Hadith and Digital Spirituality: Participatory Religious Practices on Indonesian YouTube

Abstract

The expansion of digital media has reshaped the circulation and reception of Islamic knowledge, particularly hadith, within contemporary Muslim societies. This study analyzes how hadith is accessed, interpreted, and embodied on Indonesian YouTube, focusing on processes of moral internalization, the negotiation of religious authority, and the formation of performative spiritual identities. Using digital ethnography, 150 hadith-centered videos were examined and supplemented by semi-structured interviews with 15 active viewers. The findings demonstrate that the condensation of hadith into emotionally resonant moral lessons enhances accessibility, while religious authority becomes a dynamic, co-constructed field involving preachers, content producers, and audiences. User interactions—commenting, sharing, and reflective narration—function as modes of performative spirituality that extend beyond the screen and foster emerging forms of communal ethical life. While the medium risks decontextualization and superficial interpretation, it also provides opportunities for participatory learning, spiritual cultivation, and adaptive meaning-making in a rapidly changing media ecology. This study contributes to digital religion scholarship by illuminating how symbolic authority and religious identity are reconfigured through everyday digital practices in the Indonesian Muslim context.