Digital Post Islamism and the Cognitive Transformation of Islamic Belief: A Comparative Study
Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: The rapid expansion of networked communication has shifted the ways religious communities produce, distribute and consume knowledge. Scholars have argued that digital technologies generate a public sphere in which new voices and forms of authority proliferate. In Muslim societies these changes intersect with a broader historical trend dubbed post Islamism: a transition away from the ideological project of political Islam toward more individualistic, pluralist and democratically oriented expressions of faith. Yet little is known about how digital media co construct this shift and how they influence believers’ cognition of Islam across diverse contexts. This article investigates the phenomenon of digital post Islamism by comparing four regions, Kazakhstan, Iran, Turkey and western Europe, where Islam operates under distinct political, cultural and regulatory frameworks. Drawing on qualitative content analysis of social media posts, podcasts and videos, and on secondary literature in digital religion, media anthropology and sociology of religion, the study charts transformations in religious authority, the pluralisation of Islamic discourse, changes in social practices around gender and personal piety, state attempts to regulate online religion, and cognitive shifts in how individuals interpret Islamic doctrine. The results show that digital media decentralise religious authority, foster ideological pluralism and enable Muslims to curate personalised belief systems. These processes are interpreted through the lenses of post Islamism and networked religion, revealing how the affordances of social media, interactivity, visuality and algorithmic curation, reshape cognitive engagement with Islamic texts and symbols. The article concludes that digital post Islamism represents a paradigmatic evolution of Islam in which theology, ethics and identity are negotiated through multilayered online spaces rather than through singular institutional hierarchies.
Source: Pharos Journal of Theology
Institutions: Al-Farabi Kazakh National University, Ahmet Yesevi University
Language: English
Subfield: Philosophy
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $375
OpenAlex ID: W4415735019