Reframing Hijrah and Hubbul Wathan Minal Iman: A Mosque-Based Community Service for the Indonesian Diaspora in Tokyo

The growing Indonesian diaspora in Japan continues to face a persistent challenge in preserving its religious identity, national values, and moral character within a highly secular society. This community service addresses this need by clarifying the essence of hijrah, a concept that is commonly reduced to physical relocation or superficial lifestyle change. The activity aimed to reframe hijrah as a continuous spiritual and moral transformation pertinent to diaspora life and to reinforce the value of hubbul wathan minal iman (love of the homeland as part of faith). The partner institution was the Nusantara Akihabara Mosque in Tokyo, with twenty-five members of the Indonesian diaspora as participants. The program employed a da'wah-based approach that integrated a thematic lecture with participatory dialogue, preceded by a communal recitation of Surah Yasin and tahlil. Data were collected through participant observation, field notes, audio and photographic documentation, and participants' contributions to the dialogue, and analyzed using thematic categorization. The results indicate heightened participant awareness that hijrah constitutes a means of mujahadah grounded in firm faith and expressed through self-improvement, family religiosity, and constructive contribution abroad. Participants took an active part in dialogue on maintaining Islamic and national identity. Nevertheless, because it was a single session evaluated qualitatively without pre- and post-activity measurement, the activity captures only shifts in awareness rather than sustained behavioral change, which requires continued follow-up. The activity indicates that mosque-based scholarly engagement is a promising avenue for nurturing a moderate and globally minded diaspora community.