Hadroh Art as a Medium for Religious Value Internalization and Congregational Spiritual Awareness

Abstract

Contemporary mosque education requires forms of religious formation that are intellectually meaningful, emotionally engaging, and socially participatory. This study examines how hadroh, an Islamic percussion and shalawat tradition, mediates the internalization of religious values and the strengthening of spiritual awareness among the congregation of Al-Muttaqin Mosque in Jabung, Mlarak, Ponorogo, Indonesia. The study aimed to analyze the internalization process, interpret hadroh's spiritual role, and identify its supporting and inhibiting conditions. A qualitative descriptive case study with a phenomenological orientation was conducted through participant observation, semi-structured interviews with eight purposively selected informants, and analysis of activity records and visual documentation. Data were analyzed through condensation, display, conclusion drawing, and verification, while trustworthiness was strengthened through source, technique, and time triangulation. The findings show that religious values were internalized through five connected mechanisms: explanation of shalawat meanings, repetitive embodied practice, trainer and administrator exemplarity, integration with prayer and religious instruction, and family-like communal interaction. These mechanisms nurtured faith, worship discipline, love for the Prophet Muhammad, noble character, remembrance of God, sincerity, and Islamic solidarity. Participants associated regular involvement with inner calm, greater devotional attentiveness, self-reflection, increased mosque participation, and stronger social bonds. Enabling factors included congregational solidarity, family and community support, committed leadership, routine practice, and a conducive mosque environment. Constraints included work and family obligations, age-related limitations, unequal musical ability, inconsistent trainer attendance, modern entertainment, and weak youth regeneration. Hadroh therefore functions as an aesthetic-relational medium through which religious meaning becomes affectively experienced, communally reinforced, and gradually embodied in everyday life