzed based on the concept of structuralism theory, so that the elements found in building the stories of the prophets and how each element affects each other. The results of this research show the building elements of the prophets’ stories can be obviously connected with the tolerance towards the diversity in Indonesia. In addition, there are also archetypal patterns of the prophets’ stories which can be developed tofor strng tolerance for the Islamic-based elementary school students.