‘UZLAH PRACTICE TO ENHANCE SANTRI’S MENTALITY AND SPIRITUALITY

This article aims to investigate how santri understood the concept of ‘uzlah in pesantren and how they participated in ‘uzlah activities to enhance their mentality and spirituality. ‘Uzlah is a form of selfisolation and an effort to detach from everything dealing with the world. Its purpose is to get closer to Allah. The research applied al-Ghazali framework theory to describe and elaborate students’ uzlah practice. The type of the research was qualitative applying phenomenology approach. The data collection technique were observation and focus group discussion for students to investigate their understanding on ‘uzlah practice. The data analysis process applied flow models as the followings: data reduction, data display, and conclusion. The research found that the santri understood concept of ‘uzlah as the way to perform activity and a treatment that position themselves to live with the Sufi attitude without ignoring their role as a member of society. Through the activity of ‘uzlah, santri’s spirituality and mentality were built as a form of integrity between religious activity and their factual life pattern in the society.


INTRODUCTION
Pesantren (Islamic Boarding School) is one type of religious education institutions in Indonesia. Pesantren (Islamic boarding school) historically was established to provide learning space for santri (students in pesantren) learning religion. Through its development, It offers various program that enhance students' religion knowledge and spirituality. Some pesantren have modified their educational program to adjust with government curriculum. Some of them have been consistent in delivering Islamic traditional kitab as their own distinctions. Few pesantren features program that is in line with spirituality focus like sufism (Lubis, et.al., 2018).
Pesantren try their best to maintain their efforts to instill students' spiritual values. They provide several programs that cultivate good discipline and habit in forming students' characters and mentality. They design and implement this spiritual and mental activity under the guidance and leadership of the kyai (pesantren leaders) or their ustadz (pesantren teachers). This program should be well-designed and implemented to ensure that students learn the best to enrich and empower their spirituality. This is where the role of pesantren is very important in shaping the personality of students, especially in overcoming the problem of moral degradation of adolescents today (Lubis et al., 2018).
Pesantren has the ultimate mission to nurture spiritual and mental development for its santri. Spiritual mentality can be realized through a balanced personality between the elements of 'aqliyyah (thinking framework) and nafsiyyah (behavioral framework) elements (Retnanto, 2011). Someone who is said to be mentally healthy must have a balance between these two elements. Mental health is a state of mind that is always calm and peaceful. To achieve this state, person ought to surrender fully to God (Jalaluddin, 2000). This is where the role of religion is needed in balancing one's mentality and serving as a controller for one's personality.
In relation with mental and spiritual development, al-Ghazali's offers theoretical framework of meditation which includes: zuhud (higher priority to God) resignation, fearlessness, patience, repentance, and love. The term 'uzlah has been associated with this theoretical framework. It is one form of self-exclusion from everything that may causes person to disobey aim of obeying Allah. Every action a person does is based on a belief in the truth value of something he believes in and this condition is understood as a religious attitude (Alim, 2011).
In this modern life, 'uzlah needs to be conceptually and methodologically redefined. 'Uzlah has connotation with totality of self-alienation which is indeed incompatible with the development of modern times. It is seen as an activity that is not in accordance with the development of modern community life. Pesantren may implement this activity of 'uzlah and it may be used as an effort to foster the spiritual mentality of students in the modern era today (Hasibuan, 2015).
Social Sufism is considered to be able to provide a balance of life. A balance will be created in viewing life in the world and the hereafter. Sufism as one solution to the problem solving of modern human life that is focused on the form of mental spiritual development. In pesantren context, students can be trained to practice social sufism which is aimed at training them to have moral values to prepare when they join real life in society (Achlami, 2015) To develop spiritual intelligence, the program can be classified based on the time of its implementation, including: daily activities, weekly activities, monthly activities. In pesantren spiritual activities can be carried out in the form of habituation of religious activities. One of the choices is to perform 'uzlah in pesantren. This spiritual activity serves as a form of coaching activities that might look unfamiliar among the people in the society (Rahmawati, 2016).
