From Spiritual Leadership to Functional Leadership: A Qualitative Single-Case Study of Authority Mediation in Jamaah Wirid Khusus Nahdlatul Wathan, Lombok
Published: December 27, 2025
Pages: 24-37
##plugins.themes.bootstrap3.article.main##
Abstract
This study responds to the tendency of tariqah studies in Indonesia that highlight elite figures and institutions, thereby neglecting how congregations maintain the continuity of Sufi practice in everyday life. By taking the case of Jamaah Wirid Khusus Nahdlatul Wathan (JWK-NW) in Lombok, this study examines how ritual authority, social relevance, and ethical productivity continue to operate when there is no doctrinal successor murshid, because TGKH Muhammad Zainuddin Abdul Madjid is positioned as the first and last murshid. The study uses a qualitative single-case design based on fieldwork (October to November 2023) through semi-structured interviews, non-participant observation of Hiziban, wirid, and muzakarah, as well as document analysis (Hizib compilations, decrees, teaching materials, and related publications) with purposive and snowball sampling. Data were analyzed using reflexive thematic analysis with source and method triangulation. The findings show that the continuity of the tariqah is maintained through the expansion of functional authority: appointed coordinators and representatives mediate bay’ah, ritual discipline (including qada’), and ethical guidance, without claiming themselves as autonomous murshids. Core practices are carried out in daily and weekly cycles, including congregational Hiziban on Monday night, collective dhikr on Wednesday, and a weekly wazhifah on Friday, and are reinforced by regular muzakarah. Members report increased spiritual awareness, emotional control, and inner tranquility, while also expanding solidarity through infaq and collective work to build madrasah, TPQ, and social services. Historically, the JWK-NW network is reported to have reached around 200,000 members in 1994. This study enriches lived Sufism scholarship by showing a concrete differentiation between spiritual leadership and functional leadership, and it offers the implication that dhikr routines and communal service can become a low-cost infrastructure for character education, youth mentoring, and social cohesion when aligned with local ritual ecology.
##plugins.themes.bootstrap3.article.details##
Copyright
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
- Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
- Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgment of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
- Authors can enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgment of its initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) before and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work.
References
Adnan. (2017). Riyadhah mujahadah perspektif kaum sufi. Syifa Al-Qulub, 1(2), 122–131. https://doi.org/10.15575/saq.v1i2.1428
Arikewuyo, A. N. (2019). A comparative study of al-Ghazali’s and Ibn Taymiyyah’s views on Sufism. International Journal of Islamic Thought, 17(1), 15–24. https://doi.org/10.24035/IJIT.17.2020.166
Arpan. (2020). Tradisi Hiziban Jamaah Nahdlatul Wathan dalam pengembangan pola pendidikan Islam. Jurnal Penelitian Tarbawi: Pendidikan Islam dan Isu-Isu Sosial, 5(2), 55–61. https://doi.org/10.37216/tarbawi.v5i2.318
Asnawi. (2005). Respons kultural masyarakat Sasak terhadap Islam. Ulumuna, 9(1), 1–19. https://doi.org/10.20414/ujis.v9i1.440
As-Sulami, A. A. M. bin H. (2003). Ṭabaqāt al-ṣūfiyyah wa yalīhi dhikr niswah al-muta‘abbidāt al-ṣūfiyyāt (M. A. Q. ‘Aṭo, Ed.). Dar al-Kutub al-‘Ilmiyyah.
Bruinessen, M. van. (1992). Tarekat Naqsyabandiyah di Indonesia: Survei historis, geografis, dan sosiologis. Mizan.
Daniawan, F. (2011). Tarekat Hizib Nahdlatul Wathan di Jakarta (Skripsi sarjana). Universitas Indonesia.
Ghani, K. (2024). Sufi rituals and practices: Experiences from South Asia, 1200–1450. Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780192889225.001.0001
Irawan, S. I., & Nurjannah, S. (2016). Tasawuf Nusantara: Studi tarekat Hizib Nahdlatul Wathan. Jurnal Yaqzhan: Analisis Filsafat, Agama, dan Kemanusiaan, 2(2), 216–236. https://doi.org/10.24235/jy.v2i2.1290
Jamaludin. (2011). Islamic social history of Lombok 1740–1935: A case study of Tuan Guru. Badan Litbang dan Diklat Puslibang Lektur dan Khazanah Keilmuan Kemenag RI.
Janssens, J. (2011). Al-Ghazālī between philosophy (falsafa) and Sufism (taṣawwuf): His complex attitude in the Marvels of the Heart (‘Ajā’ib al-Qalb) of the Iḥyā’ ‘Ulūm al-Dīn. The Muslim World, 101(4), 614–632. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1478-1913.2011.01375.x
Leccese, F. A. (2021). Vision and enstasis in Sufism. Sguardo, 2(33), 91–100. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6949208
Madjid, T. M. Z. A. (n.d.). Wasiat renungan masa pengalaman baru. Yayasan Pendidikan Hamzanwadi Pondok Pesantren Darunnahdlatain NW.
Mutawali. (2016). Moderate Islam in Lombok: The dialectic between Islam and local culture. Journal of Indonesian Islam, 10(2), 309–334. https://doi.org/10.15642/JIIS.2016.10.2.309-334
Muttaqin, M. Z. (2021). The dynamics of power, violence, and conflict of Nahdlatul Wathan. Journal of Indonesian Islam, 15(2), 465–486. https://doi.org/10.15642/JIIS.2021.15.2.465-486
Muzakki, Hartanti, D., & Rifli, M. (2021). Dampak Hizib Nahdlatul Wathan terhadap integrasi sosial di Desa Pringgasela, Lombok Timur. Sosio Edukasi: Jurnal Studi Masyarakat dan Pendidikan, 4(1). https://doi.org/10.29408/sosedu.v4i2.1564
Nasr, S. H. (1994). Traditional Islam in the modern world. Kegan Paul International.
Quddus, A., & Ariadi, L. M. (2015). Gerakan tarekat dan pertumbuhan budaya berfilosofi di Lombok. Teosofi: Jurnal Tasawuf dan Pemikiran Islam, 5(2), 321–345. https://doi.org/10.15642/teosofi.2015.5.2.321-345
Rahman, F. (1979). Islam. University of Chicago Press.
Rasyad, A., Dienaputra, R. D., Zakaria, M. M., & Mulyadi, R. M. (2023). Tariqa of Hizib Nahdlatul Wathan: Construction of social change during the New Order period in Lombok, Indonesia. International Journal of Sustainable Development and Planning, 18(6), 1963–1972. https://doi.org/10.18280/ijsdp.180633
Saudi, L. (2022). Tradisi pembacaan Hizib Nahdlatul Wathan untuk membentuk karakter santri di Pondok Pesantren Darul Muhibbin NW Mispalah Praya Lombok Tengah (Tesis magister). Universitas Islam Negeri Mataram.
Senali, M. S. A. A. (1998). Risalah memahami ilmu tasawuf. Terbit Terang.
Studio Kafa Billah. (2017). Koordinator Pusat Jamaah Wirid Khusus NW, TGH. M. Mukhsin Makbul [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/THaQzVWJdIQ
Turmuzi, E. (1998). The tarekat Qadiriyah wa Naqsyabandiyah in East Java and Islamic politics in Indonesia. Asian Journal of Social Science, 26(2), 65–84.
Ziadi, M. R. (2018). Tarekat Hizib Nahdlatul Wathan dan perannya dalam perpolitikan di Lombok. Refleksi: Jurnal Filsafat dan Pemikiran Islam, 18(2), 207–239. https://doi.org/10.14421/ref.v18i2.1866