Digital Islamic Authority, Maqasid al-Shari‘ah, and Contemporary Muslim Publics: A Comparative Analysis of Online Fatwa Institutions in the Gulf Region and Southeast Asia

Abstract

This article examines the transformation of Islamic religious authority within contemporary digital environments through a comparative analysis of online fatwa institutions operating in the Gulf region and Southeast Asia. The study investigates how maqasid al-shari‘ah-oriented reasoning, institutional legitimacy, and digital media infrastructures interact to shape contemporary Islamic interpretive authority. While previous scholarship on digital Islam has emphasized democratization, fragmentation, and algorithmic mediation of religious discourse, limited attention has been given to the comparative institutional mechanisms through which different Muslim societies negotiate the relationship between classical jurisprudential traditions and digitally mediated public religiosity. Drawing upon comparative textual analysis of online fatwa archives, institutional publications, policy reports, and contemporary Islamic studies scholarship, the article demonstrates that digital religious authority is neither simply decentralized nor entirely institutionalized. Rather, it reflects regionally differentiated processes of adaptive Islamic governance shaped by legal traditions, state-religion configurations, media ecologies, and public expectations regarding religious authenticity. The findings reveal that Gulf-based institutions generally prioritize centralized juridical continuity and state-aligned doctrinal stabilization, whereas Southeast Asian institutions more frequently employ contextual maqasid-oriented reasoning emphasizing pluralism, public welfare, and socio-religious accommodation. The article argues that digital Islamic authority should be understood as a dynamic field in which interpretive legitimacy increasingly depends upon institutional transparency, communicative accessibility, and ethical responsiveness to contemporary socio-political concerns. This study contributes to Islamic studies scholarship by integrating Islamic legal theory, digital religious sociology, and comparative institutional analysis into a coherent interdisciplinary framework capable of explaining contemporary transformations in Muslim religious authority.