One of the pesantren which offers 'uzlah activity to develop santri mentality and spritituality is Pesantren HM Al-Mahrusiyah (hereafter PHMAM) Lirboyo, Kediri. This pesantren can be categorized into salaf type since it has preserved the Islamic traditional books (kitāb) to be taught to santri as the core and the main feature of education. PHMAM can also be classified into khalaf pesantren (traditional Islamic boardng school) because it also combines both salafi curriculum and national curriculum from the government. This Islamic boarding school is located at JL. KH. Abdul Karim No. 9 Lirboyo Village, Mojoroto Subdistrict, Kediri City. It was founded in 1988 and it has several religious programs like 'uzlah activity. 'Uzlah is a mandatory program for every student sitting in class XII Madrasah Aliyah (senior high school) and Al-Mahrusiyah vocational school. This form of Sufi behavior is administered as an effort in coaching the spiritual and mental of the santri that is held once a year.
Several studies have been conducted to investigate spiritual movement in Indonesia. The transformation of Islamic-hybrid spiritual groups in Indonesia in the sociological context of institutional transformation has been seen as changes in their spiritual orientation. In the midst of the process of modernization and the rise of Islam in Indonesia after the reform this spiritual movement has been the context of this movement. The study investigated the use of spirituality in responding to the pressure and fighting the challenges that exist in modern life (Muttaqin, 2014). However, research focuses on sufism in the field of education, especially coaching that can have an impact on the formation of one's mental and spiritual has not been widely reported.
Another study investigated Sufi behavior as an effort to overcome health problems. Saliyo (2016) in his article reported the search for meaning of life through the Sufi path in the modern era. The results of this study reveal that the Sufi path is a spiritual path. The spiritual path in Islam is between Sufi behavior. Sufi behavior can nourish the body, longevity and immunity and psychological well-being by strengthening and increasing worship (Saliyo, 2016). The study which focuses on mental and spiritual coaching through 'uzlah is understudied. Haque and Keshavarzi (2014) in their study investigated the integration of indigenous healing methods in therapy: Muslim beliefs and practices. This research reveals the nature of spiritual healing from an Islamic perspective based on the writings of early Muslim scholars, Islamic mystical traditions and discussion of traditional Muslim traditional healing practices that are useful for clinical applications (Haque & Keshavarzi, 2014). The study which is more directed at fostering the spiritual mentality of students through spiritual activities in the form of 'uzlah has not been conducted.
There is a need to conduct a study focusing on 'uzlah activity program in pesantren which is aimed at nurturing santri mentality and spirituality. This study fills the gap on the information of educational context which develop spiritual development program for its santri. In addition, the study also investigates 'uzlah program which is administered in pesantren. In general, this study was aimed at investigating santri knowledge and understanding about the term 'uzlah and how they perform 'uzlah as one of the program administered by PHMAM.

METHOD
This research used qualitative research and phenomenology as its approach (Dimyati, 2000). Phenomenology was used to find out the experience of informants regarding the activities of 'uzlah as an effort to foster mental and spiritual santri PHMAM. Data were collected using techniques namely observation, documentation and focus group discussion. Focus group discussion was applied to portray the meaning behind each phenomenon described by the research subject. In this activity informant discussed the purpose of what was told, clarified some terms the participants used. Focus group discussion (FGD) was important to get data that can be trusted and can be justified. In addition, observation and documentation techniques were also carried out in order to confirm what was discussed in the focus group discussion.
The process of data analysis applied a flow model that includes: data reduction, data presentation, and conclusions (Sugiyono, 2008). In this study the data analysis stage was carried out through: (a) data reduction, ie the researcher classified 'uzlah activities based on the implementation time into the following three stages: the socialization stage, the implementation stage and the closing stage; (b) presentation of data, that is, researchers drew conclusions presented in the form of narrative texts based on information that has been previously classified. This conclusion was arranged so that it was understood based on the understanding of researchers by presenting data about the process of activities 'uzlah; (c) the conclusion. the researcher drew a conclusion from the process of presenting the previous data, then the researcher matched the results of the notes with observations made during the study. This stage was done after researchers obtain complete data.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
This study investigated how santri understood and performed 'uzlah activity in PHMAM. Based on the data collected, this study elaborates two findings in general. The first section deals with santri's understanding about 'uzlah program in PHMAM. Second findings elaborate how santri performed 'uzlah in PHMAM.

