The Death of the Da’i: The Autonomization of Religious Messages within Cyberspace
Abstract
This paper attempts to explore the phenomenon of Islamic propagation (dakwah) on the Internet known as "e-dakwah." It problematizes the authority of religious messages within cyberspace vis a vis Internet’s anonymity. This 'cyber ethnographic' research shows that people in cyberscape are concerned more with the messages than their authors. This study confirms the autonomic truth of the messages as it is supported by Imam ‘Alī bin Abī Ṭālib’s popular argument “listen to what has been said, not who has said that." Consequently, the truth and acceptance of it in the dakwah activities or messages within cyberspace does not depend on the preachers (dā‘ī) and their professional capacity and intellectual knowledge, but on the object of dakwah (mad‘ū). This paper proposes the term “The death of the da’i,” which is adapted from Roland Barthes' term “The death of the author” in his image-music-text, to discuss the phenomenon.
References
‘Abd al-‘Azīz, Jum‘ah Amīn. al-Da‘wah: Qawā‘id wa Uṣul. Alexandria: Dār al-Da‘wah, 1999.
Amḥazūn, Muḥammad. Manhaj al-Nabī fī Da‘wah min Khilāl al-Sīrah al-Ṣaḥīḥah. Cairo: Dār al-Salām, 2003.
Ang, Ien. “The Nature of the Audience.” In Questioning the Media, edited by J. Downing et al, 155–165. Newbury Park: Sage Publications Inc, 1990.
An-Nabiry, Fathul Bari. Meniti Jalan Dakwah: Bekal Perjuangan Para Dā‘ī. Jakarta: Amzah, 2008.
Ardani, Moh. Memahami Permasalahan Fikih Dakwah. Mitra Cahaya Utama, 2006.
Ardianto, Elvinaro, and Bambang Q. Anees. Filsafat Ilmu Komunikasi. Bandung: Simbiosa Rekatama Media, 2007.
Arifin, Anwar. Ilmu Komunikasi: Sebuah Pengantar Singkat. Jakarta: Raja Grafindo Persada, 2006.
Bakti, Andi Faisal. Communication and Family Planning in Islam in Indonesia: South Sulawesi Muslim Perceptions of a Global Development Program. Jakarta: INIS, 2004.
Banks, Micheal A. On the Way to the Web: The Secret History of the Internet and Its Founders. United States of America: Apress, 2008.
Baran, Stanley J. Introduction to Mass Communication: Media Literacy and Culture. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2004.
———. Self, Symbols & Society. London: Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, Inc., 1984.
Baran, Stanley J., Jerilyn S. Mclntyre, and Timothy P. Meyer. Self, Symbols and Society: An Introduction to Mass Communication. London: Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, Inc., 1984.
Bittner, John. R. Mass Communication, an Introduction. New Jersey: A Division of Simon & Shuster, Inc., 1986.
Brasher, Brenda E. Give Me That Online. San Fransisco: Jossey-Bass, 2001.
Brewer, John. D. Ethnography. Philadelphia: Open University Press, n.d.
Briggs, Asa, and Peter Burke. A Social History of the Media. New York: Polity Press, 2000.
al-Bukhārī, Abū ‘Abd Allāh Muḥammad ibn Ismā‘īl ibn Ibrāhīm ibn al-Mughīrah ibn Bardizbah al-Ju‘fī. Al-Jāmi‘ Al-Ṣaḥīh Al-Mukhtaṣar. Beirut: Dār Ibnu Kathir, 1978.
Bungin, Burhan. Sosiologi Komunikasi: Teori, Paradigma, dan Diskursus Teknologi Komunikasi di Masyarakat. Jakarta: Kencana Prenada Media Group, 2006.
Campbell, and Hapler. Dimensions in Communication. California: Wadsworth Publishing Company, 1969.
Cavanagh, Allison. “Behavior in Public?: Ethics in Online Ethnography.” Cybersociology 6, no. 2 (1992).
