Reconfiguring Islamic Studies in the Digital Era: Scholarly Authority, Epistemic Validity, Methodological Adaptation, and Digital Ethics

Muhammad Arif Ilham Tuni Al-Qadrie; Asep Rahmatullah

doi:10.67245/nawasena.v1i2.41

Authors

Muhammad Arif Ilham Tuni Al-Qadrie Universitas Islam Internasional Darullughah Wadda’wah, Pasuruan
Asep Rahmatullah Universitas Islam Internasional Darullughah Wadda’wah, Pasuruan

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.67245/nawasena.v1i2.41

Keywords:

Islamic Studies, Digital Transformation, Scholarly Authority, Artificial Intelligence, Digital Ethics

Abstract

Digital transformation has reshaped Islamic Studies not only by expanding access to religious knowledge but also by altering the ways knowledge is produced, validated, interpreted, and disseminated. This study aims to analyze the relationship between Islamic scholarly tradition and technological transformation in the digital era by focusing on four interrelated dimensions: scholarly authority, source validity and verification, methodological adaptation, and digital ethics and literacy. The study employs a qualitative library research design with a critical-conceptual approach. Relevant scholarly literature, primarily published between 2021 and 2026, was selected purposively and analyzed through thematic classification, comparative reading, and conceptual synthesis. The findings show that digital platforms and algorithmic mediation have reconfigured patterns of religious authority by introducing new forms of visibility and legitimacy that may compete with conventional scholarly credentials. At the same time, digital databases, artificial intelligence, and digital humanities offer significant methodological opportunities while creating new challenges concerning source authenticity, contextual accuracy, algorithmic bias, and epistemic accountability. The study argues that Islamic scholarly tradition and digital technology should not be positioned as opposing domains. Instead, responsible Digital Islamic Studies requires competence-based scholarly authority, layered source verification, an appropriate division of epistemic functions between technological tools and human scholars, and critical digital literacy grounded in ethical responsibility. From an integrative-interconnective perspective, technological innovation becomes academically meaningful when it strengthens rather than replaces the methodological and epistemological foundations of Islamic scholarship.

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