How Santri Viewed and Understood 'Uzlah
For santri al Mahrusiyah Lirboyo Kediri, 'uzlah is interpreted as an effort to shape the students' spirituality and mentality. They viewed 'uzlah as an attempt to balance their 'aqliyyah and nafsiyyah education. The term mental spirituality in Islamic teachings is close to the term Sufi behavior (Basri, 2015). In the Sufi tradition, there is the term to manage the soul to be able to carry out shari'ah better and perform khusyū' to be closer to God. In this case, it takes suluk (path to enlightenment) to take the truly blessed path taught by the shari'a of God through His Prophet (Forum Kajian Ilmiah, 2014). 'Uzlah is one of the best ways for a Sufi to draw closer to God and cleanse the heart of all negligence.
According to santri, they experienced the paradigm shift of 'uzlah. It means that they had practiced 'uzlah in this modern life. They felt that they needed to balance two aspects. On the one hand, the advance of science should be seized for worship purposes. On the other hand, worship must be implemented because it is a path to his good pleasure (Hasibuan, 2015).
Santri viewed 'uzlah as an effort to balance their spiritual and social life. When it comes to implementation, 'uzlah, some of them consider that isolation is considered more important than interacting with the community (al-Ghazali, 2010). The substance of the teachings of Sufism itself including social Sufism is the emphasis toward the balance between individual and social relationship. Two types of relationship which include (ḥabl min an-nâs) human relations with each other and (ḥabl min Allâh) human relations with God should be accomplished. In addition, relations with nature and other creatures should be taken into consideration (Achlami, 2015). Thus, the social Sufism paradigm is a reconstruction of Sufism that is compatible with modern life. Based on this, Sufism means an attempt to present Allah within heart (ḥuḍûr al-qalb ma'a Allâh) in his social life. Therefore, a proper understanding on Sufism imply not only the circumstance that does not have to be done by isolating themselves ('uzlah) and seclusion (khalwat), but also must remain actively involved in social life.
Santri viewed 'uzlah as an activity that did not necessarily detach life in a seclusion. They understood that 'uzlah can be practiced in the midst of the hustle and bustle of the social crowd. To perform 'uzlah, persons may read the Qur'an, perform prayers, and so on in their social life. Thus, 'uzlah does not have to be done by moving away from the totality of community life. This is what the students of the Lirboyo HM Boarding School HM Al-Mahrusiyah performed. In an effort to select proper locations to perform 'uzlah activities, persons may reside the quiet atmosphere within a particular community physically. The spot is preferable especially in rural areas that are still beautiful and far from the hustle and bustle of the city crowd (Hasan, 2019).
Santri agreed that 'uzlah offered various benefits for their mentality and spirituality. There were so many lessons that they took from this activity, such as: an effort to train the spiritual spirit of the santri, performed taqarrub, put on trust, feel concerned, be more grateful for and train the patience of participants to nurture their love for the Creator Arifin & Turmudi, (2019). This is in line with al-Ghazali meditation sufism which includes: zuhd, poor, repentance, patience, tawakkul and love (Suryadilaga, 2008).
Santri viewed that 'uzlah allowed them to have a proper circumstance where they can try to cleanse themselves from sins and get closer to Allah. This is in line with al-Ghazali's Sufism which features psycho-moral character (Sholihin & Anwar, 2008). In this research, santri understood 'uzlah as one of the important things in Muslim life and it could serve as one of the pillars of the mujāhadah. They understood that 'uzlah could act as a medicine for the hearts and souls of for those who suffer difficulties to deal with their hearts (Hawwa, 2006). The path to Sufism can be achieved by cleansing oneself of despicable morals and breaking every obstacle of the soul so that one's heart can always adorn itself, always remember God and be free from everything other than Him.
