Psychology Study on the Pilgrimage Hajj Experience

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IJHSDR

GUEST EDITORS

Dr. Saiful Anwar Matondang

International Multicultural Network, Indonesia

Dr. Abdullah Ishiklar

Bursa Technical University, Turkey

ASSISTANT EDITORS

Alessio Stilo

University of Padova, Italy

Kursat Tutar

Ankara Haci Bayram Veli University, Turkey

Alireza Akbari

Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium

Slavomir Bucher

Pavol Jozef Šafárik University, Slovak Republic

TECHNICAL EDITORS

Mihaela Culea

University of Bacau, Romania

Esi Marius Costel

Stefan cel Mare University of Suceava, Romania

Gerasimos T. Soldatos

American University of Economics, Greece

Ulviyya Aydin

Manisa Celal Bayar University, Turkey

Belkacem Belmekki

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IJHSDR

SPECIAL ISSUE:

Asian Social and Education

Hajj experience while in the Baitullah Mecca has the specific spiritual life for the individual. This psychology of pilgrimage research was concerning with a relationship between self, soul and God (Allah Mighty). With an observational participant and interview techniques, this psychology research observed and followed 3 (three) Indonesian pilgrims in Mecca. The results showed that the experience of the hajj pilgrimage has a spiritual experience, namely: ineffability, noetic quality, transiency, and passivity. Data analysis indicated that the respondents felt the four spiritual experiences which associated with the hajj pilgrimage in Mecca.

Keywords: Hajj pilgrimage, ineffability, noetic quality, transiency, and passivity.

Introduction

This research paper observed the pilgrim experience of three Indonesians in Mecca. Hajj is one of the fifth pillars of Islam which becomes an obligatory faith for a Moslem with the practices that have been determined (KBBI, 2008). According to Syahril et al. (2016) hajj is a worship charity committed deliberately to visit

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72 _{Raras Sutatminingsih, Dedy Qalbu Hadi}

determination and sincerity in doing so. The departing determination of home and family and the seriousness and abandoning the prohibitions had been taught Islam (Istianah, 2016). distinguished by social class, race, ethnicity, language or culture. Hajj is a worship that perfects the spiritual life of Muslims. Hajj is a grand gathering attended by Muslims from all over the world (Irawan, 2011).

The observation sought the spiritual experiences that were put into three characteristics, namely; firstly, the spiritual experience beyond the boundaries of mind and ordinary logic. Secondly, an unusual state of consciousness, such as systematic spiritual practice, spontaneous mystical feelings, spiritual crises, and near-death conditions. Third, the spiritual experience is different from the religiosity in which religiosity is tied to a belief system in a prescribed ritual, whereas spirituality is the deepest experience in the human psychological process (Ryandi, 2016).

Shapiro (2002) says that the experience of spirituality in the world of psychology combines the psychological concepts, theories and methods and practices of spirituality. They include mystical conditions in full awareness, meditation practice and rituals based on self-transcendence. The root of this transcendence is "transcending oneself.

The experience of spirituality at least seen in two forms. First is a subtle subconsciously divine experience through the perception of everyday reality. Humans who experience spiritual experience will see something in the environment as a manifestation of an energy field that realizes that the boundaries of the human self between illusion and reality. The second form of spiritual experience comes from the transcendent divine experience (beyond the limits of consciousness) which involves the manifestation of the creatures and the usual reality (Groff, 2000). The spiritual experience sees human potential and capacity far greater than our current understanding (Cunningham, 2011).

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Psychology Study on the Pilgrimage Hajj Experience… 73 known pilgrimage in the world, the process of Hajj has a subjective experience that everyone undergoes in Mecca.

Method

This psychology of pilgrimage experience research observed and interviewed the three Indonesian pilgrims in Mecca. During staying in Mecca and Medina the samples were followed to gather information about their spiritual experience around 38 days.

a. Middle-aged adults. Mature middle age finds religion as a source of greater

pleasure and happiness (Hurlock, 1980). The maturity period of adult age ranges from 40 to 45 years and ends at the age of 60 to 65 years (Santrok, 2013). It is a religious ritual. Characteristics of adult middle-aged sample

Hajj Pilgrim is an individual worship which is determined by the personal qualities of each pilgrim in understanding the provisions of the pilgrimage (James, 1902). In doing the worship, there is spiritual experience gained by pilgrims. Thus, the spiritual experiences are triggered by religious experiences such as hajj (Rankin, 2008). The three study respondents had almost the same spiritual experience.

