Universitas Islam Negeri Raden Mas Said Surakarta
International Seminar on Sharia, Law and Muslim Society

Distancing without Departing: Sharia Trauma and the Digital Renegotiation of Religiosity among Indonesian Muslim Youth

Date Published : 15 October 2026

Contributors

Muhammad Fadhil Syahridho

Universitas PTIQ Jakarta
Author

Muhammad Ahnaf nabil

Al Azhar University Cairo
Author

Keywords

Religion Distancing Sharia Trauma Indonesian Muslim Youth Digital Religion Maqāṣid al-Sharī'ah

Proceeding

Vol. 1 No. 1 (2026): 3rd International Seminar on Sharia, Law and Muslim Society

Track

General Track

License

Copyright (c) 2026 Muhammad Fadhil Syahridho; Muhammad Ahnaf nabil;

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Abstract

Indonesian social media have become a space where young Muslims recount their religious upbringing, including experiences of fear, shame, and coercion in religious learning. Such accounts are often read as signs of declining piety. This article examines how restrictive religious learning is narrated and contested in Indonesian digital spaces, what forms of religious distancing these narratives express, and how the phenomenon can be evaluated through maqāṣid al-sharīʿah. It employs a descriptive-analytical qualitative design that combines library research, public and official reports, and observation of public content on TikTok, X, Instagram, and YouTube. The article introduces Sharia Trauma as a sociological concept for enduring distress that individuals attribute to the way sharia norms were taught and enforced, rather than to sharia itself. The findings show three interrelated patterns. Restrictive learning is remembered through fear, humiliation, and the closure of questioning. Young Muslims distance themselves selectively from particular authorities, communities, and practices while retaining their Muslim identity. Comment sections become arenas where religious authority is contested and re- anchored. Refining Grace Davie’s notion of believing without belonging, the article describes this pattern as believing with selective belonging, a reflexive shift from inherited to chosen religiosity. A maqāṣid reading shows that fear-based transmission undermines the objectives it claims to serve, particularly the preservation of religion and intellect and the protection of human dignity. The article recommends a compassionate and dialogical religious pedagogy that goes beyond the safeguarding measures recently adopted in Indonesian Islamic education.

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How to Cite

Syahridho, M. F., & nabil, M. A. (2026). Distancing without Departing: Sharia Trauma and the Digital Renegotiation of Religiosity among Indonesian Muslim Youth. International Seminar on Sharia, Law and Muslim Society, 1(1), 105-115. https://conferences.uinsaid.ac.id/ISSLaMS/paper/view/1003