Research on hadith memorization in Indonesia has largely examined memorization methods, program planning, and institutional arrangements, whereas the emotional and spiritual dimensions experienced by memorizers remain insufficiently explored. This study aims to describe the emotional and spiritual experiences of santri in memorizing hadith and to explain the self-transformation accompanying these experiences. The study employed van Manen’s hermeneutic phenomenology. Data were collected from July to October 2024 through lived-experience interviews with nine santri and three mentors from three pesantren located in West Sulawesi and Southeast Sulawesi. The data were analyzed through holistic, selective, and line-by-line thematic reading and interpreted using the control-value theory of achievement emotions, the theory of religious coping, and the meaning-making model. The results reveal three essential themes. First, the memorization process is characterized by anxiety about mispronouncing the Prophet’s sayings and about failing the expectations of parents and teachers; this anxiety is frequently manifested in somatic complaints, while successful memorization generates relief and pride. Second, santri sustain their memorization through positive religious coping, including supererogatory prayer, supplication, benevolent religious reappraisal, and the pursuit of parental blessing, supported by mentors who perform a caregiving role. Third, the pressure of memorization targets is gradually reconstructed into personal meaning, reflected in changes in the way santri value time, social relations, and the hadith itself, while mentors recognize the importance of psychological accompaniment. This study contributes a conceptualization of hadith memorization as a process of emotional and spiritual formation and recommends the integration of pastoral and psychological accompaniment into hadith memorization programs.
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Institut Agama Islam Negeri Kendari
Institut Agama Islam Negeri Parepare
Sultan Zainal Abidin University
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