Theoretically James’s spiritual experience (James, 1902) revealed the ineffability (the inability of a person to describe the experience in the language). The unexpected feeling of being in the Holy Land, the beginning of the spiritual experience of the respondent, appeared.

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The first respondent (R1) and the second one (R1) said that the attraction of the Holy Land was so strong that made anyone who did worship there must be amazed. The attractiveness was also inexplicable to them, but through observation, when the respondents explained it, their eyes were teary and their sounds were a little shaky when they had been answering the interviews. Noetic quality as a hidden mystical experience and cannot be studied through the logic. Additionally, the Noetic quality and ineffability are almost the same but different experiences (James, 1902). Other is Ineffability as an experience that cannot be explained or said and noetic quality is an unreasonable experience. This experience is not only unwise, but a bit of a taboo because things like this should not be disclosed (Shrader, 2008). However, based on the respondents' exposure, they had the experience and were revealing it to researchers.

Respondent one (R1) and two (R2) have almost the same experience told that they felt that like there was someone like an angel who helped them when they were

touching the Ka’aba. Respondent one (R1) seemed to be pulling his hand from the

front, but when he woke up, the hand was gone. The two respondents seemed to

have pushed them from behind to touch Ka'ba. The experience is also clearly

remembered by the respondent by demonstrating every incident that exists.

The third respondent (R3) was slightly different, focusing on prayer. He prayed to God for everything. Therefore, he brought a small tube of aromatic oil to heal his pain, it immediately happened. Someone was helped over the aromatic oil that he brings when someone is shortness of breath. Another prayer is that when he loses the prayer rug, he prays to God if it is only his one-mat prayer that he has and asks it back. Logically, when in the Haram Mosque, millions of people are there. If something is scattered, it will not found again. R3 told that when he walked around, he found the missing prayer mat and immediately gave thanks for it. Not only that, he said if he was doing good things to others, it would be rewarded

directly by Allah Al Mighty. He further told that when he gave an electric tasbih

(beads) to others, in return he was given a ring by an unknown person and pinned on his finger the next day. According to him, it was a spiritual experience that he felt.

The two amazing events of R3 above was the main character and must be

necessary from the spiritual mystical experience14. However, two other

characteristics commonly were found in spiritual experience, namely transiency and passivity (Shrader, 2008). Transiency is a simple fact of the spiritual experience gained in a relatively short period of time (Shrader, 2008). Transiency is last short (not too long). The quality of the experience can be instantly faded but recognizable. R1 said if he got the transient experience during the worship at

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Psychology Study on the Pilgrimage Hajj Experience… 75

realize if the time given has been exhausted. Worship that he did there is praying and praying. As he prayed, he cried and the world seemed so short (James, 2008).

The second respondent (R2) said that he felt the transiency occurred when he was

trapped by the crowd when throwing the jumrah. Throwing jumrah is one of the

obligatory conduction in the pilgrimage where millions of people are located in one place to throw stones that have been prepared. An elderly state made him a little bit afraid and just prayed to God for safety. He mentioned the God's name repeatedly and he felt nothing. At that time, he walked almost to the point of completing the

jumrah procession. The third respondent (R3) reported that he got the transient

experience while in Musdalifah. He sat alone and prayed and dhikr. He felt the

time ran so fast while reading the Quran and dhikr. He still remembered the holy

procession because he was very satisfied for the Quran recital there. Theoretically the report from R2 & R3 met the quality of the experience which can be reproduced in memory (James, 1902). Satisfaction of R3 was proved that he got the transiency while he was there.

The last characteristic of building a spiritual experience is passivity. This spiritual experience is done to gain attention. To get attention it needs awareness that has

superior strength. In the pilgrimage, the three respondents said if berdzikir is one

way to be able to focus on Allah SWT (James, 1902). For almost the same reason,

the three respondents said if dzikir can be done to stay away from bad talk to

others. Every time there is empty time, then what is done by the respondent is

dzikir and pray. The effort of this dhikr is to guard one's verbal and keep

remembering God. Respondents one and three did not mention how they dzikir, but

the second respondent said if the dhikr he did was to mention the era of God as respondents said that they underwent the different experiences before and after the pilgrimage.

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following the Islam Learning Club and visiting the funeral home when he found the misfortune. Previously, there were too many reasons to follow the Islam Learning Club and go to the funeral home. However, now he took the time to do so.

