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🇮🇩 Indonesia /Culture & Society

Mosque youth groups grow quieter as Islamic teaching shifts to social media, Jakarta lecturer says

From Republika · () Indonesian

Translated from Indonesian and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

News Named sources Context piece
  • Rubiyanah, a lecturer at UIN Syarif Hidayatullah Jakarta, says regular participation by young people in mosque religious activities is declining.
  • She attributes the shift partly to new media, where young people find preachers and study groups outside traditional mosque settings.
  • Speakers at UIN Jakarta’s Academy Day discussed how Islamic communication and broadcasting programs should adapt to digital media while preserving scholarly quality and religious authority.

It is becoming harder to find young people regularly studying religion in mosques and listening to preachers or Islamic scholars with recognized academic authority, according to Rubiyanah, a lecturer at UIN Syarif Hidayatullah Jakarta.

She said young Indonesians increasingly encounter religious material through social-media preachers and study groups that form in digital spaces. Traditional settings such as mosques and religious study assemblies no longer hold the same central place in religious learning.

I have not come across mosque youth groups anymore, where they listen to preaching in a mosque from a preacher or scholar who may have strong scholarly authority.

· RubiyanahDescribing the decline of mosque-based religious learning among young people.

“Perhaps you could count them, or maybe there are no mosque youth groups left nowadays,” Rubiyanah said. “They probably learn from preachers on social media, or from their own halaqah groups that also emerge online.” She described the change as a shift in the way religious communication takes place, one that requires a serious response.

Perhaps you could count them, or maybe there are no mosque youth groups left nowadays. They probably learn from preachers on social media, or from their own halaqah groups that also emerge online.

· RubiyanahExplaining how digital platforms have changed young people’s access to religious teaching.

Rubiyanah said the trend presents both a challenge and an opportunity for Islamic Communication and Broadcasting studies. Models of religious outreach, she argued, need to adapt to the logic of new media without abandoning scholarly standards or the authority of religious sources.

She made the remarks during Academy Day at UIN Jakarta’s Faculty of Da’wah and Communication Sciences, which focused on the position and strengths of master’s and doctoral programs in Islamic Communication and Broadcasting. The event also addressed academic development, research, teaching and the field’s relevance to the communications industry and digital media transformation.

How do we respond to models like these in relation to the logic of new media?

· RubiyanahCalling for Islamic outreach models to adapt to digital communication.

Faculty dean Prof. Gun Gun Heryanto said the graduate programs must strengthen their academic identity, research output and relevance to public needs and the communications industry. The event also featured Prof. Andi Faisal Bakti, a communications professor and chair of UIN Jakarta’s senate.

Master’s and doctoral programs must continue strengthening academic quality, research productivity and their relevance to public needs and developments in the communications industry.

· Gun Gun HeryantoOutlining priorities for UIN Jakarta’s graduate programs.
About this summary

Originally published by Republika in Indonesian. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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