MIQOT: Jurnal Ilmu-ilmu Keislaman
Vol 50, No 2 (2026)

CONSTRUCTING THE AUTHENTIC MUSLIM: A Critical Discourse Analysis of Urban Hijrah and Neo-Sufi Narratives

Fahmi Ulum Al Mubarok (Universitas Muhammadiyah Surakarta)
Waston Waston (Universitas Muhammadiyah Surakarta)
Andri Nirwana (Universitas Muhammadiyah Surakarta)
Lutfi Zaki Al Manfaluthi (Kolej Universiti Perguruan Ugama Seri Begawan)
Muhammad Salman Al Farisi (Queen Arwa University)



Article Info

Publish Date
28 Sep 2026

Abstract

The growing mediation of religious life through digital platforms has intensified contestation over how Muslim authenticity, piety, and legitimate religious authority are defined in contemporary urban Indonesia. This study examines how selected Urban Hijrah and Neo-Sufi narratives construct the figure of the “authentic Muslim” and how these constructions shape moral boundaries, authority, and religious subjectivity. Employing a qualitative, exploratory-critical design, the analysis draws on Fairclough’s critical discourse analysis of 48 publicly accessible digital materials, comprising 26 Urban Hijrah and 22 Neo-Sufi items, supplemented by three semi-structured interviews. The findings show that Urban Hijrah narratives more frequently frame religious transformation through moral reorientation, disciplined practice, and publicly recognizable change, whereas Neo-Sufi narratives more often emphasize continuous ethical cultivation, reflexivity, and regulation of the inner self. These tendencies, however, are internally differentiated. Urban Hijrah also contains critiques of superficial piety, while Neo-Sufi discourse can reproduce normative expectations and hierarchical spiritual authority. Religious authenticity therefore emerges not as a fixed property of either formation but as a contested discursive achievement shaped by representation, legitimation, and digital mediation. The findings highlight the need to understand contemporary Muslim subjectivity beyond binary distinctions between formalism and spirituality.

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Journal Info

Abbrev

MIQOT

Publisher

Subject

Religion Arts Humanities

Description

MIQOT: Jurnal Ilmu-Ilmu Keislaman is a peer reviewed academic journal, established in 1976 as part of the State Islamic University of North Sumatra Medan (see: video), dedicated to the publication of scholarly articles in various branches of Islamic Studies, by which exchanges of ideas as research ...