Mass Media and Islamic Religious Propagation (Da’wah) in Kyrgyzstan

Abstract

The contemporary religious calling has gradually adopted technology because the audience it tries to attract is highly preoccupied with technology, which has become an essential facilitator of communication. Muslim preachers have gradually, but successfully, pushed the media to the frontline as an important tool. This paper examines the use of the mass media for da‘wah in Kyrgyzstan. Although the conventional face-to-face interaction is the dominant mode of da‘wah, the Islamic organizations are also aware of the impact of the mass media on ‘evangelism.’ Nonetheless, the financial implications of the broadcast media diverts many da‘wah groups to the print media (i.e. newspaper, magazine, books) and more importantly, the internet. Therefore, we conclude that, although the Kyrgyz mass media is, undoubtedly, perceived as capable of influencing the people’s minds, the desire and expertise for exploiting the broadcast media is not deep among the da‘wah experts in the country. Therefore, we recommended that they make effective use of these media for da‘wah.