Locating The Tradition of Ziarah Wali in Modern Era: A Case Study in Syaikhona Kholil Bangkalan Tomb

Abstract

Ziarah wali (Muslim saint pilgrimage) is one of Muslims’ practices to visit sacred tombs. This practice has been performed by a large part of Muslims long ago as a form of respect for the saints by sending prayers at their tomb. Many of the Muslims even do ziarah wali as an annual activity because it has been considered as a tradition with religious and spiritual values. These days ziarah wali is still popular as evidenced by the more crowded the locations of the saint’s tomb. One of the locations that still has many visitors is Syaikhona Kholil Bangkalan Tomb. Such phenomenon is very interesting to be researched because there must be factors and reasons contribute to the popularity of ziarah wali, so people in modern era are still attracted to perform and engage with this practice. Therefore, this article discusses how does the tradition of ziarah wali thrive in modern era, a case study in Syaikhona Kholil Bangkalan Tomb. This is a qualitative study implementing observation and interview as the method of data collection. The results show that the tradition of ziarah wali persists in today's modern era, a case study at the tomb of Syaikhona Kholil Bangkalan because it is a multipurpose activity, has several symbolic meanings and is an impactful practice.