Celebrity Preachers And Instant Religious Authority: The Epistemological Crisis of Da'wah in the Social Media Era

Anas Baharudin Wahid; Muhamad Arifin Ilham; Umi Latifatul Amanah

doi:10.47766/jcii.v5i2.8324

Celebrity Preachers And Instant Religious Authority: The Epistemological Crisis of Da'wah in the Social Media Era

Anas Baharudin Wahid

Muhamad Arifin Ilham

Umi Latifatul Amanah

Keywords: Religious Authority Celebrity Preacher Digital Da'wah Religious Commodification Epistemic Crisis

The rise of celebrity preachers on Indonesian social media has produced a new and increasingly dominant form of religious authority built on visibility rather than scholarly method. This article argues that this shift constitutes an epistemological crisis in da'wah, in which audience engagement gradually displaces demonstrated command of Islamic textual methods as the operative criterion of religious credibility. Drawing on recent scholarship concerning celebrification, algorithmic curation, fragmentation of authority, and the commercialization of digital da'wah, the article identifies a recurring pattern of instant religious authority characterized by rapid platform ascent, aesthetic self-construction, commercial integration, and fragmented audience loyalty. The analysis further evaluates the argument that social media democratizes religious knowledge, concluding that digital platforms expand religious speech without a corresponding expansion in the community's capacity to verify that speech, producing a decoupling of access from epistemic accountability. The article closes by discussing implications for religious literacy education, the strategic position of established Islamic organizations, and the design responsibilities of digital platforms in shaping how religious truth claims circulate.

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