Silence in the Noise of Power: Psychosocial Violence through Mobbing and Character Assassination and Al-Ghazali's Spiritual Therapy Response

Abstrak

This research examines the phenomenon of psychosocial violence in the form of mobbing and character assassination in modern institutional environments such as campuses, bureaucracies, and religious institutions. This symbolic violence not only impacts the psychological aspects of victims but also erodes the ethical, spiritual, and cultural values of organizations that should uphold integrity. This research uses an integrative approach by combining Western organizational psychology theoriessuch as those of Heinz Leymann and Eric Shiraevwith the Islamic spiritual ethics offered by Imam al-Ghazali. The findings indicate that mobbing practices are a systemic, covert power strategy aimed at excluding individuals with high integrity through symbolic manipulation and structural violence. The resulting impacts include psychological wounds, existential alienation, and a loss of meaning in life that cannot be addressed by conventional formal therapy. In this context, al-Ghazali's Sufism approach, through the concepts of tazkiyatun nafs (self-control), mujāhadah (self-reflection), ṣabr (reflection), dhikr (remembrance of God), and tafakkur (reflection), makes a significant contribution as a form of transformative spiritual therapy. This research presents a conceptual synthesis in the form of a spiritual resilience model, offering a holistic response to symbolic violence in institutional spaces, while also broadening the horizons of psycho-spiritual healing relevant to contemporary challenges.