Transitional Religiosity in Accessing Sources of Islamic Law: Transforming Authority and Practices among Generation-Z Muslims in Austria
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.31958/juris.v25i1.16495Keywords:
Transitional Religiosity, Islamic Law, Transforming Authority, Digital Platforms, Gen-ZAbstract
The global phenomenon of Islamic legal authority transitioning from traditional institutional settings to digital platforms and online media arose in both minority and majority Muslim countries. This study examines how digital culture shapes the religious transition of Generation-Z Muslims in Austria, who hold two identities at once: a religious Muslim identity and a progressive European identity, focusing on their access to Islamic legal sources and the shifting authority from scholarly to media sources. This study aims to identify how digital platforms restructured Islamic legal authority through processes of disintermediation and fragmentation, and how they operate outside conventional scholarly hierarchies. Based on qualitative in-depth interviews with nine Austrian Muslim Gen-Z, who were born in the new millennium and are the first generation to be digital natives, the study demonstrates that transitional religiosity among them which marked with the shift from scholarly to media authority, is due to Islamic law sources more widely spread and scattered across digital media, making them instantly and easily accessible then replaces traditional credentialing. It’s driven by the challenges of practicing and enforcing Islam in a Muslim-minority country that faces significant challenges, including implementing Islamic teachings. This study argues that the shift in access to authority over Islamic legal sources, apparently not indicating a reduction in the development of contemporary Islamic law, rather signals Austrian Muslim society living its religiosity with creativity, activism, and openness. In fact, this reality symbolizes a new typology of access to Islamic law in minority communities as a concept of algorithmic religious authority.References
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Interview List
Interview with Ahmad, an Austrian Muslim Gen-Z, Vienna, Austria, November 2024
Interview with Mahmud, an Austrian Muslim Gen-Z, Vienna, Austria, November 2024
Interview with Fatimah, an Austrian Muslim Gen-Z, Vienna, Austria, November 2024
Interview with Syakur, an Austrian Muslim Gen-Z, Vienna, Austria, November 2024
Interview with Siti, an Austrian Muslim Gen-Z, Vienna, Austria, November 2024
Interview with Zaidan, an Austrian Muslim Gen-Z, Vienna, Austria, November 2024
Interview with Sayyidah, an Islamic School Teacher, Vienna, Austria, November 2024
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