'Dzikir' recitation gains popularity

'Dzikir' recitation gains popularity

By Abu Ibrahim, Tedy Novan and Sumanto

YOGYAKARTA (JP); Ten Moslems, men and women, sat cross-legged
on the floor, bodies straight, hands on knees. They looked in the
direction of Mecca, Saudi Arabia.

In the tranquility and cool of the evening air they were
absorbed in recitation of the dzikir (prayer in remembrance of
God).

A young man, Nonot, led them through the dzikir. He started
with the syahadat -- a testimony that there is no god but God and
that Muhammad is his messenger, then went on to a number of
Koranic verses and the asmaul husna -- or the names of God.

The community members spoke the names of God, e.g. Rahman
(Most Gracious), Rahim (Most Merciful), Malik (King), Kudus
(Holy), in time with the rythym of their breath. The breath was
drawn at the chest and the underbelly above the private parts,
the points taught by schools of "inner power".

"Release the load, do not think," Nonot said.

"Full concentration so that the dzikir penetrates into your
spirit," he added. Some members shed tears.

After the 90-minute dzikir recitation, Nonot and the members
talked for half an hour. At the discussion, shop attendant
Suroso, 26, complained of financial woes. He said his wages did
not cover his children's education.

This was a dzikir session run by Pengajian Tawakkal (tawakkal
recitation) in a house on Jl. Gayam, Yogyakarta, on a Friday
night last month.

Dzikir recitation is one of the forms of sufi (Islam mystic)
practices, also known as tasawuf. Sufi practices are designed to
cleanse oneself from impure behavior, to take righteous action,
and to communicate openly with God.

Pengajian Tawakkal was established and chaired by Prof. Ahmad
Husein Asdie, a lecturer at the School of Medicine of Gadjah Mada
University, on May 3, 1977. He learned sufism from Permana
Sastralegawa, a former sufi soldier. There were originally only
seven members. Since then the group has grown rapidly- with 17
branches in Semarang (Central Java), Bandung (West Java),
Jakarta, Palembang (South Sumatra) and Padang (West Sumatra).

The dzikir recitation takes place not only in mosques but also
the houses of community members and even hotels to accommodate
greater numbers. Each branch has about 100 members.

Recitation participants come from all walks of life --
Government officials, students, artists and businessmen. Drug
addicts who seek to be cured have also joined the community.

Apart from the usual dzikir, members also practice sujud
mutlak -- which is done by bowing for a long time from a kneeling
position.

Community members try to abandon themselves totally to God.

During sujud mutlak, members often have difficulty in
controlling their emotions. Some cry. Others laugh.
The dzikir participants believe the sujud mutlak, will give them
a renewed strength to face life's problems.

However, since 1985, the sujud mutlak has been banned due to
criticism from prominent Moslem figures in Yogyakarta.

According to Asdie, the recitation has no special objectives.
"We only do the dzikir to solve the daily problems of life," said
Asdie, who is an internist. Scientifically speaking, when dzikir
induces a trance state- there will be a burst of endorphins equal
to 500 times that of morphine. "Addicts to morphine or narcotics
can be cured by the dzikir therapy," said Asdie. He said though
that the benefits of dzikir cannot always be explained
rationally.

Research

As a psychic phenomenon, the dzikir activities at the
Pengajian Tawakkal were researched by Subandi, lecturer at the
School of Psychology of the Gadjah Mada University in 1994.
Subandi conducted this research for his masters degree at the
School of Social Sciences, University of Queensland, Brisbane,
Australia.

He wrote his thesis A Psychological Study of Religious
Transformation among Moslems Who Practice Dzikir Tawakkal, based
on interviews with nine respondents who had been practicing
Dzikir

His research yielded amazing results. The dzikir members felt
an experience of religious transformation. "They felt that God
was not limited to a concept but that God was reality," said
Subandi. Moreover, he found that the dzikir practitioners became
more convinced in their life.

A new aspect sufi recitation is the spread of sufism within
the community. Until recently,dzikir sufism in Yogyakarta was
limited to a number of Islamic boarding schools (pesantren) in
Yogyakarta.

According to Prof. Simuh, a sufism observer at the Institute
of Islamic Studies (IAIN) Sunan Kalijaga in Yogyakarta, the
growing number of people interested in sufism reveals the
followers' efforts to combat the pressures of modern life, such
as television, which clash with their religious values.

This sort of conflict leads to people to ask themselves if
their religion is suitable. "This question leads people to look
for and to find sufism," said Simuh. With Sufism, he added, they
do not feel sucked into a violent environment of secularism,
materialism and rationalism.

"The happiness offered by sufism can bring peace. It is
different from drugs," he said.

The world of sufism, said Simuh, is indeed very beautiful. The
individual can be in command and in control of him or herself.
The practice of sufism can convert anger or frustration into
patience. Sufism also offers the Koran as a solution -- in the
wider sense -- for the soul in its fight against materialism.

Simuh has a friend, a former minister, who teaches sufism for
self-control against functional abuse.

If the method of self-control of sufism is developed, there
will be many benefits. Simuh pointed out the Suralaya pesantren
in Tasikmalaya, West Java, which has succeeded in applying sufism
to cure people from dependence on narcotics. He said that a
number of experts in medicine and psychology have started to
consider sufism as a complement to the Western therapeutic
methods.

However, extreme sufism can damage relationships, Simuh said,
because in the effort to become one with God an individual may
forget their social ties.

Simuh said Indonesia's problem is not the renewed interest in
sufism, rather the poor quality of religious teaching. The number
of religious intellectuals at the level of Harun Nasution, Mukti
Ali and Nurcholish Majid has been outpaced by the number of
people who worship materialism. "Religious intellectuals are
needed to interpret social change," said Simuh. Otherwise, he
said, religion will stagnate and the community will go its own
way without the clarity of religious or moral values.