'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.