Santri understood that 'uzlah trained their spirituality and mentality. It was also used as an effort to train santri to manage distance themselves from everything that is dunyāwiyyah. This is done by performing seclusion in spiritual matters. 'Uzlah participants can be more focused in worship and get closer to. God. This activity plays an important role in building the personality of santri to be human beings who behave well and were able to avoid bad things. The word 'uzlah is inseparable from the nature of the spirit that comes from the Divine and remains in a state of holiness and is always attributed to God (Alfan, 2011).
Santri learned that a sufism must go through several maqāmat (level) which includes: zuhud, poor, patience, repentance, tawakkul, and ma'rifat. Basically, the path of a Sufism is a combination of knowledge accompanied by charity, while the fruit is morality (Zaini, 2016). Sufi meditation according to al-Ghazali's view is a series of moral education disciplines that emphasize the knowledge and deeds of one's actions which end with al-mauhibbah or love which will eventually lead someone to ma'rifatullah. Those activities deemed necessary for sufi participant in order to achieve their spirituality level.
The attitude of religiosity that is embodied by a person in various aspects of his life is a term known as Sufi behavior. This behavior occurs when someone performs other activities that are driven by supernatural forces not only when carrying out religious activities that he adheres to (Muhyani, 2012). Thus, this involves activities that are not visible and occur in one's heart not only related to visible activities, because one's religious awareness encompasses various dimensions. This is what santri in PHMAM were trying to achieve by practicing 'uzlah. Spirituality needs to be trained by persons who are trying to pursue their mentality and spirituality which are directed by the guidelines from God and His messenger.
Santri knew that 'uzlah acitivity was used as a medium to train themselves to be able to feel the hard work of performing, to be more grateful for the blessings given by Allah SWT, to train someone to be able to refrain from lust and be able to discourage someone from avoiding despicable acts. Social Sufism gives life and direction to one's life by teaching people moral values so that they gladly accept what is available (qonâ'ah), live modestly according to ability (zuhd), protect themselves from things that are haram and doubtful in consuming things wara ') and so on. It also forbids humans to live greedy (ṭama'), excessive (isrāf), wasteful (tabżîr), stingy (bakhīl), and so on (Achlami, 2015).
Santri understood that 'uzlah required santri not only to isolate themselves but also to socialize with the surrounding community. This activity also trained participants to be able to prepare themselves before living with the community. By practicing the spiritual spirit of the santri they were expected to be able to prepare themselves when mingling with the community and preaching in the community. They not only focused on the practice of worship but also can reap wisdom during activities and make it a lesson to equip them after feeling the hardships of community life (Mubarak, 2019). One important point that must be considered so that a person has a physical and spiritual balance in living life is to carry out his religious obligations without compromising his position as a social creature.
Santri acknowledged that they became more aware of how life was actually in the community. Although they knew that at first it was hard, but after a few days, they felt enjoyed to perform 'uzlah. This is what distinguishes between character education in pesantren and character education developed by Thomas Lickona which states that character education starts from knowing then feeling/love), and doing (Lickona, 1991). Mental coaching in pesantren is similar to military-style mental coaching. Both require participants to do first, then to get used to growing a sense of love for behaviour, then knowing the wisdom and goodness of what has been done.

How Santri Performed 'Uzlah
The implementation of 'uzlah in PHMAM Lirboyo Kediri was held in a location far from the city crowd, precisely in the Joho village of Semen Kediri District, located about 10 km (kilometers) from Kediri City. Joho village is a village located at the western part of the Semen, Kediri district on the slopes of Mount Wilis. Wilis mountain itself is directly adjacent to three regencies, namely Nganjuk, Kediri and Ponorogo Regencies. Joho villager generally work as a farmer and some of them work as traders. Their profession has been influenced by the fact that in the Joho village and surrounding areas there are tourist sites, namely Kediri Waterpark, Sumber Podang, and Madu industrial tourism, even some visitors call Joho a tourist village.
