Haji dan Status Sosial: Studi Tentang Simbol Agama di Kalangan Masyarakat Muslim

Religion as a fact and history has symbolic and sociological dimensions as a structure of abstract realm regardless of space and time. Pilgrimage substantially contains humanity values, such as the doctrines of equality, the necessity to preserve life, property, and honor of others, a ban of oppressing or exploiting the weak people, either economically or others. For example, releasing daily wear and changing it with ihram wear has meaning to erase the social gaps between the rich and the poor. That is the ideal teaching of pilgrimage making one aware that he is a social human. This paper is sociologically intended to see the phenomenon of pilgrimage in the Muslim society of Indonesia, especially in Java. The study showed that the pilgrimage of the majority of Indonesian Muslim is loaded with social attributes. Although the pilgrim is a part of the religion pillars, it has been utilized by the local ruling elite as a political resource or a mean to establish power legitimacy