Qur’an journaling refers to the synthesis of two key elements: the Qur’an and the practice of journaling. The Qur’an, as the holy scripture of Islam, serves as the primary source of guidance for Muslims, while journaling represents a process of externalizing one’s thoughts, emotions, aspirations, and personal experiences into written form [15]. When articulated in writing, these thoughts and emotions can be observed from new perspectives, enabling individuals to reflect on their cognitive patterns with greater objectivity [16]. Writing thus differs from merely dwelling repetitively on issues—an act that often results in heightened anxiety. By transferring inner thoughts to written form, individuals may release psychological burdens while cultivating new ways to understand and regulate their emotions [17][18].

Within the Islamic context, Qur’an journaling constitutes a spiritual form of journaling whereby Muslims document their reflections (tadabbur) on Qur’anic verses in a personal journal [9]. Similarly, The Jannah Institute characterizes Qur’an journaling as an art of engaging in tadabbur al-Qur’an through writing practices. Here, tadabbur transcends literal comprehension of the text, encompassing the search for deeper layers of meaning, wisdom, lessons, and values relevant to everyday life [19]. The essence of this practice lies not merely in textual engagement but in the extent to which Qur’anic understanding is implemented in daily conduct [12].

The practice of Qur’an journaling has undergone remarkable expansion in digital spaces. A Google search for the term “Qur’an journaling” yields approximately 901,000 results. On Instagram, the hashtag #quranjournaling has generated around 88,400 posts, while YouTube hosts approximately 4,700 videos containing related content as of September 2025. These statistics demonstrate that Qur’an journaling has attracted widespread public attention, evolving into a recognized form of religious practice within the digital domain. This phenomenon has encouraged increasing numbers of individuals to participate, thus fostering the formation of communities with shared interests and orientations. Among the most active in initiating and sustaining Qur’an journaling practices in digital spaces is the Indonesian Qur’an Journal Community.

The Indonesian Qur’an Journal Community, known by its digital presence as thequranjournal.id, is a virtual community dedicated to deepening the understanding and contemplation of Qur’anic meanings through the practice of Qur’an journaling. In its implementation, the community utilizes digital platforms such as Instagram and Telegram as facilitative media for Qur’an enthusiasts who seek to enhance comprehension and integrate Qur’anic values into their everyday lives [20]. The community was founded by Ragwan Alaydrus, M.Ed, an educator and writer with an academic background in Educational Psychology. In developing the Indonesian Qur’an Journal Community, Ragwan is supported by a team of nine individuals who serve in designated roles [21].

The community began its activities in 2019, as evidenced by its first Instagram post on Qur’an journaling dated March 19, 2019. By 2021, Telegram was adopted as an additional platform to facilitate collective tadabbur sessions [22]. The central mission of the Indonesian Qur’an Journal Community is to encourage Muslims to engage in tadabbur (contemplation) and tafakkur (reflection) as part of their daily lives. As stated by Ragwan, the founder of the community: “Our goal is to invite others to practice tadabbur and tafakkur in their daily routines. So, even though there is a group and mentoring provided, the ultimate purpose is to enable members to conduct independent tadabbur in their own homes.” Ragwan further expressed his hope that Qur’anic contemplation through Qur’an journaling would continue to expand in reach. With the growing presence of this community, he envisions tadabbur al-Qur’an becoming more familiar and accessible to the broader Muslim society, thereby facilitating the practical implementation of Qur’anic values in daily life [23].

The Instagram account @thequranjournal.id, managed by the Indonesian Qur’an Journal Community, functions as the primary gateway for individuals interested in engaging with and deepening their practice of Qur’an journaling. Through consistent visual design and the selection of themes relevant to contemporary social issues, the account has successfully captured the attention of Qur’an enthusiasts across social media platforms [24]. Several regular programs are organized and disseminated through Instagram, including weekly tadabbur sessions, Ramadan classes, and weekly Qur’anic reflection excerpts contributed by community members. These initiatives demonstrate a systematic effort to construct and expand the reception of the Qur’an to a broader audience.