Santri PHMAM chose Kediri to conduct 'uzlah activity for some reasons. The village was indeed the right location to do 'uzlah because it is far from the crowd. However, it did not mean that 'uzlah is intended to be alone and away from the crowd. 'Uzlah in their practice was intended to be able to interact with the village community. Many santri came from a rural socio-cultural background. Thus, the santri would maintain their socio-cultural roots and when they finished studying at the pesantren and return to their hometowns, they could properly interact with the community. Interaction with the community is a medium to practice what students had learned in pesantren. This is what is called by al-Ghazali as a balance between 'aqliyyah and nafsiyyah. According to al-Ghazali, this can be done in three ways, namely; learn all the knowledge, observe them, and practice the knowledge he has acquired.
In PHMAM santri performed 'uzlah activities to deal with these things to improve spiritual mentality. This activity was carried out for seven days in which the implementation of this activity was classified into 3 stages, namely the socialization stage, the implementation phase and the closing phase, as described below: First, the socialization stage. The socialization was carried out at the pesantren before they left for the location on the next day. This stage was done by giving directions to the participants as well as granting a certificate by the pesantren caregivers in the form of ḥizb readings and the deeds they have to do in the form of fasting for a week. There were three types of fasting that they can choose according to their respective abilities, namely: tarku żī rūḥin, mutih and mulûk. These three types of fasting were carried out with the aim of tazkiyah an nafs (purifying oneself. The term nafs in the Qur'an is used to refer to the totality of man, the human soul, the driving force of each behavior and God (Mubarok, 2009). This Relates to the mention of the zakiyya an nafs or the pure soul as a basic concept of tazkiyyah an-nafs. Nafs must be kept pure. Even though it was created by God perfectly, it can be damaged if it is full with despicable behavior.
In addition to fasting, santri were required to read the awrād after the maktūbah prayer. This Awrād is in the form of ḥizb namely: khatm al-Qur'an, ḥizb salāmah, ḥizb li al 'athfi, ḥizb of nashrah and ḥizb of taro (ḥizb al-mubārok) (khatm al-Qur'an can be read at any time and this type must be finished in a week (khatam). Each type of hizb has its own purpose. The ḥizb salamah aims for salvation and ḥizb li al aṭfi is aimed at people preference for them. Whereas ḥizb alam nashrah and ḥizb al mubārok are used to grant requests and can also be used to heal the sick.
In addition to granting diplomas, santri were directed about the procedures for implementing 'uzlah and they were also explained about prohibitions that should not be carried out in the surrounding community. Like making a noise in or around the mosque, resting outside the specified mosque, carrying and using electronic goods, and taking or using what is not his right, especially belonging to the community. This was done with the expectation that santri could achieve good moral values towards the community. Behaving according to norms and being responsible, having a whole personality, being able to adapt, having knowledge, conflict and depression, free from frustration are things to carry out by santri (Tumanggor, 2014).
In PHMAM the routine activities were classified into 3 parts: daily routine (Supriadi, Y. (2017) weekly routines and monthly routine. One of these activities is 'uzlah. Implementation of this activity as a habituation for students can help develop the spiritual intelligence of students (Rahmawati, 2016). This was done by training students to be able to recognize themselves, teach and instill knowledge about monotheism, exercise patience, take responsibility, be grateful, train santri to love God in every situation. To improve one's spiritual mentality, there are three things to consider namely tazkiyyah al-qalb, namely cleansing the heart of despicable behavior and character, then filling it with praiseworthy behavior by performing worship according to the shari'a, then increasing and maintaining faith as an effort to devote to Allah (taqwallāh) (Mukhroy, 2009).
Second, the implementation of 'uzlah, mental and spiritual development was done through various models. The models were in accordance with the mental condition and the needs of the participant that will carry out the activity (Shihab, 2010). As the implementation of this 'uzlah activity was only carried out for seven days with the reason to fill the spare time before they graduated. Nonetheless, the majority of participants 'uzlah were both santri who were trained by conducting fairly solid religious routines.
