Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) have a strategic role in driving local economic growth and increasing the competitiveness of the informal sector. This study aims to analyze the digital marketing communication strategy implemented by SMEs Bubur Ayam Bang One in Medan Johor in increasing customer engagement during 2024. This study uses a qualitative approach with a case study method. Data were collected through in-depth interviews with owners, sellers, and customers, as well as observations of digital content activities uploaded through various social media platforms. The results of the study show that the use of digital platforms such as TikTok, Instagram, WhatsApp, and food delivery services can expand market reach and increase customer interaction. The main strategies implemented include collaboration with local influencers, utilizing viral trends, and compiling emotionally attractive visual content. Supporting factors include customer enthusiasm and TikTok usage trends, while obstacles faced include limited promotional budgets and high business competition. This study recommends that SMEs optimize creative content and strengthen digital community engagement as part of a long-term strategy to maintain customer loyalty and increase business desire.

This study aims to analyze the communication strategies used by migrant students in dealing with culture shock in Medan City. The method used is descriptive qualitative with data collection techniques through in-depth interviews, observation, and documentation. The informants consisted of five students from various regions in Sumatra who were studying at UINSU and UMSU. The results of the study showed that the communication style of Medan people is loud, expressive, and direct triggers culture shock. To overcome this, students apply accommodative communication strategies, are active in campus social activities, build social support networks, and utilize social media as a means of adaptation. Environmental support and mental readiness play an important role in the adjustment process. These findings are relevant to the Communication Accommodation Theory and intercultural communication, and recommend the need for a cultural adaptation assistance program for migrant students in the campus environment.

This study aims to analyze netizens' responses to hate speech in the comments column of Gibran Rakabuming's Instagram account, Vice President of the Republic of Indonesia for the 2024–2029 period. The study used a content analysis method with a descriptive qualitative approach. Data were obtained from netizens' comments on Gibran's uploads from March to April 2025. The results of the study showed various types of hate speech, such as those motivated by politics, physical, psychological, racism, and age. The dominant forms of speech include insults, provocation, and blasphemy. Netizens' responses were divided into two: supporting and rejecting. Supporting responses appeared in the form of justification or sarcasm, while rejecting responses showed awareness of digital ethics and an invitation to respect each other. This study highlights the polarization of opinion in the digital space as well as the importance of digital literacy, social media ethics, and content moderation regulations to create healthy public communication.

Rising tuition costs and unequal access to higher education have prompted Indonesian universities to explore Zakat-based funding models to support needy students. In contrast, the use of Zakat on income ( Zakatu kasbil 'amal) and the Fisabilillah category for scholarships has been increasingly practiced; their implementation remains shaped by theological debates and institutional innovations. This study examines how universities integrate fatwa-driven legitimacy with Zakat governance to mobilize Zakat and expand student support systems. This study combines a systematic literature review with an exploratory qualitative approach. Academic publications, Scopus-indexed articles, national regulations, institutional reports, and relevant fatwas were analyzed to examine how theological perspectives and institutional practices interact in mobilizing Zakat for student funding. Evidence from university cases contextualized findings, such as PUSPAS UNAIR, UPZ UIN Sumatera Utara, BAZNAS, and LAZISMU. The findings reveal two applied contributions. First, Zakat on income has been institutionalized by universities through various mechanisms, including establishing Unit Pengumpul Zakat (UPZ), forming private Zakat Institutions or collaborating with BAZNAS and LAZISMU. Supported by Indonesian Ulema Council Fatwa No. 3/2003, these institutional models embed auto-debit payroll systems and structured governance processes, transforming Zakat on income into a sustainable funding source for student scholarships. Second, universities expand the use of the Fisabilillah category as a legitimate asnaf for distributing Zakat-based scholarships. While classical scholars traditionally limit Fisabilillah to battle-related jihad, contemporary fatwas, including Indonesian Ulema Council Fatwa No. 120/1996, Dar al-Ifta Egypt (2007), and Jordan's Fatwa No. 2847 (2013), permit allocating Zakat to education when it serves the collective benefit. Universities operationalize this broader fiqh application through structured programs such as the BAZNAS Scholarship Institute, LAZISMU's scholarship schemes, and university-managed funding initiatives.

This study aimed to evaluate the density, quantity, and size of outdoor tobacco advertisements near schools in Medan City, and to examine their association with students' smoking behavior. A total of 3,820 students from 160 schools in Medan City were included in this cross-sectional study. This study conducted interviews using structured questionnaires and measured coordinates using the GPS Waypoints mobile phone application. Spatial analyses were conducted using QGIS version 3.19 to map the distribution of advertisements within 500- and 1000-meter buffer zones around schools. Behavioral data were analyzed using JASP version 19, employing logistic regression to assess the relationship between advertising exposure and smoking behavior with CI 95%. A total of 437 students (11.4%) reported smoking; most students (81.3%) were exposed to tobacco advertisements near educational institutions, with banners (62.1%) and posters (11.4%) being the most common forms of advertisement. Students were much more likely to smoke when they thought cigarettes were affordable (OR=12.51; CI: 4.87-32.13), socially acceptable (OR=8.49; CI: 3.67-19.63), and influenced by their peers (OR=16.34; CI: 7.48-35.72). Cigarette companies are actively promoting cigarettes using outdoor advertisements in Medan City. Cigarette companies actively promote their products by placing banners and posters around schools within a 500-meter radius. Research has proven a correlation between students' exposure to tobacco advertisements and their smoking behavior.

