Asymmetric Istinbāṭ and Platform Performativity: Fatwa Mediatization, Scriptural Compression, and the Paradox of Religious Authority in Indonesia

Imam Bustomi; Wardatul  Baidho’

doi:10.66277/jims.1.2.446

Authors

Imam Bustomi Institut Bahri Asyiq Galis, Bangkalan, East Java Author
Wardatul Baidho’ Universitas Muhammadiyah Surabaya, Surabaya, East Java Author

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.66277/jims.1.2.446

Keywords:

Digital Fatwa, Istinbāṭ, Religious Authority, Social Media Logic, Instagram, al-Irsyad

Abstract

Studies on online fatwas typically examine religious authority through the lens of actors, formats, or audience responses, while the underlying processes of istinbāṭ (legal reasoning) demonstrated within them are seldom analyzed in depth. This qualitative case study and non-participatory netnography investigates fourteen collaborative Instagram posts by @dewanfatwapa and @fatwatv, which include thirteen fatwas issued by Al-Irsyad’s Fatwa Council and 196 follower comments. Grounded in uṣūl al-fiqh (Islamic legal theory) and social media logic, the findings reveal that the presence of naṣṣ (scriptural text) is primarily influenced by the format and type of question posed. Asymmetry emerges in the management of risk within inherently permissible matters (aṣl al-ibāḥah): risks to collective systems are mitigated through takyīf, procedural measures, and positive law, whereas risks to personal choices are heightened through iḥtiyāṭ (legal caution) and sadd al-żarī‘ah (blocking the means). Both approaches obscure the analytical reasoning connecting texts and rulings, leaving to perform this reasoning in the comment sections. Ultimately, the paradoxes of digital fatwa authority reside within the displayed istinbāṭ (legal derivation) mechanisms, rather than solely in the dynamics between scholars and platforms.

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