<![CDATA[This study examines Qur’anic recitation practices among pregnant Muslim women through three interrelated dimensions repetition, belief, and emotional regulation and interprets these practices through the perspective of experience-dependent neuroplasticity. Employing a qualitative field-research design, the study was conducted at RSIA Sitti Khadijah I Makassar. Data were collected through observation, in-depth interviews with pregnant and labouring women, healthcare professionals, and spiritual-care personnel, as well as documentation, and were analysed thematically using Living Qur’an and neuroplasticity as complementary analytical perspectives. The findings demonstrate that Qur’anic recitation was not confined to labour; for several participants, it had become a repeated religious practice throughout pregnancy. Repetition fostered familiarity with particular surahs, while beliefs associated with selected recitations generated religious meaning, hope, and positive expectations. During labour, these accumulated experiences were reactivated alongside remembrance of God, prayer, positive affirmations, and reliance on God, primarily supporting the regulation of anxiety and emotional responses rather than consistently reducing physiological pain. Accordingly, neuroplasticity is employed as an explanatory framework for experience-based adaptation rather than as evidence of directly measured neural change.]]>
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