Religious Authority in Social Media: The Influence of Ali Jum`ah's Online Fatwa (b. 1953 AD) and Yusuf al-Qaradawi (b. 1926 AD - d. 2022 AD)
Abstract views: 60
,
PDF downloads: 31
Abstract
The inevitable rise of modernity means that clerics will lose their role and will no longer be autonomous. Nevertheless, as a new way to maintain their position in society and strengthen their authority, it is not uncommon for them (ulama) to use technological advances to record fatwas and advice delivered to the public. This study examines several fundamental issues concerning how Ali Jum`ah and Yusuf al-Qaradhawi build their religious authority through new media, and to what extent new media plays a role in increasing their religious authority. This research found the way the two figures built their religious authority through new media. Ali Jum`ah built his religious authority through new media when he led Dar al-Ifta. He turned Dar al-Ifta into a modern global institution based on new media. Meanwhile, al-Qaradhawi built his religious authority through new media by cooperating with experts and various professionals in the field of media, one of them being through the Qatar-based al-Jazeera TV channel. The power and role of new media utilized by the two figures were able to mobilize an unprecedented number of people, thus strengthening their authority. This research contributes to producing new knowledge about the emergence of Islamic public space through the presence of new media in the Islamic world as an effort to stimulate and expand the movement of ijtihad that is more responsible and more effective in this contemporary era.
Downloads
References
Abdel Fadil, Mona, ‘The Islam‐Online Crisis: A Battle of Wasatiyya vs. Salafi Ideologies?’, CyberOrient, 5.1 (2011), 4–36 (https://doi.org/10.1002/j.cyo2.20110501.0001)
Ansori, Isa, ‘Kedudukan Fatwa di Beberapa Negara Muslim (Malaysia, Brunei Darussalam dan Mesir)’, Analisis: Jurnal Studi Keislaman, 17.1 (2017), 137 <https://doi.org/10.24042/ajsk.v17i1.1790>
Azhari, Musthafa Ridha, Al Mujaddid Dr. Ali Jum`ah : Imamul Muftin Wa
Khaamilu Liwail Muslihin (Qahiroh: Daar Rofi`i Lin Nasyr Wat Tauzi,
Bachar, Shmuel, Rachel Machtiger, and Yair Minzili, ‘Establishment Ulama and Radicalism in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Jordan’, Center on Islam, Democracy, and the Future of the Muslim World,1.4 (2006), 48.
Belhaj, ‘Beyond the Global Mufti: Religious Authority as Political Action’, Religions, 13.2 (2022), 100 <https://doi.org/10.3390/rel13020100>
Brown, Nathan J, ‘Contention in Religion and State in Postrevolutionary Egypt’, Social Research, Vol 79, No. 2, (2012)
Bunt, Gary R, Islam in the Digital Age: E-Jihad, Online Fatwas, and Cyber Islamic Environments, Critical Studies on Islam (London ; Sterling, Va: Pluto Press, 2003)
———, Virtually Islamic, Alih Bahasa Suharsono, Islam Virtual : Menjelajah Islam di Jagad Maya (Yogyakarta: Suluh Press, 2005).
Caeiro, ‘The Power of European Fatwas: The Minority Fiqh Project and The Making of An Islamic Counter Public’, International Journal of Middle East Studies, 42.3 (2010), 435–49 https://doi.org/10.1017/S0020743810000437
Dewan Syariah Pusat PK Sejahtera, Fatwa-Fatwa Dewan Syariah Partai Keadilan Sejahtera (Bandung : Harakatuna Publishing, 2006), 121.
Eickelman, Dale F and Jon W. Anderson, New Media In the Muslim World: The
Emerging Public Sphere (Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 2003)
Graf, Bettina, ‘Media Fatwas, Yusuf Al-Qaradhawi and Media-Mediated Authority in Islam’, ORIENT : German Journal for Politics, Economics, and Culture of the Middle East, I.2010.
