Reconstructing Digital Da’wah Paradigm: Restoring Da’i Authority Through Islamic Humanism In The Artificial Intelligence Era

Mengembalikan Otoritas Da’i Melalui Humanisme Islam di Era Artificial Intelligence

Abstract

This paper explores the topic of dehumanization of digital da’wah, as well as the shift of religious authority from da’i to algorithms during the Age of Artificial Intelligence (AI). The transition of da’wah practices from conventional religious spaces to the digital world has led to algorithmic authority where visibility, virality, and engagement become more important than any other criterion in terms of religious legitimacy. In this way, the role of da’i as an authoritative spiritual figure is gradually transformed into the position of a content manager. For the purpose of the study, a qualitative research design has been used by applying Critical Discourse Analysis based on Norman Fairclough’s theory. Twenty-three articles from peer-reviewed journals and fifteen articles from NU Online and Republika have been selected and analyzed in this study for the period of 2020-2026. According to the analysis, the discourse of digital da’wah presents AI as an efficient and authoritative assistant; it normalizes the use of algorithms in da’wah practice, and it emphasizes religious popularity rather than sanad and scholarship. This research also reveals that da’wah using AI faces the danger of dehumanizing people since it tends to turn religious communication into mere machine-based dissemination of information without empathy, understanding, and spiritual companionship. The current study presents the “Human-AI Collaborative Da’wah Model” where AI plays a supportive role and the moral supremacy and interpretive power is restored to the da’i.