Ahlus Sunnah Views of COVID-19 in Social Media: The Islamic Preaching by Gus Baha and Abdus Somad

Saifuddin Zuhri Qudsy, Achmad Fawaid, Althaf Husein Muzakky

Abstract

The Covid-19 pandemic, which occurred in line with the massive transformation of digital media, was a significant moment that enabled diverse Islamic preachers to use media to advance their own interests. However, little has been discussed regarding the religious responses to the COVID-19 performed by Ahlus Sunnah community members or those who are not inclined to participate in radical activities. By analyzing two important Ahlus Sunnah figures, Gus Baha and Abdus Somad, this article focuses on the group’s COVID-19 views on social media, which represents their motives, perspectives, strategies, and theological views to encourage Muslims to have certain mindsets on the virus. Given that Abdul Somad Official account around $1400- 21,700 per month with 950 thousand subscribers and Gus Baha Official account around $5-75 with 500 thousand subscribers, this article investigates their religious/ theological perspectives on COVID-19 and the extent to which they represent religious moderate viewpoints as the solution of the COVID-19. It argues that their YouTube or Facebook channels have enabled the birth of religious moderate arguments on COVID-19 rooted in the Ahlus Sunnah movement. Unlike well-established scientific perspectives on Covid-19 that spread out through official government channels or television, Gus Baha and Abdus Somad’s viewpoints have been relatively independent from medical networks, but highly dependent on Ahlus Sunnah movements. With a high number of offline and online followers, it demonstrates the potential of their status as religious influencers on COVID-19 based on Ahlus Sunnah viewpoints in Indonesia.

Keywords

Covid-19; Religious Influencer; Gus Baha; Ustadz Abdus Somad

Full Text:

PDF

References

Abidin, Crystal. 2015. “Communicative Intimacies: Influencers and Perceived Interconnectedness.” Ada: A Journal of Gender, New Media, and Technology 8: 1–16. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.7264N3MW2FFG.

———. 2016a. “Aren’t These Just Young, Rich Women Doing Vain Things Online: Influencer Selfies as Subversive Frivolity.” Social Media + Society 2 (2): 1–11. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1177/2056305116641342.

———. 2016b. “Visibility Labour: Engaging with Influencers’ Fashion Brands and OOTD Advertorial Campaigns on Instagram.” Media International Australia 161 (1): 86–100.

Al-Asqalany, Ibn Hajar. 1991. Badzlul Ma’un Fi Fadli Al-Tha’un. Riyadh: Dar al-Ashimah.

Al-Baihaqi, Ahmad Ibn al-Husein. 1994. Sunan Al-Baihaqi Al-Kubra. Makkah: Dār al-Bāz.

Al-Ṭabrāni, Abu al-Qāsim. n.d. Mu’jam Al-Kubra Al-Ṭabrāni. Beirut: Dar al-Fikr al-Islāmi.

Anderson, Joh W., Eickelman, Dale F. 2003. New Media in the Muslim World: The Emerging Public Sphere. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.

Arifin, Ferdi. 2019. “Mubalig Youtube Dan Komodifikasi Konten Dakwah.” Al-Balagh: Jurnal Dakwah Dan Komunikasi 4 (1): 91–120.

Baulch, Emma., Pramiyanti, Alila. 2018. “Hijabers on Instagram: Using Visual Social Media to Construct the Ideal Muslim Woman.” Social Media + Society 4 (4).

Beta, Annisa R. 2014. “Hijabers: How Young Urban Muslim Women Redefine Themselves in Indonesia.” International Communication Gazette 76 (4–5): 377–89.

Bunt, Gary R. 2000. Virtually Islamic: Computer-Mediated Communication and Cyber Islamic Environments. Cardiff: University of Wales Press.

Bustamam, Kamaruzzaman., Ahmad. 2002. Islam Historis: Dinamika Studi Islam Di Indonesia. Yogyakarta: Galang Press.

Campbell. 2012. “Introduction: The Rise of the Study of Digital Religion.” In Digital Religion: Understanding Religious Practice in New Media Worlds, 1–21. New York: Routledge.

Choliq, Abdul. 2018. “Dakwah Melalui Media Sosial Facebook.” Jurnal Dakwah Tabligh 16 (2): 170–87. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.24252/jdt.v16i2.6118.

Christopher, Helland. 2002. “Surfing for Salvation.” Religion 32 (4): 293–302. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1006/reli.2002.0406.

El-Nawawy., Khamis. 2009. Islam Dot Com: Contemporary Islamic Discourses in Cyberspace. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

Fakhruroji, Moch., Muhaemin, Enjang. 2017. “Sikap Akademisi Dakwah Terhadap Internet Sebagai Media Dakwah.” Jurnal Sosioteknologi 16 (1): 82–93. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.5614/sostek.itbj.2017.16.1.7.

Fakhruroji, Moch. 2010. “Dakwah Islam Dan Inovasi Media: Peluang Dan Ancaman Media Global Atas Dakwah Islam.” KOMUNIKA: Jurnal Dakwah Dan Komunikasi 4 (1): 121–29. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.24090/komunika.v4i1.142.

Fitriani, Yuni. 2017. “Analisis Pemanfaatan Berbagai Media Sosial Sebagai Sarana Penyebaran Informasi Bagi Masyarakat.” Paradigma: Jurnal Komputer Dan Informatika 19 (2): 148–52. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.31294/p.v19i2.2120.

Ibn al-Arabi, Abu Bakar. 2008. Ahkam Al-Qur’an. Libanon: Dār al-Kutub al-’Alamiyyah.

