From Slow Living to Sufism: Reimagining Spirituality in an Age of Acceleration

Zuherni AB (Universitas Islam Negeri Ar-Raniry, Banda Aceh)
Nurlaila (Universitas Islam Negeri Ar-Raniry, Banda Aceh)
Syarifuddin Syarifuddin (Universitas Islam Negeri Ar-Raniry, Banda Aceh)

JROH: Jurnal Obat Hati
Vol. 2 No. 1 (2026)

Contemporary society is increasingly characterized by acceleration in communication, work, consumption, mobility, and digital interaction. Although technological development has expanded human possibilities, it has also intensified temporal pressure, fragmented attention, and the expectation of continuous productivity and availability. Slow living has emerged as a cultural response to this condition, emphasizing intentionality, simplicity, presence, meaningful relationships, and resistance to excessive speed. Yet much of the existing literature approaches slow living as a lifestyle, well-being strategy, or cultural critique without sufficiently exploring its theological and spiritual foundations. At the same time, contemporary scholarship on Sufism has demonstrated the continuing relevance of Islamic mystical traditions to questions of selfhood, well-being, ethics, and modernity, but has paid comparatively limited attention to acceleration as a defining feature of contemporary temporality. This article aims to develop a conceptual dialogue between slow living and Sufi spirituality by asking how classical Sufi concepts can provide a deeper spiritual framework for responding to accelerated modernity. The study employs qualitative library research and critical thematic analysis of scholarship on social acceleration, slow living, Islamic spirituality, contemporary Sufism, and selected classical Sufi concepts. The analysis identifies four interrelated dimensions of Sufi-based slow spirituality: spiritual presence through dhikr and muraqabah; ethical moderation through zuhd and qana'ah; self-regulation through muhasabah and mujahadah al-nafs; and intentional withdrawal through khalwah and 'uzlah. The findings suggest that Sufism does not merely prescribe a slower lifestyle. Rather, it transforms the individual's relationship with time, desire, attention, productivity, and worldly attachment. The article consequently proposes “Sufi-based slow spirituality” as a conceptual framework that moves beyond the secular reduction of slow living to lifestyle management and reinterprets slowness as spiritual reorientation, ethical discipline, and conscious presence before God.