Document Type : Research Paper

Author

Assistant Professor of Sociology, Amin Police University

Abstract

The present study aims to identify the experience of Imam Reza's pilgrimage through a phenomenological study. Accordingly, the interview method and participatory observation have been used. A qualitative sampling has been used for Purposive Sampling Strategy. 28 interviews with participants were conducted, in which a relative balance was established in terms of gender and between the native and non-native pilgrims. For the conceptual framework of the study, William James's theory was used to define religious experience and a combination of indigenous theories and models of religious measurement were used to define the basic concept of pilgrimage experience based on three dimensions of thoughts (Beliefs), actions (Behavior), and emotions. Findings of the research revealed a variety of religious experiences in all three dimensions of religious experience. At the same time, there is a difference between the religious experiences of the native and non-native pilgrims in indicators such as belief in holy objects, patterns of time spending in the shrine. But in other elements and components of the pilgrimage experience, the variations between each of the two groups of native and non-native pilgrims were the same.
 

Keywords

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