From External Rules to Inner Compass: Qur’anic Value Internalization through the Tahfidz Program at Madrasah Aliyah

Abstract

Research on Quran memorization and character formation has established that tahfidz programs produce disciplined and religiously observant students, but it has largely reported outcomes without explaining the mechanism by which externally enforced compliance becomes an internally held commitment. This study addresses that gap by examining how Qur’anic values are internalized through the tahfidz program at MA Ar-Riyadh Jenggawah, Jember, and by identifying the conditions under which internalization advances, stalls, or reverses. A qualitative instrumental case study design was employed. Data were collected over eight weeks through participant observation of setoran and muroja’ah sessions, semi-structured interviews with the tahfidz coordinator, three supervising teachers, the head of the madrasah, fourteen students across grades X to XII, and three parents, together with documentary analysis of memorization target cards, mutaba’ah logbooks, and disciplinary records. Data were analysed thematically using the interactive model, with credibility secured through source, technique, and time triangulation, member checking, and an audit trail. The findings yield a four-stage coupling model of internalization: regulated compliance, relational attachment, meaning anchoring, and self-regulation. The decisive finding is that habituation alone sustains behaviour but leaves its anchor outside the student; the transition to an internal anchor occurred only where structured routine was coupled with two further conditions, namely a sustained mentoring relationship and tadabbur-based engagement with meaning. Internalization also proved non-linear: eleven of fourteen students regressed to externally regulated behaviour during examination periods, indicating that the inner compass is a maintained capacity rather than a terminal achievement. The study reframes tahfidz as a coupling pedagogy and offers madrasah practitioners a diagnostic vocabulary for locating where internalization stalls