Dawson, Lorne L. “Doing Religion in Cyberspace: The Promise and the Perils.” The Council of Societies for the Study of Religion Bulletin 30, no. 1 (2001): 3–9.
Dawson, Lorne L., and Cowan Douglas E., eds. Religion Online: Finding Faith on the Internet. New York: Routledge, 2004.
DeFleur, Melfin L., and Everette E. Dennis. Understanding Mass Communication. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, n.d.
Effendy, Onong Uchjana. Dinamika Komunikasi. Bandung: Remaja Rosdakarya, 2008.
Eichhorn, Kate. “Sites Unseen: Ethnographic Research in a Textual Community.” International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education 14, no. 4 (July 1, 2001): 565–578. https://doi.org/ 10.1080/09518390110047075.
Einstein, Mara. Brands of Faith: Marketing Religion in a Commercial Age. New York: Routledge, 2008.
Ghalwush, Ahmad Ahmad. al-Da“wah al-Islāmiyyah: Uṣūluhā wa Wasā”iluhā. Cairo: Dār al-Kutub al-Maṣrī, 1987.
Ghazali, M. Bahri. Da’wah Komunikatif: Membangun Kerangka Dasar Ilmu Komunikasi Da’wah. Jakarta: Pedoman Ilmu Jaya, 1997.
Giddens, Anthony. The Consequences of Modernity. California: Standford University Press, 1990.
Hadi, Astar. Matinya Dunia Cyberspace: Kritik Humanis Mark Slouka terhadap Jagat Maya. Yogyakarta: LKiS, 2005.
Hall, Stuart. “Encoding/Decoding.” In Culture, Media, Language, edited by Stuart Hall, et al. New York: Routledge, 1980.
Hasanuddin. Manajemen Dakwah. Ciputat: UIN Jakarta Press, 2005.
Hidayatullah, Syarif, and Zulfikar S. Dharmawan. Islam Virtual: Keberadaan Dunia Islam di Internet. Ciputat: Mifta, 2004.
Hine, Christine. Virtual Ethnography. London, Thousand Oaks & New Delhi: Sage Publications Inc, 2000.
Hovland, Carl I., and Walter Weiss. “The Influence of Source Credibility on Communication Effectiveness.” Public Opinion Quarterly 15, no. 4 (1951): 635–650.
Imawan, Sukidi. Teologi Inklusif Cak Nur. Jakarta: Penerbit Buku Kompas, 2000.
Katz, Elihu, Jay Blumler, and Michael Gurevitc. “Uses of Mass Communication by the Individual.” In Mass Communication Research: Major Issues and Future Directions, edited by W. P. Davidson and F. Yu. New York: Praeger, 1974.
Katz, Elihu, and T. Liebes. “Mutual Aid in the Decoding of Dallas: Preliminary Notes from a Cross-Cultural Study.” In Television in Transition, edited by P. Drummond and R. Paterson. London: BFI Books, 1986.
Kauma, Fuad. Noda-Noda Ulama. Bandung: Remaja Rosdakarya, 2002.
Kumar, Arvind. Encyclopedia of Mass Media and Communication. New Delhi: Anmol Publication PVT. LTD., 1998.
Kuntsman, Adi. “Cyberethnography as Home-Work.” Anthropology Matters 6, no. 2 (2004): 1–10. Accessed January 6, 2019. https://www.anthropologymatters.com/index.php/anth_matters/article/view/97.
Larsen, Elena. “Cyberfaith: How Americans Pursue Religion Online.” In Religion Online: Finding Faith on the Internet, edited by Lorne L. Dawson and Douglas E. Cowan, 17–20. New York: Routledge, 2004.
Maḥmūd, ‘Ali ‘Abdul Ḥalīm. Fiqh al-Da‘wah al-Fardiyyah. Mesir: Dār al-Wafā’, 1992.