Though ethics in animal slaughter are still not by the standards, animal slaughter is an essential component of human existence. This study aims to develop the principles of Islamic doctrine in honor of animals that will be slain. Qualitative methodology with a literature study orientation is used in this study. The book of Hadith and the verses of the Quran are used in the study data. By matching Hadith and Qur'anic verses, the data will be examined. The findings demonstrated that the Qur'an and Hadith support respect for animals to be killed. The slaughtered animal has to express thanks by invoking the name of Allah. Then, Islam has rules for humane care of animals. According to ethical principles and animal welfare, Islam develops slaughter policies. Classifications include requirements for animal killing and tool provisions. Through several treatments suggested by Islam, evidence of morality in animal killing is shown so that slaughtered animals are not anxious. Five or more phases in the ritual of animal slaughter are Intentionality as a spiritual component, acknowledgment of Allah's name (Bismillah), Qibla orientation, velocity and precision in killing, and animal welfare.

The aim of this research is to develop a model of interfaith harmonisation from a common spiritual ethics between Islam and Tridharma in the context of Indonesia's multiculturalism. This vision stems from the necessity for setting up a pattern of coexistence that is not just formalistic but ethical and applicable. Being a syncretic tradition based upon Buddhism, Taoism, and Confucianism's teachings, Tridharma provides commonalities such as karuna (compassion), yin-yang (equilibrium), ren (humaneness), and wu wei (spontaneity) whose principles align with those of Islam such as rahmah (deity's compassion), wasathiyyah (moderation), ‘adl (justice), and insaniyah (humanity), all which are convergences for building a common ethical ground. This study employs a qualitative descriptive style grounded in literature study using Miles, Huberman, and Saldana's analysis techniques, for which source triangulation was applied for validating the findings. The findings present six essential ethical principles which constitute an interfaith ethical map between Islam and Tridharma depicted using a concept map in a Venn diagram and these include compassion, equilibrium, spontaneity, humanity, social etiquette, and moral justice. These principles are expressed through a concept-based illustration depicted in a Venn diagram which shows those ethical convergences between these two world traditions. The findings prove that an open and discerning syncretic approach could be a strategic solution for enhancing social solidarity and creating a harmonious religious public sphere in the context of diversity in Indonesia. This ethical convergence model offers practical implications for interfaith education, policy development, and community engagement to strengthen religious coexistence and address social fragmentation in Indonesia.

This article analyses the practice of pilgrimage to the graves of saints in the Indonesian archipelago from a historical-theological perspective, focusing on its enduring connection to animistic traditions. Originating from pre-Islamic customs such as offering food to ancestral spirits, this practice has been adapted into a localised form of Islam that remains controversial from the standpoint of normative Islamic theology. Employing a qualitative descriptive method, supported by an analysis of relevant Qur’anic verses and classical tafsir, this study reveals that saint veneration, supplications at tombs, and ritual offerings often deviate from the principle of tauhid—the oneness of God. To critically assess these practices, the authors propose the Tauhid-Centric Syncretism Critique as a conceptual framework to evaluate the theological legitimacy of localised religious traditions. This article argues for the need to re theologise such practices to prevent the erosion of Islamic monotheism and to promote a religious identity that is both culturally rooted and theologically sound. The research further explores how pilgrimage in the Southeast Asian context often blurs the line between institutional religious systems (or "cult") and personal spirituality. Rather than dismissing the cultural richness of local traditions, the study urges for a critical and theological filtering process to distinguish between permissible cultural expression and syncretistic distortions. In doing so, the article contributes to the discourse on Islam, culture, and theology in the Nusantara by offering a balanced perspective that upholds the integrity of tauhid while acknowledging the complex dynamics of religious acculturation.

This research seeks to examine contraceptive practices through the context of Maqashid al Shariah (the objectives or higher intents of Islamic law) and illustrate the way Islamic principles are incorporated with current contraceptive practices. The need to harmonize religious and medical views in reproductive health policy is the urgency of this research, and this is especially so in the case of Muslims. This descriptive qualitative study uses a literature study and in-depth interviews with reproductive fiqh specialists as its research methods. The study shows that al-'Azl and other contraceptive techniques have existed in Islamic thought since early stage (dating back to the 7th century CE) and are invariably centered upon the protection and preservation of life and family and the maintenance of family unity and bloodlines. These findings authenticate the fact that contraceptive techniques reinforce both the well-being of the self and the community and are also in tandem with Maqashid al-Shariah to secure life and human dignity. This research proposes increasing intercultural and inter-faith dialogue to formulate a relatively comprehensive and ethical contraception policy. Reproductive health requires a comprehensive strategy in the world at large to ensure that the use of contraception is accepted as part and parcel of world ethics deliberations. This research will hopefully play an important role in enhancing the debate across religion and science to bring about more comprehensive and inclusive thinking about contraception with regard to world health policy in general.

This study examines the interpretation of Surah At-Tahrim, verse 9 through a deconstructive lens, addressing the growing prevalence of firm preaching in contemporary Islamic discourse, particularly in selected sermons delivered on YouTube. The core issue lies in the perceived dissonance between traditional Islamic principles of preaching, which emphasise wisdom and compassion, and the rise of more rigid, confrontational da'wah styles that may risk shaping public perceptions of Islam negatively. The study critically explores how classical Qur’anic exegesis, particularly that of Ibn Kathir, conceptualises firmness in preaching and contrasts this with rhetorical strategies observed in modern digital sermons. Using Jacques Derrida’s theory of deconstruction and a thematic interpretive method, this research analyses the content, language, and theological implications of these sermons within the framework of Qur’anic hermeneutics. The findings reveal that while classical exegesis affirms the necessity of firmness in defending Islamic values, it also incorporates principles of contextual wisdom and justice. These elements are not always consistently reflected in certain contemporary preaching approaches. This study contributes to the field of Islamic communication by offering a contextual critique of digital religious expression and proposing a balanced ethical framework for da'wah in pluralistic societies.