———, ‘Sheikh Yūsuf Al-Qaradāwī in Cyberspace’, Die Welt Des Islams, 47.3 (2007), 403–21 https://doi.org/10.1163/157006007783237464
Kiptiyah, Siti Mariatul. 2017. ‘The Celebrity’s Kyai and New Media. ’ Jurnal Masyarakat Dan Budaya 19 (3) (2017) : 339–52. <https://doi.org/10.14203/ jmb.v19i3.495>
Kailani, Najib, and Sunarwoto. ‘Televangelisme Islam dalam Lanskap Otoritas Keagamaan Baru.’ In Ulama Dan Negara Bangsa: Membaca Masa Depan Islam Politik Di Indonesia, edited by Noorhaidi Hasan, 179–206. (Yogyakarta: Pusat Pengkajian Islam, Demokrasi, dan Perdamaian, 2019)
Nakissa, Aria, ‘The Fiqh of Revolution and the Arab Spring: Secondary
Segmentation as a Trend in Islamic Legal Doctrine’, The Muslim World
:3 (2015): 398–421. <https://doi.org/10.1111/muwo.12098>
Negm, Ibrahim, The Epistemology of Excellence: A Journey into the Life and Thoughts of the Grand Mufti of Egypt (Beirut: Inno Vatio Publishing. Ltd, 2012)
Noor, Haula, ‘Dinamika Otoritas Keagamaan Di Indonesia’, Indo-Islamika, Volume 1, Nomor 2, (2012)
Pala, Ozgur and Bulent Aras, ‘Practical Geopolitical Reasoning in the Turkish and
Qatari Foreign Policy on the Arab Spring’, Journal of Balkan and Near
Eastern Studies, (2015). http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/19448953.2015.1063274.
Rusli, ‘Tipologi Fatwa Di Era Modern: Dari Offline Ke Online’, Hunafa: Jurnal Studia Islamika, 8.2 (2011), 269 .
Turner, Bryan S, ‘Religious Authority and the New Media,’Theory, Culture & Society 24, no. 2 (2007): 117–34.
Watson, C. W, ‘A Popular Indonesia Preacher: The Significance of Aa
Gymnastiar, ’ Journal of Islamic Studies 11, no. 4 (2005): 177–210.
Warren, David H, ‘The ʿUlamāʾ and the Arab Uprisings 2011-13: Considering Yusuf al-Qaradawi, the “Global Mufti,” between the Muslim Brotherhood, the Islamic Legal Tradition, and Qatari Foreign Policy’, 2014 https://doi.org/10.13140/RG.2.1.4789.6562
Zulfiqar, Adnan, ‘Revolutionary Islamic Jurisprudence: A Restatement of the Arab Spring’, New York University Journal of International Law and Politics 49 (2017) : 443–97.
Copyright (c) 2024 Ali Fikri, Amin Abdullah , Sunarwoto Sunarwoto
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
Please find the rights and licenses in Al-Tahrir. By submitting the article/manuscript of the article, the author(s) agree with this policy. No specific document sign-off is required.
1. License
The non-commercial use of the article will be governed by the Creative Commons Attribution license as currently displayed on Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
2. Author(s)' Warranties
The author warrants that the article is original, written by stated author(s), has not been published before, contains no unlawful statements, does not infringe the rights of others, is subject to copyright that is vested exclusively in the author and free of any third party rights, and that any necessary written permissions to quote from other sources have been obtained by the author(s).
3. User/Public Rights
Al-Tahrir's spirit is to disseminate articles published are as free as possible. Under the Creative Commons license, Al-Tahrir permits users to copy, distribute, display, and perform the work for non-commercial purposes only. Users will also need to attribute authors and Al-Tahrir on distributing works in the journal and other media of publications. Unless otherwise stated, the authors are public entities as soon as their articles got published.
4. Rights of Authors
Authors retain all their rights to the published works, such as (but not limited to) the following rights;
- Copyright and other proprietary rights relating to the article, such as patent rights,
- The right to use the substance of the article in own future works, including lectures and books,
- The right to reproduce the article for own purposes,
- The right to self-archive the article,
- The right to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the article's published version (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgment of its initial publication in this journal (Al-Tahrir).
5. Co-Authorship
If the article was jointly prepared by more than one author, any authors submitting the manuscript warrants that he/she has been authorized by all co-authors to be agreed on this copyright and license notice (agreement) on their behalf, and agrees to inform his/her co-authors of the terms of this policy. Al-Tahrir will not be held liable for anything that may arise due to the author(s) internal dispute. Al-Tahrir will only communicate with the corresponding author.
6. Royalties
Being an open accessed journal and disseminating articles for free under the Creative Commons license term mentioned, author(s) aware that Al-Tahrir entitles the author(s) to no royalties or other fees.
7. Miscellaneous
Al-Tahrir will publish the article (or have it published) in the journal if the article’s editorial process is successfully completed. Al-Tahrir's editors may modify the article to a style of punctuation, spelling, capitalization, referencing and usage that deems appropriate. The author acknowledges that the article may be published so that it will be publicly accessible and such access will be free of charge for the readers as mentioned in point 3.
