Tadabbur Al-Quran oleh Pempengaruh Digital: Autoriti Ilmu, Peluang Dakwah dan Risiko Tafsir Bebas

(Quranic Tadabbur by Digital Influencers: Religious Authority, Da’wah Opportunities and the Risk of Unauthorised Exegesis)

Abstract

The expansion of social media has widened public access to Quranic content while simultaneously blurring the boundary between tadabbur, understood as reflection guided by sound meaning, and tafsir, understood as scholarly explanation requiring specific qualifications. Existing digital religion scholarship has extensively discussed changing religious authority and the rise of religious influencers, yet limited attention has been given to the interaction between platform logic, scholarly authority, and the risk of unauthorised exegesis in Quranic tadabbur content, particularly in Malaysia. This article aims to distinguish tadabbur from tafsir, analyse the construction of digital religious authority, identify the risks of unauthorised exegesis, and develop a conceptual framework for responsible Quranic communication. The study employs an integrative literature review and conceptual analysis of 25 core sources comprising works on Quranic sciences, digital religion theory, peer-reviewed studies, and institutional documents. The materials were examined thematically through open coding, thematic clustering, and cross-source comparison. Five findings emerged: social media expands da‘wah while encouraging semantic compression; religious authority is increasingly shaped by relational proximity, visual presentation, and algorithmic visibility; the tadabbur–tafsir boundary is easily crossed through definitive claims about divine meaning; audience literacy functions as a critical safeguard; and multi-stakeholder governance is required. Based on these findings, the article introduces the Authoritative Digital Tadabbur Framework, comprising communicator authority, source integrity, clarity of the tadabbur–tafsir boundary, management of platform logic, and audience literacy. The framework extends digital religion scholarship and offers a practical foundation for religious authorities, educational institutions, regulators, and content creators.