1. In your work, you frequently refer to the concept of the “digital ummah.” What exactly is the digital ummah?
The term ummah means the community of Muslims worldwide. Muslims are geographically dispersed across countries as diverse as Indonesia, Turkey, Egypt, and India, with different cultures, traditions, and ways of life, yet they are united by the common notion of the ummah, the community of Muslim believers.
The virtual ummah takes this notion into a different space because now we are not talking about the offline world but the online one. We are talking about cyberspace, where Muslims can communicate, interact, and talk to each other across distances, just as we are doing in this interview.
In this sense, the digital ummah shares many characteristics with the real-world ummah, but it also has new characteristics, such as the ability to exist in cyberspace and overcome the boundaries of geography and distance.
2. What should be done to construct the idea of the digital ummah in a way that is free from Islamophobic perspectives?
Islamophobia, which is defined as the irrational and exaggerated fear of Islam and Muslims, unfortunately exists both in the real world and online. But the internet and digital spaces can act as a double-edged sword. They can provide platforms for Islamophobic rhetoric, but they can also create spaces to counter it.
Digital platforms give young Muslims the opportunity to express their views, ideas, and beliefs and to challenge Islamophobic narratives. There have been many successful campaigns involving Muslim youth in the United States, Europe, and other parts of the world where technologically active young people have used platforms like Facebook, X, blogs, and YouTube to share their own content and fight Islamophobia.
3. In one of your articles, you discuss the question of “who speaks for Islam.” How can misinformation in the digital sphere be addressed?
The virtual space brings many advantages, but it also has disadvantages. One of them is information overload, and what we can call information contamination, misinformation, and disinformation. You cannot simply believe everything you see or read on social media.
Because social media often functions as a form of citizen journalism, where ordinary people share and post information, there is always the risk of misinformation. This raises the question of authority: who speaks for Islam?
The internet has created a situation where many different people speak about Islam. Some have proper training and knowledge, while others do not. This makes it difficult for audiences to know what to believe. That is why users need media literacy as well as Islamic literacy so that they can evaluate what they encounter online and avoid being misled by inaccurate information.
4. Access to Islamic sources is now available to everyone online. Does this transform the Islamic scholarly tradition?
Yes, and it is closely related to the previous issue. Today, many different voices present themselves online as scholars of Islam. I often say in my lectures that I am not a scholar of Islamic studies but a scholar of media and communication. If someone wants a religious opinion, they should consult those who have proper training in Islamic knowledge.
Unfortunately, not everyone makes this distinction. Sometimes people with no training in Islamic scholarship quote Qur’anic verses or hadith online, which can create confusion and spread misinformation.
If people do not have digital literacy, media literacy, and Islamic literacy together, they become vulnerable to misinformation. This is especially true for young people who spend many hours online but may not yet have the necessary knowledge to critically evaluate what they see.
5. Does the digital sphere bring Muslims closer together, or does it deepen internal divisions?
I think the answer is both. In some cases, the internet can deepen divisions and differences, as people use digital platforms to reinforce their own viewpoints. But in other cases, Muslims come together collectively around certain issues, such as supporting Palestine or advocating for human rights.
The internet is ultimately just a tool. It depends on how it is used. It can create more unity within the Muslim ummah, but it can also lead to more polarization.
In our book Islam.com: Contemporary Islamic Discourses in Cyberspace, we found that the internet often fails to create the middle ground of rational and constructive dialogue. Instead, interactions often move toward either complete agreement among like-minded groups or intense conflict and hostility between opposing views.
I like you, and therefore I share your posts, like your posts, retweet them, and support you online. It becomes an emotional expression of support. Or the exact opposite happens: I do not like your ideas, I disagree with you, and it becomes a shouting match and a boxing match online. People use their social media platforms to attack others, distort their image, and portray them in negative ways. But the middle ground of healthy, rational, and critical dialogue and deliberation- which should ideally exist- is unfortunately often absent.
6. Do you think this situation will change?
It will continue unless we do something about it. The internet is a tool that brings both opportunities and challenges. Addressing problems such as misinformation, Islamophobia, and polarization requires coordinated efforts.
Scholars, educators, media professionals, and digital experts need to work together to create alternative platforms that educate the public and especially Muslim youth about the dangers of misinformation and how to respond to them constructively.
This will not happen overnight, but it is important to begin now. With the rise of artificial intelligence, distinguishing between real and fabricated content is becoming increasingly difficult, which makes the need for media literacy even more urgent.
7. In light of recent developments in Gaza, do you see any shift in how Western media frames the Middle East?
I do not see any significant change in the way Western media are handling or talking about the Middle East. The significant change has been happening in the social media sphere, not in the mainstream Western media sphere. Mainstream Western media are still not presenting a very equitable or balanced view of what is happening in Gaza, and they are not giving enough space and time to the Palestinian story, the Palestinian narrative, or Palestinian voices.
The change is actually happening in two different realms: in social media and in real life on the streets. Over the last two years, for example, we have seen many protests on university campuses, with young people going out into the streets and developing a growing awareness about the Palestinian people. We have also seen a lot of that happening online, on social media platforms. People are saying: wait a minute, we have been seeing these videos coming out of Gaza, and as they say, seeing is believing. People feel that they cannot deny what they see with their own eyes. They have seen the footage and what is happening on the ground.
This has created a new wave of awareness—both public awareness and global awareness—about Gaza and the Palestinian cause more broadly, which was not there before. One reason for this is that in many parts of the world, Palestine is not part of the educational curriculum. People do not study it in school and do not discuss it in the classroom. In addition, mainstream Western media have not been helping. To a large degree, they have been part of the problem rather than part of the solution when it comes to understanding Palestinian suffering and the Palestinian cause over many years.
Therefore, I do not see a major change in mainstream Western media. Rather, I see the change taking place in social media, which is largely used by young people who are very technologically active and who have been using these platforms extensively to share stories of the everyday lives, suffering, and resilience of the Palestinian people. We also see this change happening on the ground, with protests on university campuses in the United States, Canada, and Europe, as well as large demonstrations in many cities around the world. That is where the change is happening, and I think this is where it will continue to develop—in the virtual space and on the ground. I hope that at some point, mainstream Western media will also exhibit some kind of change.
