Communicative Ethics and the Religious Public Sphere: A Study of the Transformative Da‘wah Practices of Ahmad Zuhdianor

Andri Suryani (Sekolah Tinggi Agama Islam Kuala Kapuas, Kalimantan Tengah, Indonesia)
Masdar Hilmy (UIN Sunan Ampel, Surabaya, Indonesia)

NALAR: Jurnal Peradaban dan Pemikiran Islam
Vol 10 No 1 (2026): Islam in the Contemporary Sphere: Digitalization, Education, and Local Tradition

This study aims to discuss the sociological dimensions of the dawah (Islamic proselytization) thought and practice of KH. Ahmad Zuhdianor (Guru Zuhdi) through the lens of Jürgen Habermas’s Communicative Ethics. As a charismatic religious scholar in South Kalimantan, Guru Zuhdi successfully transformed public morality through a unique and egalitarian communication pattern. Utilizing a qualitative-library research method, this study analyzes his dawah texts and documentations as primary data. The findings indicate that Guru Zuhdi’s dawah fulfills Habermas’s four validity claims (truth, truthfulness, normative correctness, and comprehensibility), which in turn fosters a domination-free 'Religious Public Sphere.' The moral transformation within the congregation is not the result of authoritative indoctrination, but rather the fruit of autonomous awareness born from fluid, humorous, and humble interactions. This study concludes that Guru Zuhdi’s transformative moral education model constitutes a tangible form of communicative action capable of dismantling social and spiritual hierarchies to achieve mutual understanding (consensus) in improving societal character.