Conclusion

Based on the results of data analysis that presented in the previous section, it can be concluded that the respondents have aspects of spiritual experience; the first aspect is the ineffability that the experience cannot be explained through words. Their expressions of feeling are represented only by the cries of their prayers. The second aspect is the noetic quality, which is an experience that cannot be reasoned through logic. The R1 and R2 have the same answers for spiritual experiences. They told

that they were assisted by an angel when they wanted to touch the Ka’aba. The R3

mentioned that each time he made the prayer in the Holy Land Mecca, he felt that he was rewarded by Good Al Mighty.

Although the Transiency and Passivity aspects that James proposed was not emphasized here, but those were used as indicators; they had the adequate role in pilgrimage. Transiency is a simple reality obtained through a relatively short period of time. The R1 reported that he got the Transiency experience when he was

worshiping at Raudah and felt if the time so very fast. The R1 and R2 got it while

they were in a narrow position and felt painless and happened so fast. While the R3

said that the Transiency experience he got when he was in Musdalifah; he sat to

recite the Quran and dhikr. Passivity is an experience done to gain attention. The

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Psychology Study on the Pilgrimage Hajj Experience… 77

References and notes:

Cunningham, P. F. (2011). Bridging psychological science and transpersonal spirit: A primer of transpersonal psychology. Nashua: Rivier College.

Groff, S. (2000). Psychology of the future. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press.

Hurlock, E. B. (1980). Psikologi perkembangan: Suatu pendekatan sepanjang rentang kehidupan. Jakarta: Penerbit Erlangga.

Irawan, A. (2011). Panduan super lengkap haji dan umrah. Jakarta: Qultum Media. Istianah. (2016). Prosesi haji dan maknanya. Esoterik: Jurnal Akhlak dan TaSawuf, 2(1).

30-44. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.21043/esoterik.v2i1.1900

James, W. (1902). The varieties of religious Experiene. Retrieved from: https://csrs.nd.edu/assets/59930/williams_1902.pdf

Poerwandari, E. K. (2007). Pendekatan Kualitatif. Depok: LPSP3 F. Psikologi UI.

Rankin, M. (2008). An Introduction to Religious and Spiritual Experience. London: Continuum.

Ryandi. (2016). Pengalaman Spiritual menurut Psikologi Transpersonal (Kajian Kritis Ilmu Tasawuf). Journal Kalimah, 14(2) 139-154. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.21111/klm.v14i2.609

Santrock, J. (2013). Life Span Development 14th Editions. New York: McGraw-Hill. Saputra, A. R. (2016). Motiv Dan Makna Sosial Ibadah Haji Pada Jamaah Masjid

Darussalam Perumahan Wisma Tropodo Waru Sidoarjo. Kodifikasia, 10(1). Shapiro, G. L. (2002). The Essence of Transpersonal Psychology. The International

Journal of Transpersonal Studies, 21, 19-32. doi: 10.24972/ijts.2002.21.1.19 Shrader, D. W. (2008). Seven Characteristics of Mysctial Experience. Proceedings of the

6th Annual Hawaii International Conference on Arts and Humanities (pp. 1-28). Honolulu: Annual Hawaii International Conference.

Syahril, D. S., Isnanto, R. R., & Kridalukmana, R. (2016). Aplikasi Panduan Ibadah Haji Berbasis Android. Jurnal Teknologi dan Sistem Komputer, 4(3), 442-449. Tim Redaksi Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia (KBBI) Pusat Bahasa. (2008). Kamus Besar

Psychology Study on the Pilgrimage Hajj Experience

IJHSDR

GUEST EDITORS

Dr. Saiful Anwar Matondang

International Multicultural Network, Indonesia

Dr. Abdullah Ishiklar

Bursa Technical University, Turkey

ASSISTANT EDITORS

Alessio Stilo

University of Padova, Italy

Kursat Tutar

Ankara Haci Bayram Veli University, Turkey

Alireza Akbari

Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium

Slavomir Bucher

Pavol Jozef Šafárik University, Slovak Republic

TECHNICAL EDITORS

Mihaela Culea

University of Bacau, Romania

Esi Marius Costel

Stefan cel Mare University of Suceava, Romania

Gerasimos T. Soldatos

American University of Economics, Greece

Ulviyya Aydin

Manisa Celal Bayar University, Turkey

Belkacem Belmekki

IJHSDR

SPECIAL ISSUE:

Asian Social and Education

Table of Contents

Psychology Study on the Pilgrimage Hajj Experience

Raras Sutatminingsih

Universitas Sumatera Utara, Indonesia

Dedy Qalbu Hadi