Each year, the community organizes special Qur’an journaling classes in the form of weekly tadabbur sessions, conducted in two to three periods, depending on the length of the surahs under study. Participants enrolled in these special classes are granted access to a dedicated Telegram group called the “Learning Community”. Within this group, the central activity and core identity of the community—weekly tadabbur—is facilitated [23]. Tadabbur activities are carried out every week with different surah topics each week, as shown in Table 1 below:

Session 1: April - May

Weekly tadabbur activities are conducted with a particular focus on selected surahs from Juz 30 and verses containing the Asma’ul Ḥusnā (the Beautiful Names of Allah). The surahs of Juz 30 are chosen on the basis that many Muslims are already familiar with these shorter chapters due to their frequent recitation, yet their deeper meanings often remain underexplored. By engaging in tadabbur of these concise surahs, community members are expected to gain a clearer understanding of the embedded messages and subsequently implement them in their daily lives.

In addition, tadabbur is also directed toward verses that contain the Asma’ul Ḥusnā, or the names of Allah [26], such as the following examples:

يُسَبِّحُ لِلّٰهِ مَا فِى السَّمٰوٰتِ وَمَا فِى الْاَرْضِ الْمَلِكِ الْقُدُّوْسِ الْعَزِيْزِ الْحَكِيْمِ

”Whatever is in the heavens and whatever is on the earth exalts Allah, the Sovereign, the Most Holy, the Almighty, the All-Wise.” (QS. Al-Jumu‘ah 62:1). [25]

هُوَ اللّٰهُ الَّذِيْ لَآ اِلٰهَ اِلَّا هُوَ اَلْمَلِكُ الْقُدُّوْسُ السَّلٰمُ الْمُؤْمِنُ الْمُهَيْمِنُ الْعَزِيْزُ الْجَبَّارُ الْمُتَكَبِّرُۗ سُبْحٰنَ اللّٰهِ عَمَّا يُشْرِكُوْنَ

“He is Allah, other than whom there is no deity: the Sovereign, the Most Holy, the Source of Peace, the Granter of Security, the Overseer, the Almighty, the Compeller, the Supreme. Exalted is Allah above whatever they associate with Him.” (QS. Al-Hashr 59:23)[25].

The choice of Asma’ul Ḥusnā verses serves as both an introduction to and a reflection upon the Divine Names of Allah, representing a spiritual pathway for deepening the believer’s relationship with God. The stronger one’s awareness (ma‘rifah) of Allah, the more refined the quality of one’s worship becomes. Moreover, reflecting upon these verses enables members to internalize and embody the Divine attributes by memorizing, contemplating, and practicing them in daily life [26].

At the beginning of each week, facilitators initiate the discussion by distributing a learning menu within the group. This menu serves as a structured guide, outlining the verses or surahs to be contemplated and the objectives for reflection. Once distributed, participants are encouraged to begin discussions in the Telegram group by sharing their Qur’an journaling entries, posing questions, commenting on peers’ reflections, and exchanging study resources to enrich their collective understanding. These discussions typically span from Monday through Saturday, marking the deadline for members to submit their weekly tadabbur contributions before transitioning to a new topic the following week [26].

Based on the tadabbur guidelines provided by the community, which are structured in the form of a learning menu (see Picture 3), participants record their understandings and reflections on Qur’anic verses individually in notebooks or journals. This activity is what is referred to as Qur’an journaling. The following are representative examples of Qur’an journaling entries shared within the Learning Community Telegram group. The examples were selected across different activity periods, surah topics, and authorship (involving both community members and facilitators). This selection aims to illustrate the diverse forms of Qur’an journaling practiced within the Indonesian Qur’an Journal Community.

Picture 4 illustrates a Qur’an journaling entry on Surah At-Tīn authored by one of the community members. The journaling process began with transcribing the verses and translations of Surah At-Tīn (verses 1–8). This was followed by an exploration of the surah’s characteristics, thematic messages, and practical benefits. Each verse was examined using concise tafsir references and lexical explanations. The final stage involved writing a personal reflection on the meaning of the surah, informed by the participant’s lived experience as a recent convert (Muallaf).

