Qur’anic Interpretation In The Digital Age: Exploring The Role Of Ijtihad On Social Media Platforms

Abstract

This study explores the evolving dynamics of Qur’anic interpretation in the digital era, particularly on social media platforms such as YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram. It investigates how the classical concept of ijtihad is recontextualized in the digital landscape, and how digital tafsir practices reshape traditional patterns of religious authority and audience participation. Employing a qualitative interpretive approach, the study uses Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) based on Norman Fairclough’s three-dimensional model: textual analysis, discursive practice, and social practice. Data were collected through non-participant observation, digital documentation of Qur’anic interpretation content, and semi-structured interviews with digital preachers and followers. The findings reveal five key dimensions of digital tafsir: (1) new typologies of Qur’anic interpretation emphasizing visual, emotional, and motivational formats; (2) shifting authority structures, where metrics such as virality and engagement replace traditional scholarly credentials; (3) the emergence of digital ijtihad, where reinterpretation is driven by social relevance and affective resonance; (4) participatory models of interpretation, where audiences actively shape religious meaning; and (5) global implications of digital tafsir as part of broader trends in digital religion across traditions. This study concludes that tafsir in the digital era is no longer a purely top-down scholarly exercise but a dialogic, decentralized, and affectively driven process shaped by platform logics. The novelty of this research lies in its conceptualization of ijtihad digital and participatory tafsir as frameworks bridging Islamic epistemology with contemporary digital culture. These concepts offer a new theoretical lens for understanding religious transformation in the age of algorithmic mediation and global interconnectivity.