Reconstructing Sama‘ as a Relational Psychospiritual Experience: A Phenomenological Study of Inner Peace and Musical Engagement

Intan  Purnama Sari; Fikri  Mahzumi; Nur Hidayat  Wakhid Udin; Reda Ibrahim  Abdelgalil

doi:10.61680/jisc.v4i1.79

Authors

Intan Purnama Sari Universitas Islam Negeri Sunan Ampel Surabaya
Fikri Mahzumi UIN Sunan Ampel Surabaya
Nur Hidayat Wakhid Udin UIN Sunan Ampel Surabaya
Reda Ibrahim Abdelgalil University of Sharjah

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.61680/jisc.v4i1.79

Keywords:

Sama‘, inner peace, pspychospiritual experience, Sufi music, phenomenology

Abstract

Although sama‘ is widely discussed as a Sufi practice, limited research explains how listeners themselves experience and construct inner peace through musical engagement. This study addresses this gap by examining sama‘ as a lived psychospiritual experience rather than as an inherent effect of Sufi music. Using Edmund Husserl’s transcendental phenomenology, the study screened 34 students of Sufism and Psychotherapy at UIN Sunan Ampel Surabaya and purposively selected 12 participants for semi-structured interviews. Data were analyzed through epoché, phenomenological reduction, eidetic variation, and synthesis of essences. Inner peace emerged through a transformation from mental clutter, fatigue, confusion, or emotional intensity toward greater focus, lightness, calmness, and psychological order. Music facilitated engagement, while attention mediated experiential transformation and meaning-making generated diverse spiritual orientations, including dhikr, tafakkur, tawakkul, and remembrance. Sama‘ is best understood as a relational psychospiritual experience shaped by subjective states, musical engagement, attention, and interpretation, rather than by musical genre alone.

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