INTRODUCTION

The dissemination of extreme religious discourse remains a cause for concern among government officials and moderate Muslims in Indonesia. On 3 December 2020, Minister of Religious Affairs Fachrul Razi warned religious teachers across Indonesia that extreme religious ideas could reach students via three “doors”: teachers, the school curriculum, and extracurricular religious activities. He called for teachers to exercise extra vigilance and be more active in guiding students so that they do not fall victim to religious extremists’ agendas via those “doors”. Two weeks later, Central Java Governor Ganjar Pranowo sat with academics and ulama (Islamic religious scholars) to discuss pressing issues facing the nation. Following the meeting, they issued a statement saying that they would jointly fight against “radical contents in social media”.

Muhammad Bukhari Muslim of Syarif Hidayatullah State Islamic University (UIN Jakarta) argues that in comparison to the moderate ulama, Indonesia's conservative figures and groups have the upper hand in promoting their extreme religious views. They appear more convincing and possess better social media skills as compared to the moderate ulama, and therefore, have better access to Muslims who are increasingly turning to social media to study Islam. Alexander Arifianto (2020, p. 11) explains that new information and technologies (such as social media)—which are spurred by various government regimes that had been promoting freedom of expression since 1998—have opened up access for conservative ulama to disseminate their views. These conservative views have challenged and eroded the religious authority of moderate ulama from mainstream Muslim organizations.

The first part of this article looks at non-violent extremism discourses that appear on the social media accounts of the eleven most popular preachers in Indonesia. Social media have increasingly played an important role in shaping people's minds. A 2017 national survey jointly carried out by Pusat Pengkajian Islam dan Masyarakat (PPIM) UIN Syarif Hidayatullah and UNDP Indonesia, shows that social media was the most popular site for university and school students studying Islam, followed by religious texts, television, and offline religious events such as Majelis Taklim (Saputra 2018, p. 31). The survey found that exposure to content on social media boosts religious extremism among students rather than enlightens them.