Good evening everyone… Thanks for the time.

I’ll go
straight.

Okay, in this good occassion, I’m going to present my

research proposal. Entitled:

IJTIHAD IN THE WILDERNESS OF CYBER-

RELIGIOUS:
READING THE TRANSFORMATION OF ISLAMIC
AUTHORITY IN INDONESIA.

Why do I choose this topic. We need to consider that we live

in a phase of sustained information and technological
development, which lead us to significant changes of life,
including religiosity.

This digital era increased web literacy and it forms into

Islamic cyberspace activities. As we can see, the pattern of
religiosity in Indonesia, especially in terms of seeking
religious information, or fatwas, has begun to change.

Well, in the past we asked religious advice, or even religious

interpretations from a scholar or individual best qualified (if
not academically qualified) to interpret and provide an
opinion, based on a synthesis of religion sources. But now, we
have a digital intermediary which available for net-literate and
net-enabled religious.

Meanwhile, religious authority is a key driver in cyber-

religious environments.
And the immediacy of the internet media is actually difficult
for religious authorities to control. Because it has
contradiction between authorities and individual believers.
Because in cyber-religious everyone has the freedom to
engage in ijtihad.

As Kort (2005) has observed, Internet users can easily access

Islamic libraries and various information resources. So,
individuals or small groups with technical abilities have
constructed global audiences, for their perspectives on
religions.

The fact, Indonesian statistics illustrate that more than 75

percent of Indonesia's population is connected to the Internet.
And more than 20 million users visit religious (Islamic) sites
per month.
Which indicates that the Indonesian people have entered into
a cyber-religious circle.

And since this country has sovereignty to

regulate the religions of its inhabitants. It
made Islam as an influential religion
because of the majorities. So, thats why i
use Islam for a case study.
For the whole picture, it brings out this research with one big
question:
How does the draw of Indonesian Islamic
authority in this cyber religious era?
>>>>
I was using three literature reviews.
First is Hashtag Islam by Gary Bunt. Its talked about the
diminishing digital divide and growing web literacy, and how
this has changed religious discourse, focusing on Islam.

Second, is a journal by Adam Possamai and Bryan Turner

which specifically discuss about religious authority in cyber
space focused on territoriality.

And the last one, is the book entitled Give Me That Online
Religion written by Brenda Brasher. And… this book
describes the fate of religion in cyberspace using 8 different
case studies in each chapter.

>>>

Theoretical framework

I uses Bunt theory about The Authority Algorithm. As he was

mentioned in his book.
"The authority algorithm continues to evolve in a combination
of divine relations, human programming, and machine-driven
fatwa. A website's encoding will influence how readers search
and locate religious advice and knowledge. "

In this theory, the measure of authority is in the legitimacy of

information. Seeking (religious) advice can now be done
independently.

It doesn't matter who is behind the production of that

information. In essence, the authority algorithm is a fatwa /
idea / thought of anyone who 'masters' cyber-religious (a
figure who is more popular and widely adopted / followed by
internet users).

>>>>>

Method

This study used a quantitative approach which used random

survey data from the community.

And i would like to divide it according to the age / generation.

lets say, generation X,Y,Z.
Because, i was following the theory from Mannheim which
said that “people in this world will influence each other and
form the same character because they pass through the same
socio-historical period.”

Since i believe that internet is a significant invention of the

early 21st, it can be one of the factors which could
determining a person's attitude and thoughts. Because the
internet has penetrated into a person's socio-historical-
cultural.

So, thats why, i divided the data classification according to

generations differences (Gen. XYZ).

>>>
Thats all of my presentation. I welcome you to response, ask,
or comment on it. Thank you.