Digital Ethnography: Representation of Felix Siauw Hijrah Digitalization (Part 1)

The identity and image he builds, Felix Siauw, belongs to the category of reciprocal figures, which is from the discourse as well as the activities carried out on social media or cyberspace

Hijrah is sometimes characterized as a phenomenon of digitizing religious discourse developed on the internet. Hijrah is sometimes characterized as a phenomenon of digitizing religious discourse developed on the internet. Hijrah in the world as a theological and social phenomenon, indeed, cannot be separated from the background of the concept of hijrah itself. Hijrah is an old discourse historically recorded as an actual event in Islamic literature.

 

Hijrah was interpreted by the Prophet Muhammad to mean traveling from one place to another. The Prophet was instructed to leave Mecca for Medina since Islam was not tolerated there either.

 

The lives of the Prophet and his followers were threatened. So that the hijrah request here is by its meaning in terms of terms, namely moving (Firmansyah, 2021: 10).

 

From these events, it appears that hijrah is an alternative chosen by the Prophet Muhammad after Islam experienced a precarious situation, and hijrah is presumably a solution to the problems encountered by Islam.

 

In the early days of Islam, whose followers were known as assabiqunal awwalun, Islam did not have enough strength and followers to fight. This phenomenon can also be represented as a way of proselytizing by the Prophet for the threats directed at the people of Mecca who rejected Islam.

 

Is this the phenomenon of today? Hijrah is now defined as "Islamic renewal." Those originally from half-and-half Islam enter Islam kaffah (read: whole or perfect). From the quotation of the verse in the Qur'an, Surah al-Baqarah verse 208 is explained.

 

That the narrative "Udkhulu fi as-Silmi Kaaffah" there is often interpreted as entering Islam as a whole. Thus, this verse is often used as an argument to establish and voice the state of unity of Muslims with the khilafah government system or Islamic reform.

 

If we look at the asbabun nuzul (read: the causes of its occurrence), the verse is addressed to the Jews who have just converted to Islam to leave anything related to their former religion and enter Islam as a whole.

 

Hijrah in the current era is also romanticized as a form of return to Islam in its heyday, where Islam is echoed as a source of reference for science, as the inventor of various scientific goods, and as the largest religion in the world with a vast territory.

 

This is illustrated by the phenomenon or discourse of hijrah in cyberspace, which always shows the glory days of Islam and invitations to return to that past glory. When referring to the original meaning of hijrah, of course, this is not a blurring of meaning. However, it is necessary to clarify the concept of hijrah in this social media.

 

Representation of Hijrah Discourse for the Millennial Generation

Through the discourse built on social media, the author uses Felix Siauw's social media account as a representation of da'wah for the millennial generation. By using digital ethnographic analysis, the image, discourse, influence, and reality of the account owner can be found in the social activities carried out.

 

Because this ethnographic analysis focuses on social activities that occur on social media, of course, youth as active users of social media are the object of research in responding to the discourse built on social media.

 

Felix Siauw is a Chinese-Indonesian writer, influencer, and Islamic activist who was born in Palembang on January 31, 1984. He was born into a Catholic family and converted to Islam in 2002 while studying at the Bogor Agricultural Institute.

 

Previously, Felix attended Xaverius 1 Catholic High School in Palembang. His works include "Beyond The Inspiration," "Muhammad Al-Fatih 1453", "How to Master Your Habits," "Udah Putusin Aja," "Yuk Berhijab," "The Chronicles of Ghazi: Rise of The Ottomans," "Khilafah,"  and "Khilafah Remake."

 

Most of his books take the perspective of the Islamic revival period. The millennial generation is often built in cyberspace. This is reflected in the image built by Felix Siau through his Twitter account, @felixsiauw. The account now has 3.3 million followers.

 

The identity and image he builds, Felix Siauw, belongs to the category of reciprocal figures, which is from the discourse as well as the activities carried out on social media or cyberspace in accordance with what is done in the real world.

 

In his Twitter bio, it is written, 'writer, da'wah bearer, together with those who want the revival of Islam, a servant who really hopes to be forgiven by Allah on the day of reckoning.' This is corroborated by his participation in a demonstration with Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia for the revival of Islam, which in this case is the khilafah.

 

His header also shows his works, representing the pro-Khilafah Islamic revival discourse. However, the profile picture on his Twitter account looks like other non-Muslim ethnic Chinese with no kopiah or songkok (skullcap) and does not show he is a preacher. It is different when he gives a lecture or recitation.

 

However, of his 3.3 million followers, from a bit of analysis of the author, it is found that his followers consist of various communities (cross-community). For example, from NU, there are Gus Mus and Habibburahman, some of whom are writers.

 

Those in the ministry who have formerly associated with fundamentalist preachers. And from our analysis, we did not find out who his followers on Twitter consist of. However, we found several fake accounts from a glance at his followers.

 

In conveying his discourse, he has the originality of speech. He shows this by taking lessons from the caliph's story, which is the specialty of his da'wah, to invite a return to the glory of Islam. Although the pro-Khilafah community has explored the discourse on the acknowledgment of Islam before, he presented it in a new way.


#digitalethnography #religous #felixsiauw

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