The Articulation of Moderate Islam among Muslim Students

A Case Study in State Islamic University of Malang

DOI

10.2991/assehr.k.220206.048How to use a DOI?

Keywords

Articulation; Moderate Islam; Natural Sciences; Social-Humanity; Religion

Abstract

This article aims to explain the articulation of moderate Islam among Muslim students. This research finds its significance in, on the one hand, the existence of previous studies confirming that a myriad of radicalism and terrorism were conducted by students, while, on the other hand, moderate Islamic behavior is regarded as a good solution for preventing radicalism and terrorism. Three aspects appear to be the focus of this research, namely: first, the conception of moderate Islam; second, the approval and rejection of moderate Islam; and third, the factor of the articulation of moderate Islam. This research takes State Islamic University of Malang, Indonesia, as the primary data source by giving unstructured interviews towards 12 of its students coming from different academic backgrounds (natural sciences, social-humanities, and religious sciences). Meanwhile, secondary sources are collected from either books, articles, or other findings concerning topics related to moderate Islam and the act of radicalism among students. The content analysis and critical hermeneutics are the main analysis tools in this research. This study finds that the articulation of moderate Islam has existed among students. In general, students understand the term “moderate Islam” as “the middle position” of Islam that is articulated with a wide variety of arguments. There is a rejection against this terminology among students of social-humanity (psychology), hence contradicts a common opinion stating that students of social-humanity are more preventable from radicalism and terrorism than those who take natural sciences programs. Furthermore, we will elaborate on five main factors leading to the articulation of moderate Islam among Muslim students: first, whether there is an impact of being a moderate Islamic organization member or not; second, the formal and informal education; third, the heterogeneous or homogeneous residential demography in which students live; fourth, the social media accounts followed, and fifth, the literature they read.

Copyright

© 2022 The Authors. Published by Atlantis Press SARL.

Open Access

This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC license.

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TY  - CONF
AU  - Benny Afwadzi
AU  - Miski Miski
PY  - 2022
DA  - 2022/02/17
TI  - The Articulation of Moderate Islam among Muslim Students
BT  - Proceedings of the International Symposium on Religious Literature and Heritage (ISLAGE 2021)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 363
EP  - 373
SN  - 2352-5398
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/assehr.k.220206.048
DO  - 10.2991/assehr.k.220206.048
ID  - Afwadzi2022
ER  -