Kavacki, Elif., Kraeplin, Camille R. 2017. “Religious Beings in Fashionable Bodies: The Online Identity Construction of Hijabi Social Media Personalities.” Media, Culture & Society2 39 (6): 850–68.

Lewis, Reina. 2015. Muslim Fashion: Contemporary Style Cultures. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.

Marlina, Lina. 2016. “Efektifitas Metode Langsung Dalam Pengajaran Keterampilan Berbicara Bahasa Arab.” At-Tsaqofa: Jurnal Ilmiah Peradaban Islam 13 (02): 211–26. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.15575/al-tsaqafa.v13i02.1973.

Nasution, Harun. 1986. Teologi Islam: Aliran-Aliran Sejarah Analisa Perbandingan. Jakarta: Penerbit Universitas Indonesia.

Nurdin., Ridwan, Muhammad., Fitriningsih. 2020. “Pengaruh Dakwah Di Instagram Terhadap Perilaku Keagamaan Mahasiswa.” Al-Mishbah: Jurnal Ilmu Dakwah Dan Komunikasi 15 (2): 193–220. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.24239/al-mishbah.Vol15.Iss2.163.

Omar, Faradillah Iqmar., Hassan, Nor Azlili., Sallehuddin, Iza Sharina. 2015. “Role of Social Media in Disseminating Dakwah.” In Islamic Perspectives Relating to Business, Arts, Culture and Communication, 43–55. Germany: Springer.

Pennington, Rosemary. 2018. “Social Media as Third Spaces? Exploring Muslim Identity and Connection in Tumblr.” International Communication Gazette 80 (7): 620–36.

Putra, Ali Musri Semjan. 2013. “Pandangan Politik Ahlus Sunnah Terhadap Penguasa.” AL-MAJAALIS 1 (1): 169–98.

Qarni, Waizul., Syahnan, Mhd., Harahap, Isnaini. 2019. “Verbal and Nonverbal Factors Influencing the Success of Da’wah Communication By Ustadz Abdul Somad.” In The Second Annual International Conference on Language and Literature (AICLL). Dubai, UAE: KnE Social Sciences.

Qudsy, Saifuddin Zuhri. 2019. “Pesantren Online: Pergeseran Otoritas Keagamaan Di Dunia Maya.” Living Islam: Journal of Islamic Discourses 2 (2). https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.14421/lijid.v2i2.2010.

Ridho, Miftahur. 2019. “Ustadz Abdul Somad and the Future of Online Da’wa in Indonesia.” Bornero International Journal of Islamic Studies 1 (2): 147–58.

Rofiq, Ahmad Choirul. 2017. “Argumentasi Hasyim Asy’ari Dalam Penetapan Ahlus Sunnah Wal Jama’ah Sebagai Teologi Nahdlatul Ulama.” Kontemplasi: Jurnal Ilmu-Ilmu Ushuluddin 5 (1): 21–48. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.21274/kontem.2017.5.1.21-48.

Sholihah, Nur., Isti’anah, Zahro’ul., Hakamah, Zaenatul. 2019. “Rekonstruksi Konsep I’jaz Al-Qur’an Perspektif Gus Baha’.” QOF 3 (2): 179–93. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.30762/qof.v3i2.1526.

Tenorio, C. B., Jubba, H., Qodir, Z., Hidayati, M. 2019. “Knowledge Production-Consumption: A Comparative of Two Famous Online Preachers in Indonesia and the Philippines.” In The 19th Annual International Conference on Islamic Studies (AICIS), 1–8. Jakarta. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.4108/eai.1-10-2019.2291749.

Uswatun, Hasanah., Usman. 2020. “Karakter Retorika Dakwah Ustaz Abdus Somad (Studi Kajian Pragmatik).” GHANCARAN: Jurnal Pendidikan Bahasa Dan Sastra Indonesia 1 (2): 84–95. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.19105/ghancaran.v1i2.2895.

Waltorp, Karen. 2013. “Public/Private Negotiations in the Media Uses of Young Muslim Women in Copenhagen: Gendered Social Control and the Technology-Enabled Moral Laboratories of a Multicultural City.” International Communication Gazette2 75 (5–6): 555–72.

Watie, Errika Dwi Setya. 2016. “Komunikasi Dan Media Sosial (Communications and Social Media).” The Messenger 3 (2): 69–74. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.26623/themessenger.v3i2.270.

Williams, Patrick J., Kamaludeen, Nasir M. 2017. “Muslim Girl Culture and Social Control in Southeast Asia: Exploring the Hijabista and Hijabster Phenomena.” Crime, Media, Culture: An International Journal 13 (2): 199–216.

Yanuar, Deni. 2020. “Gaya Retorika Dakwah Ustadz Abdul Somad Pada Ceramah Peringatan Maulid Nabi Muhammad SAW Tahun 1440 H Di Mesjid Raya Baiturrahman Banda Aceh.” Al-Bayan: Media Kajian Dan Pengembangan Ilmu Dakwah 25 (2): 354–85.

Zahidi, Salman., Ikmal, Hepi. 2019. “Paham Keagamaan Masyarakat Digital (Kajian Atas Dakwah Ustadz Abdul Somad Perspektif Konstruksi Sosial).” Mediakita: Jurnal Komunikasi Dan Penyiaran Islam 3 (1): 65–80.

Zahra, Ulfa Fauzia., Sarbini, Ahmad., Shodiqin, Asep. 2016. “Media Sosial Instagram Sebagai Media Dakwah.” Tabligh: Jurnal Komunikasi Dan Penyiaran Islam 1 (2): 60–88. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.15575/tabligh.v1i2.26.

Article Metrics

Abstract views: 899 PDF views: 594