Virtual Worship

KOMPAS/AFFAN ADENENSI RIZA FATHONI

A family in the Pondok Kopi area, East Jakarta held a virtual gathering with distant relations via a teleconference application on the first day of Eid, on Thursday (13/5/2021).

During the recent Idul Adha (Day of Sacrifice) celebration (20/7/2021), there was an event that was quite phenomenal. The virtual Idul Adha prayer led by Wawan Gunawan Abdul Wahid reached the maximum Zoom capacity of 1,000 people. Many participants did not attend alone, but brought their families, meaning that 3000 people were able to attend the virtual prayer. This did not include those who failed to join the event because of limited capacity.

The worship was carried out live with makmum (followers of a religious leader) scattered in a number of separate places in Indonesia. They followed the imam’s movements in virtual reality. Computers and Zoom can be called "holy altars" because they function as a space and a medium for rituals.

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In addition to Idul Adha prayer, worship that has been frequently done with digital platforms is tahlil (reciting phrases in praise of Allah) and takziyah (condolences) to pray for friends and family who died during the pandemic. This virtual tahlil invitation came almost every day along with the increasing number of deaths due to Covid-19 in July 2021. Other religious activities that are commonly carried out in online form are haul (death anniversary event), Idul Fitri gathering, tarawih (Ramadan evening prayer) and Friday prayer.

Scientists have predicted that digital technology will change our social and cultural life. Manuel Castells (2010), for example, mentioned that virtual networks can replace traditional structures in society. However, many people do not even think that digital technology has also changed the rituals of worship: prayer, tahlilan, haul, and perhaps haj and umrah (minor pilgrimage) as well.

Long before the pandemic, several websites had started providing virtual reality for certain types of worship. As written by Christopher Helland (2013), on the Laurdes-France website (laurdes-france.org), visitors can be taken to the place as if they were present and experience a cyber pilgrimage. Visiting the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem can also be done virtually at aish.com/w. The prayers and supplications of virtual visitors can be directly printed and pasted in the stone crevices in the wailing wall.

DOKUMENTASI KEMENTERIAN TENAGA KERJA

The monitor screen displays a Limited Meeting of a number of Ministers of the Forward Indonesia Cabinet with President Joko Widodo, on Monday (16/3/2020).

For the Indonesian context, except for the virtual Friday prayer, there is almost no controversy in the transition of the various worship services from the previous offline form to the online form. This is caused by the fact that these various activities are not mandatory worship or there are no religious demands to be carried out in groups. Meanwhile, the Friday prayer, apart from its implementation law which is obligatory for men, in the Syafii School which is adopted by most Indonesian people, it must also be performed in congregation with a minimum number of 40 people.

Even though several Muslim authorities do not support the implementation of virtual Friday prayers and recommend to replace them with dzuhur (noon prayers), the virtual Friday prayers are always crowded and attended by hundreds of worshipers.

Many of the themes raised are issues related to Islam and human rights.

There are two well-known organizers of such a worship, namely Wawan Gunawan, who started it on 29 May 2020 and the congregation organized by the Public Virtue Research Institute under the leadership of Usman Hamid, a human rights activist who is also the executive director of Amnesty International Indonesia. The Friday prayers held by Usman Hamid are carried out with a neater system and began on 5 March 2021. Many of the themes raised are issues related to Islam and human rights.

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The implementation of virtual worship can be the best alternative during the pandemic. Many religious rituals that cannot be changed become private matters because the original purpose of its implementation is indeed for social bonding, solidarity and a sense of belonging in the group. Therefore, the implementation of virtual worship can slightly cure the longing to be present with relatives and friends and at the same time fill the spiritual thirst of the people who are forced to be alone or isolate themselves because Covid-19 has not gone away. The legal basis in classical literature to support the implementation of such a worship is of course rare because this is a new phenomenon.

KEMAS UNTUK KOMPAS

The atmosphere of the virtual meeting of the Compass Muda Kè-14 Anniversary Committee. This year, Kompas Muda\'s birthday celebration was held virtually, on Saturday (20/02/2021).

Before the pandemic, the use of digital devices in religious activities had been carried out by millennial preachers and celebrity preachers, such as Hanan Attaki, Felix Siauw and Ustaz Abdul Somad. It can even be said, their dakwah (preaches) and popularity is supported by Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube. They have millions of followers on social media. However, previously the digital devices were only to support worship or dakwah, not in the implementation of worship such as Friday prayers or Idul Adha prayers. Digital tools, for example, were only used to communicate and exchange information with congregations, disseminate dakwah content, and mate match applications.

Even though at present, in many ways, virtual things have become a reality, there are still many people who think, especially regarding worship, that what exists in the digital world only acts as an alternative or imperfect form of the offline worship. Worshiping virtually does not have the same solemnity and serious-mindedness as offline worship. In terms of legitimacy, many people even consider virtual worship to be lacking or illegitimate.

Well, this is what is continuously asked when worship turns to the digital platform.

Of course, sociologically this is understandable. As mentioned by Emile Durkhieim (1995), the function of the ritual is, among other things, to maintain social cohesion. When people gather together to perform rituals in one place, they lose their individual identity and ego. They will be strongly connected with the congregation who carry out worship together. In short, rituals can strengthen the sense of community and group identity. People will experience collective effervescence and become part of something bigger than themselves. Well, this is what is continuously asked when worship turns to the digital platform.

As a final point, accepting a new tradition that is different from what the ancestors used to do is indeed difficult. Therefore, it is not surprising that several people reject it to the extreme. Prayers with spaced rows, for example, are considered by certain religious leaders as defiance of the Sunnah of the Prophet. Replacing handshakes with elbows or grips is considered a call to fight. Replacing the sacrifice of goats and cows with assistance to those affected by Covid-19 is not considered to invalidate the obligation of sacrificing worship. Likewise the virtual worship. It is not easy to accept new traditions and habits in society even though the old habits can be life threatening if done.

KOMPAS/YUNIADHI AGUNG

Ahmad Najib Burhani

AHMAD NAJIB BURHANI, Research Professor at the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI)

(This article was translated by Hyginus Hardoyo).