Sacred Pedagogy and Digital Capital: The Circuits of Qur’anic Commodification on Indonesian TikTok

Al Azmi  Tombang; Bima Ardiyansyah

doi:10.66277/jqms.1.2.254

Authors

Al Azmi Tombang UIN Sultan Syarif Kasim Pekanbaru, Riau Author
Bima Ardiyansyah Ez-Zitouna University, Tunis Author

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.66277/jqms.1.2.254

Keywords:

Commodification, Qur’anic Teaching, TikTok, Political Economy of Media, Vincent Mosco

Abstract

Qur’anic teaching on short-form video platforms is often presented as a neutral form of da’wah; however, it operates according to underlying economic logic. This study examines the transformation of Qur’anic instruction on the TikTok account @GuruNgajiQu into a circuit of commodification. Employing a qualitative case-study design, the research analyzes a corpus of 25 video posts alongside FastMoss platform metric data, using Vincent Mosco’s political economy of communication framework. The results reveal that the three content typologies—murattal recitation, tajwid education, and product promotion—form a single continuum of commodification that converts spiritual value into exchange value. The triad of commodified content, audience, and affective labor functions simultaneously, supported by spatialization and structuration processes that generate a self-reproducing circuit based on the audience’s devotional participation. The primary finding confirms that piety is not negated by market logic; rather, it is constructed as an “upstream commodity” that underpins capital accumulation, with the materiality of the mushaf serving as the final commodity that closes the cycle.

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