Through this reflective process, she expressed how studying these verses helped her overcome feelings of physical insecurity while realizing the extraordinary blessings of faith (īmān) and Islam. She emphasized that every act of goodness will never be futile, but rather constitutes valuable provision for the Day of Resurrection. This transformative experience is captured in her testimony:

“This surah helped me realize that I should no longer feel insecure about my physical appearance. The blessing of faith and Islam is truly extraordinary as spiritual capital. It assures me that every good deed I perform will not be wasted—unlike the good deeds of those who do not yet believe. If I may share, alhamdulillāh, I declared my shahāda on January 6, 2024. Thank You, O Allah, the Most Kind, for guiding me and strengthening my heart to embrace Islam. The blessing of faith, physical perfection, and the potential You have granted me are indeed provisions for preparing the best deeds that I will present before You on the Day of Resurrection.” [27]

Picture 5 presents a Qur’an journaling entry on Surah Al-A‘rāf (verse 189) authored by one of the community facilitators. The process began with transcribing the verse and its translation, followed by explanatory notes derived from Tafsīr Ibn Kathīr and the lectures of Ustadz Adi Hidayat. The facilitator then listed key vocabulary, composed a personal supplication, and concluded with a reflective commentary. In her reflection, the facilitator described how this verse served as a spiritual remedy during her pregnancy, reminding her not to succumb to excessive complaints amid the physical and emotional challenges of the experience. Instead, she found guidance to approach this period with supplications and remembrance of Allah (dhikr), seeking righteous offspring rather than focusing on discomfort. Her testimony illustrates this transformation:

“During this tadabbur session, I truly felt that the Qur’an serves as the most powerful source of healing and strength. I was guided to keep praying, to ask Allah without hesitation. This verse reminded me of the essence of marriage and companionship, as well as the wisdom found in the story of Prophet Adam and Hawa, teaching us to strengthen and comfort one another while drawing closer to Allah. I was encouraged to pray consistently for righteous children. It reshaped my mindset: pregnancy is a beautiful gift and blessing, and although it inevitably entails challenging phases, I learned to accept the discomforts with sincerity and focus on more uplifting aspects. As a result, my days during pregnancy have become easier to endure. Alhamdulillāh, through this tadabbur and Qur’an journaling activity, I personally experienced how powerful the Qur’an is as a source of healing (shifā’).” [28].

Within this virtual community, there are no rigid regulations regarding the format or media to be used in Qur’an journaling. Participants are given full freedom to select their preferred type of notebook, visual decorations, calligraphic styles, or symbolic elements, as well as the number of pages devoted to a single entry. What is emphasized instead is the extraction of meaningful messages from the verses under contemplation, along with the articulation of personal reflections that can be practically applied in daily life [29].

In general, Qur’an journaling within this virtual community consists of three essential components typically recorded on journal pages:

a. Transcription of the Qur’anic verse(s) along with their translation.

b. Explanations of the verse(s) based on selected tafsir references, guided by the learning menu provided by the community.

c. Personal reflection, which includes the participant’s thoughts and emotions in response to the verse(s), as well as an action plan for applying the lessons in real life.

Additionally, some participants enrich their entries with personal supplications inspired by their reflections on the Qur’anic verses [29].

To explore the dynamics of understanding and internalization tadabbur al-Qur’an through the practice of Qur’an journaling in the Indonesian Qur’an Journal Community, the findings were analyzed using Wolfgang Iser’s reception theory. In Iser’s view, the reading process is an active process, in which readers do not simply accept ready-made meanings, but also shape them creatively through interpretation and emotional involvement. The main focus of this reception theory is the reader as the subject of reception [31]. Iser introduced the concepts of the implied reader and gaps [32]. The implied reader is a reader figure assumed in the text structure and presented implicitly by the narrative and language in the text itself. Meanwhile, gaps are empty spaces in the text that require the reader's involvement to fill them based on their knowledge, reflection, and personal experience [33]. This theoretical framework emphasizes the active role of the reader in constructing meaning, whereby meaning does not reside solely in the text but emerges through the interaction between text and reader [30][14]. Within the framework of Qur’an journaling, community members may thus be positioned as implied readers: they engage actively by reading the Qur’an, interpreting its content, contemplating its messages, recording their reflections in journals, and implementing the Qur’anic values in their daily lives.

