The popularity of Islamist movements in Indonesia has increased over the past decade, while government interventions to curb this growth, particularly the 2017 ban on the Islamist group Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia (HTI), have failed to produce the expected effects. At the same time, much of the existing scholarship on Islamist groups has focused on ideology, mobilization strategies, and links to global terrorism and transnational Islamist agenda. Such approaches often portray Islamist actors as inherently radical and inclined toward violence. By contrast, little attention has been paid to the aesthetic strategies through which Islamists render their ideas both accessible and acceptable among diverse audiences. This neglect has limited our understanding of the dynamics and transformation of idea-dissemination strategies developed among Islamist groups to ensure the circulation of their Islamist messages in society, especially in light of government restrictions on their organizational activities. This chapter aims at examining the transformation of dakwah strategies employed by HTI-linked preachers and activists to maintain the circulation of Islamist ideas amidst the legal ban. It uses NUSSA, an Islamic web series for children that premiered on YouTube in November 2018, produced by HTI-linked Muslim animators, as a case study. It particularly explores how the series’ religious messages are linked to Islamist ideology, and how its aesthetic elements have enabled these messages to resonate with a broad audience of Muslims.

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Islamist Disguise After the Ban: An Observation of a Muslim-Kid Animated YouTube Series, NUSSA, in Indonesia

  • Ahmad Nuril Huda

摘要

The popularity of Islamist movements in Indonesia has increased over the past decade, while government interventions to curb this growth, particularly the 2017 ban on the Islamist group Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia (HTI), have failed to produce the expected effects. At the same time, much of the existing scholarship on Islamist groups has focused on ideology, mobilization strategies, and links to global terrorism and transnational Islamist agenda. Such approaches often portray Islamist actors as inherently radical and inclined toward violence. By contrast, little attention has been paid to the aesthetic strategies through which Islamists render their ideas both accessible and acceptable among diverse audiences. This neglect has limited our understanding of the dynamics and transformation of idea-dissemination strategies developed among Islamist groups to ensure the circulation of their Islamist messages in society, especially in light of government restrictions on their organizational activities. This chapter aims at examining the transformation of dakwah strategies employed by HTI-linked preachers and activists to maintain the circulation of Islamist ideas amidst the legal ban. It uses NUSSA, an Islamic web series for children that premiered on YouTube in November 2018, produced by HTI-linked Muslim animators, as a case study. It particularly explores how the series’ religious messages are linked to Islamist ideology, and how its aesthetic elements have enabled these messages to resonate with a broad audience of Muslims.