Third, the closing program. This activity was filled with recitation sessions that involved community participation. In general, this activity included: reading the Qur'an, a number of remarks delivered by the committee, residents and caregivers, submission of mementos, reading dība'iyyah and mawiḍah delivered by caregivers containing tafakkur, taqarrub, maḥabbah ila ahl al-ilm and community members.
The spiritual mentality of the santri was manifested in almost all the santri activities throughout the day. The night time was used to carry out religious activities in order to train and develop a spiritual mentality starting from istighāsah, reading the awrad, reading the Qur'an, praying maktubah in congregation, praying tahajjud, praying ḍuhâ and reciting the book of Sufism. This finding reinforces Husen Hasan Basri's research that spirituality connotes and is close to the term Sufi behavior (Basri, 2015). 'Uzlah can also be done with night prayers, żikr, and munājat at the time of one third of the night. Seclusion is one of the four pillars that must be done by santri. The next three pillars are: to be silent and not talkative, to wake up in the middle of the night, and to continue to be hungry (Syarqowiy, 2012).
Other additional activities were also carried out namely sports with the aim of physical training, and immerse activities with community life by helping the daily activities of the community around the 'uzlah location such as farming, village cleaning, working together, and helping people who were having their own activities (weekly routine recitations). This activity was carried out with the aim that the students understood and fell directly how to live in a real community.
The implementation of 'uzlah activities at PHMAM is a form of religious teaching on students. Kyai's guidance to santri began in the 90s and this program is a part of suluk (the path to enlightenment) and became a separate study in Sufism (Arifin & Turmudi (2019). This can be obtained through pure awareness by performing various acts of worship and performing various riyaḍah (exercises) mentally and physically, so that the elements of rūhāniyyah and ulûhiyyah can surpass the elements of the jasadiyyah (physical) and dunyāwiyyah (worldly) (Salam, 2017). Thus, it can be said that someone who is mentally healthy is someone who has a balance between physical and spiritual. This can be done by someone doing various kinds of riyāḍah. (Syarqowiy, 2012).
Mental spiritual development aims to make someone have a moral person by forming morals. The existence of a traditional Islamic education system, like the Sufis, is one of the most important factors in building and creating a Muslim identity today (Suteja, 2017). Although it can be said that Sufi spiritual behavior towards mental health especially in wellbeing is still controversial (Saliyo, 2016). The first foundation in Islamic teachings can be realized through mental coaching. Starting from a good mental will give birth to good deeds, which will then produce happiness in human life both physically and mentally The meaning of spirituality is closer to understanding the term Sufism (Sufism) (Basri, 2015). It is manifested in all forms of activities in pesantren which according to Muhaimin mental and spiritual development can be done with a religious culture strategy (Muhaimin, 2002), where this strategy is implemented in the form of routine activities.
There are lessons that santri could learn after they did 'uzlah activities, including: the experience to learn to know the community, learn to tazkiyyah an nafs and each person gets its own wisdom and different impressions. The process of mental and spiritual coaching could not happen quickly and was forced in its process. Instead it was carried out in accordance with the growth, ability and privileges of the age that were being experienced gradually, naturally, and healthily (Amir, 2010). The most important thing is the formation of a person's soul that produces holiness and morals in addition to fostering reason that only produces skills. As the principle of mental and spiritual development is carried out gradually as habituation of someone. The main purpose of this activity was expected to make students have high moral values while having a good mental and spiritual.

CONCLUSION
Based on the explanation of the research results and discussion, several conclusions can be drawn. Santri understood that 'uzlah can be performed in the social life. They had shown paradigm shift in understanding the term and practice of 'uzlah in their real life.
'Uzlah trained them to train mentality and spirituality. Through 'uzlah activities, santri mentality and spirituality can be built indirectly in the form of integration between religious activities and real-life patterns in society. Santri at PHMAM performed 'uzlah in a village that they chose. They were taught procedures and prohibitions before they conducted 'uzlah. There were three stages that they experienced in performing 'uzlah