Tafakkur: A Contemplation of Students’ Spiritual and Emotional Intelligence (in The Perspective of Sufism & Transpersonal Psychology)

Students often experience fatigue, boredom, anxiety, suppression, repression, and depression due to the educational process. Contemplative practices, particularly the Islamic concept of tafakkur, can help by engaging inner personal strength. This paper advances tafakkur in education, proposing a framework for instruments to enhance students' emotional and spiritual intelligence. A qualitative literature review examined Islamic sources (Qur'an and Sunnah), contemporary Islamic literature, and Western literature. Analysis from Sufism and transpersonal psychology perspectives shows tafakkur's learning activities embed tawhid values, foundational to Islamic religious education. Using tafakkur as a teaching tool helps students focus, improving spiritual and emotional intelligence, fostering a strong soul and mentality to face present and future globalization pressures.

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Abstract

The phenomenon of the educational process creates students who frequently feel fatigue/boredom which has an impact on increasing levels of anxiety, suppression, repression, and depression. Various learning methods are applied to be able to overcome the boredom/burden of fluctuating thoughts and emotions, namely through implementing changes that tend to involve one's personal internal strength. The practice of contemplation is a training concept that is integrated with several schools. The purpose of this academic paper is to advance the concept of tafakkur in the discipline of education and establish a framework for developing instruments that enhance students' emotional and spiritual intelligence. Employing a qualitative research approach with a literature review and examination of information from Islamic scientific sources (the Qur'an and the Sunnah), as well as contemporary Islamic literature and Western literature for comparison. Description of a few previous research investigations on student therapy for anxiety and depression. Conclusions of the analysis of the concept of tafakkur from two perspectives, namely Sufism and transpersonal psychology, provide the foundation for thinking about school students' learning theory, which is inherent in the Islamic religious education curriculum because the content of tafakkur learning activities can present tawhid values, which function as the primary fundamentals of Islamic religious education. The utilization of tafakkur as a teaching tool will assist students to focus on their studies, which has implications for improving their spiritual and emotional intelligence. This provides students a strong soul and mentality as well as enables them to deal with the pressures and challenges of both the present and the future periods of globalization.