Tadabbur al-Qur’an is fundamentally a process of contemplating, pondering, and internalizing the meaning of Qur’anic verses, which often contain multiple layers of significance, implicit messages, and narratives that invite readers to engage in reflection and connection with the text [34][1]. This aligns with Iser’s notion of “gaps” within texts, which are intentionally left open for readers to fill with their reflections, interpretations, and personal experiences. Within Qur’an journaling, this dynamic is evident in the way participants integrate their personal experiences with Qur’anic messages, situating the meanings within their own life contexts and perspectives.

Iser further identifies two primary roles of the reader: as textual structure and as structure act [31]. As textual structure, the reader engages with the linguistic and semantic aspects of the text as composed by the author [35]. In Qur’an journaling, this corresponds to the activity of examining Qur’anic verses with reference to tafsir sources. The second role, structure act, refers to the reader’s active response—transforming textual meaning into lived experience [35]. Within the community, journaling participants extend beyond cognitive comprehension to personal reflection recorded in journals, followed by the implementation of Qur’anic values in daily practice.

For instance, in journaling Surah At-Tīn as show in figure 4, a community member engaged not only with the text’s general discussion on the dignity of humankind as God’s most perfected creation [36]. Human have a body that is balanced and harmoniously arranged to other creatures on earth. However, despite this perfection, humans can also fall to the lowest level if they are ungrateful and deny the Day of Resurrection. An exception is made for those who believe and do good deeds, who will receive rewards from Allah Swt [37]. When doing this, Qur’an journaling regarding the At-Tin surah, the members of the community understand that the At-Tin surah is not only about the creation of humans as the best creatures on earth as explained previously, but also with its personal relevance as a muallaf. Her reflection emphasized gratitude for the blessing of faith and a newfound confidence in her physical being, illustrating how the interpretive gap between text and lived experience was bridged, resulting in motivation for self-transformation and concrete actions.

Judging from how the participants responded, Qur’an journaling regarding the verses of the Qur’an demonstrates a form of contmeplation that includes reflective understanding. This means that the participants do not just stop at the activity of understanding the meaning of the text, but also reflectively engage in contemplation or reflection linked to personal experiences so that lessons can be learned for his life [38]. Similarly, reflections on Surah Al-A‘rāf (verse 189) as show in figure 5 illustrate this dynamic. The verse broadly addresses human origins from a single soul—Adam and Hawa—as well as the stages of pregnancy, from light to increasingly heavy burdens [37]. A facilitator reflected on this verse within the context of her own pregnancy. The text strengthened her mindset that pregnancy is both a blessing and a trial. By internalizing this perspective, she approached the challenges of pregnancy with greater sincerity, shifting her focus toward dhikr and supplications for righteous offspring rather than frequent complaints. Thus, the Qur'anic verse, which originally describes the process of pregnancy and the origin of human creation, takes on a broader meaning when applied in the context of personal life. In this case, the Qur'anic verse is interpreted reflectively by readers who are undergoing pregnancy, thereby fostering a more accepting attitude towards their role as wives and mothers who must go through a difficult phase of life.

These examples demonstrate that Qur’an journaling fosters a reflective mode of tadabbur, in which participants do not merely analyze textual meaning but also engage in self-reflection that integrates personal experiences into their interpretive process [40]. Members of the Indonesian Qur’an Journal Community thus exemplify Iser’s implied readers, who actively fill textual gaps with reflections shaped by their contexts, experiences, and knowledge. This process not only illustrates a dialogical interaction between text and reader but also produces transformative outcomes, as Qur’anic understanding becomes internalized and actualized in daily life. The process of tadabbur al-Qur'an carried out through journaling implies that the content of the Qur'anic verses is not only understood textually, but also through reflective contemplation based on the personal experiences of the reader. Through personal reflection relevant to the context of life, readers are able to understand the message of the verses more deeply so that they can derive spiritual or moral messages from the verses being studied. The practice of Qur'an journaling in the digital space can enrich the study of the Qur'an and expand the dimensions of the values of the Qur'an in the digital religious ecosystem.