Digital Islam: new space for authority and religious commodification among Islamic preachers in contemporary Indonesia

The emergence of ‘cyber religion’ in the last three decades extrapolates the spread of religion to digital technology. Islamic transmission is also experiencing a rejuvenation of authority, where the emergence of celebrity preachers with their visualisations has shifted the traditional authority built and produced by traditional ‘ulamā’ and their pesantren from textual transmission to digital media transmission. They also use this momentum to expand their business and to establish their trademark. This article highlights the visualisation of Islamic da’wah using digital media platforms as the new face of ‘Contemporary Indonesian Islam’. By taking the positioning of Islamic preachers from traditional circles, local (kyai kampung), and celebrity preachers, this research focuses on packaging preaching narratives and managing their preaching on digital media platforms. I used two different analyses. First, Shusterman’s analysis explores aesthetic arguments and perceptual persuasion, and Heide A. Campbell analyses the Digital Creatives of Religious Authority (DCRA) from managing preaching content on digital media platforms. This study found that digital media platforms are a new way for Indonesian Muslims to reproduce, consume and reconceptualise religious material. Instead of being an effort to promote Islam, this research argues that digital Islam has transformed from a religious authority to a business authority that enables a new culture with what is called ‘digital Islamisation’. The results of this research have implications for the digital acquisition of Islam as a new way of creating religious authority where the Islamic Market has been coloured by the involvement of business features played by Islamic preachers.