From Faith, Ritual, and Social Responsibility: Community-Based Public Theology in the Haul Guru Sekumpul
Abstract
This article examines the transformation of ritual piety into public theology through the Haul Guru Sekumpul in South Kalimantan, Indonesia. Employing ethnographic fieldwork combined with a hermeneutical approach, the study interprets religious practices as expressions of lived theology embedded in social life. Data were collected through participant observation, documentation, and in-depth interviews conducted during the 2025 and 2026 commemorations. The findings show that the haul functions not only as a devotional ritual but also as a site of collective ethical formation. Core Islamic values such as compassion, solidarity, and service are enacted through everyday practices, transforming faith from an individual experience into a shared social responsibility. The event also demonstrates a form of community-based moral governance, in which participants collectively organize public order and social welfare without reliance on centralized institutional control. This study contributes to Islamic public theology by showing that community-based religious practices can generate non-institutional moral authority and shape public ethics in socially embedded ways. It offers broader insights into the relationship between religion, society, and the public sphere in contemporary Muslim contexts.
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