E-Prosiding Persidangan Serantau Manasik Haji 2025 (MANASIK2025)

MANASIK2025 Putrajaya, Malaysia, 7-8 Oktober 2025 660 values of worship. This role requires a balance of technical, educational, and interpersonal skills. The internship experience as a muthawif helps students build such competencies directly in the field. 3. Impact on Professional Competence and Ethical Service According to Amin (2024) and Fallah (2024), internship experiences have a significant impact on strengthening professional competence. Students who participate in internships generally experience improvements in technical skills, spiritual maturity, and decision-making abilities. This is particularly beneficial for students who aspire to become muthawif and tour leaders. Moreover, internship programs help foster ethical awareness in an environment that demands professionalism, patience, and empathy. 4. Challenges as a Medium for Self-Development This program also presents complex challenges while at the same time providing opportunities for personal growth. Suhada (2024) identifies challenges such as language barriers, extreme weather conditions, cultural adaptation, and physiological pressures when guiding pilgrims. These challenges are valuable experiences for building resilience, critical thinking, and a strong sense of responsibility in real-world situations. Overall, the existing literature shows that international internship programs in the context of Hajj and Umrah management provide comprehensive benefits for students. These benefits include strengthening technical skills, interpersonal communication, managerial abilities, as well as instilling deep ethical and spiritual values. METHODOLOGY This research employs a descriptive qualitative approach to explore students’ experiences and the strengthening of their competencies as mutawwif and tour leaders during the internship program in Makkah and Madinah. Data collection was carried out directly from field experiences (primary data) through three main techniques: participatory observation, in-depth interviews, and activity documentation. The internship lasted for three months, from January to March 2025, located around the Nabawi Mosque and the Masjid al-Haram, as well as pilgrimage sites in Makkah and Madinah, Saudi Arabia. The research subjects consisted of three students from the Hajj and Umrah Management Study Program, one student from the Islamic Communication and Broadcasting Study Program who had completed the internship, and fifty umrah pilgrims who were under their guidance. The instruments used for data collection included observation guidelines, interview guidelines, a voice recorder, a digital camera, and field notes. Participatory observation was conducted by directly following students’ activities in guiding umrah rituals, explaining the history of pilgrimage sites, and assisting pilgrims’ needs. In-depth interviews were conducted with students to identify their perceptions of experiences and competency development, as well as with pilgrims to obtain their evaluation of the students’ services. Documentation was obtained through activity photos, work schedules, and students’ daily evaluation reports during the internship. Data analysis was carried out using the interactive model of Miles and Huberman, which includes data reduction, data presentation, and conclusion drawing. The validity of the data was tested using source and method triangulation, as well as member checking with key informants. The results of this analysis were used to draw conclusions about the impact of internship experiences on the improvement of students’ technical competencies (travel management and ritual guidance), spiritual competencies, and interpersonal competencies. Students’ Experience in Umrah Worship Services Based on field observations and documentation, we were involved in the entire series of services provided to Umrah pilgrims. This involvement began with the welcoming process