Darulfunun Institute

Institute for Development, Research and Initiatives (IDRIS)

Tag: social media

  • Social Media, Hijrah Interest, and Religious Transformation among Muslim Communities in Indonesia

    » AL-IMAM: Journal on Islamic Studies, Civilization and Learning Societies

    Social media has become one of the settings in which Indonesian Muslims encounter and engage with discussions of hijrah. Yet frequent contact with religious material online need not be accompanied by corresponding changes in religious practice. This study investigates this issue among Muslim communities in Bengkulu City by focusing on hijrah interest as a possible link between social media use and hijrah behavior. The proposed relationship was examined from the Stimulus-Organism-Response (S-O-R) perspective. A survey was conducted with 259 participants recruited purposively from communities associated with nine grand mosques. The data were processed with PLS-SEM using SmartPLS 3. The measurement assessment produced acceptable reliability and convergent validity for the three constructs. The strongest relationship involving social media use was found for hijrah interest (? = 0.640, t = 16.689, p < 0.001). Hijrah interest, in turn, showed a positive relationship with hijrah behavior (? = 0.484, t = 7.125, p < 0.001). By contrast, the coefficient linking social media use directly to hijrah behavior was negative and statistically nonsignificant (? = -0.131, t = 1.841, p = 0.066). When hijrah interest was positioned between these variables, the indirect coefficient was positive and significant (? = 0.310, t = 6.355, p < 0.001). These results suggest that social media engagement in this sample is related more strongly to the emergence of hijrah interest than directly to reported hijrah behavior. The findings are limited to the observed sample and period of data collection; consequently, they should not be interpreted as demonstrating a causal process.

  • Religious Moderation: Countering Islamophobia Through Social Media Revitalization

    » AL-IMAM: Journal on Islamic Studies, Civilization and Learning Societies

    Islamophobia has recently become more prevalent, both in the West and in Muslim nations. Social media contributes to the dissemination of anti-Islamic material. Religious moderation needs to find a way to moderate arising issues in society to avoid extremism, especially Islamophobia. This essay will look at ways to rejuvenate social media in an effort to combat Islamophobia. Using a qualitative methodology and analytical descriptive approaches, the core reasons for Islamophobia’s growth and the ability of social media to combat it are investigated. According to the study’s findings, Islamophobia is mostly caused by a misunderstanding of Islam and Muslim culture. Social media, when utilized wisely, has the ability to serve as a tool for public education about Islam, recovering its image as a religion of peace and salvation. The strategies that can be implemented include being moderate, critical, and responsive to Islamophobic content and educating about the wise use of social media. Active participation from all elements of society is needed to revitalize the role of social media in countering the negative impacts of Islamophobia and creating a better understanding in the middle of the community.