A NEW ISLAMIC KNOWLEDGE PRODUCTION AND FATWA RULINGS: How Indonesia’s Young Muslim Scholars Interact with Online Sources

Abstract

This study aims to discover Indonesia's young Muslim scholars online acquisition of knowledge and use in fatwa making habits. Using a theoretical lens from knowledge acquisition theory and Islamic sociology, we conducted our study using an interpretive case study. We used the in-depth interview to understand different perspectives of 36 young Muslim scholars on knowledge acquisition and use in their daily fatwa making within a provincial level of Indonesia Ulama Council in Central Sulawesi. The findings show that Indonesia's young Muslim scholars have referred to online knowledge sources in their fatwa making quite frequently. In addition, the young Muslim scholars also construct knowledge from online social network interaction and then use the knowledge for fatwa production. Our study has implications on the simplicity of Islamic knowledge acquisition and fatwa making. Traditional Islamic education institutions and muftis might have been reduced their roles. Further study should focus on how those traditional Islamic education sources have been reduced from young Muslim scholars perspectives.