Theocentric Communal Catharsis: A Living Al-Qur’an Approach to Self-Healing at Majelis Kanzuz Sholawat

Abstract

This study examines how Qur’anic verses are received, embodied, and interpreted through dhikr and selawat practices at Majelis Kanzuz Sholawat, focusing on QS. Al-Ahzab [33]:41 and 56. Using a qualitative reception-ethnography design within the Living Qur’an framework, the study draws on participatory observation and in-depth interviews with congregants involved in the midnight ritual. The data were analyzed thematically to identify patterns of Qur’anic reception, religious meaning-making, emotional experience, and communal interaction. The findings indicate that dhikr and selawat are perceived by participants not merely as devotional practices but also as resources for coping with emotional distress, existential concerns, and everyday pressures. Dhikr functions as a cognitive-religious anchor that helps participants focus attention on God, while selawat provides an affective medium through which participants express devotion, hope, and emotional release. The majelis further operates as a communal environment that facilitates emotional recognition, shared religious meaning, and social belonging. Based on these findings, the study proposes the concept of “Theocentric Communal Catharsis” to describe a form of religious coping in which theocentric devotion and communal participation interact in shaping participants’ experiences of emotional relief and meaning-making. Rather than establishing a clinical therapeutic effect, the study demonstrates how Qur’anic reception can generate lived religious resources for emotional coping within an urban Muslim community.