Markham, Annette. “Reconsidering Self and Other: The Methods, Politics, and Ethics of Representation in Online Ethnography.” In Handbook of Qualitative Research, edited by N.K. Denzin and Y.S. Lincoln. Thousand Oaks: Sage, 2004.
McQuail, Denis, and Seven Windahl. Communication Models for Study of Mass Communications. New York: Longman, 1993.
Mnookin, Jennifer L. “Virtual(ly) Law: The Emergence of Law in LambdaMOO: Mnookin.” Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication 2, no. 1 (1996). https://onlinelibrary. wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1083-6101.1996.tb00185.x.
Nuruddin. Pengantar Komunikasi Massa. Jakarta: RajaGrafindo Persada, 2007.
Rakhmat, Jalaludin. Metode Penelitian Komunikasi. Bandung: Remaja Rosdakarya, 1989.
Sarbaugh. Intercultural Communication. New Jersey: Haydon Book Company Inc, 1993.
al-Shatiwi, Muḥammad Rajab. al-Da“wah al-Islāmiyyah fī Ḍaw”i al-Kitāb wa al-Sunnah. Cairo: Dār al-Ṭibā‘ah al-Muḥammadiyyah, 1990.
Slouka, Mark. Ruang yang Hilang: Pandangan Humanis tentang Budaya Cyberspace yang Merisaukan. Bandung: Mizan, 1995.
Spradley, James P. The Etnographic Interview. Translated by Misbah Zulfa Elizabeth. Yogyakarta: Tiara Wacana, 2006.
Stephenson, William. The Play Theory of Mass Communication. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1967.
Sukayat. Tata Quantum Dakwah. Jakarta: Rineka Cipta, 2009.
al-Tamīmī, Abdul Wahīd bin Muḥammad bin ‘Abd al-Waḥīd al-Aqdamī. Ghurar al-Ḥikam wa Durar al-Kalim. Maṭba’ah al-‘Irfan, 1931.
Thayer, Lee. Communication and Communication Systems in Organization, Management, and Interpersonal Relations. Homewood, Illinois: Richard D. Irwin, INC., 1968.
Thomson, and Megan M. “Attitudes and Attitude Change: Implications for the OSSIS Speakers Bureau Programme.” In Defence R&D Canada – Toronto, Technical Memorandum DRDC Toronto TM 2003 – 126, 2003.
‘Ulwān, ‘Abdullah Nāṣih. Silsilah Madrasah al-Du’āt. Cairo: Dār al-Salām, 2004.
‘Uwayḍah, Maḥmūd ‘Abd al-Laṭīf. Ḥamlu al-Da’wah al-Islāmiyyah: Wājibāt wa Ṣifāt. Beirut: Dār al-Ummah, 1996.
Vardiansyah, Dani. Pengantar Ilmu Komunikasi. Bogor: Ghalia Indonesia, 2004.
Vivian, John. Teori Komunikasi Massa. Translated by Tri Wibisono B.S. Jakarta: Kencana, 2008.
Whaples, Gene C., and Einar R. Ryden. “Attitude Change: Your Challenge.” Journal of Extension, no. November/December (1975): 12–17. https://joe.org/joe/1975november/1975-6-a2.pdf.
Wittel, Andreas. “Ethnography on the Move: From Field to Net to Internet.” Forum Qualitative Sozialforschung / Forum: Qualitative Social Research 1, no. 1 (January 31, 2000). http://www. qualitative-research.net/index.php/fqs/article/view/1131.
Yaqub, Ali Mustafa. Sejarah dan Metode Dakwah Nabi. Jakarta: Pustaka Firdaus, 2008.
Zaydān, ‘Abdul Karīm. Uṣūl al-Da’wah. Beirut: Muassasah al-Risālah, 2001.
Fulltext PDF downloaded: 302
Copyright (c) 2018 Ulumuna
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
