Capturing Spiritual Experiences of Muslim Youth on Islamic Website with Diary-Interview Method: A Pilot Study

Spiritualism in Islam is related to the relationship of Muslims with Allah through worship. In Islam, youth have a very important role as future leaders. Therefore, various approaches are needed for them, especially from the spiritual side to strengthen their foundation of faith and their awareness of the Oneness of God (Allah) so they do not fall in the wrong direction. Islamic websites are one kind of media that can be used for this purpose. Islamic websites need to facilitate a pleasant and good experience for the youth that can improve their spirituality. This study is a pilot study that explores the spiritual experiences of Muslim youth with the Islamic websites they have visited. Spiritual experience refers to experiences associated with a person's mental and emotional conditions that occur in the context of faith in God and religious practices. To collect and record the spiritual experiences of Muslim youth with an Islamic website, the diary-interview method is applied. This pilot study aims to assess the extent to which the diary-interview method can be used as a data collection method and use the findings to provide some improvements for future research related to the spiritual experience of Muslim youth with Islamic websites. The result shows that the method can capture and collect the spiritual experiences of Muslim youth with an Islamic website. Some important lessons taken from this study are related to the attractiveness of the diary format, sensitiveness of interview questions, consistency, and seriousness of participants and maintenance of communication between researchers and participants.