Auditorium of Prof. Dr. Suwito, MA SPs UIN Jakarta, SPs NEWS - The Graduate School (SPs) of UIN Syarif Hidayatullah Jakarta held the 2823rd Thesis Exam at the SPs Theater Room of UIN Jakarta on Monday, July 27, 2026 with candidate Muhamad Masrur Irsyadi.

Masrur is a student of the Master of Islamic Studies program with a concentration in Islamic Religious Education. His thesis is entitled "Digital Religion: Contestation of Hadith Studies in Cyberspace on Bincangsyariah.com and Rumaysho.com Websites".

Through this research, Masrur seeks to critically analyze how popular Islamic platforms produce religious knowledge, especially in constructing identity, building authority on the meaning of the sunnah, and determining the position of the hadith ḍa'īf as a legal and practical reference.

Using a descriptive-analytical approach based on qualitative methods, this study examined as many as 71 articles from the two sites. The discourse focused on four crucial issues that often become the source of debate in society, namely the practice of tawasul, the reading of the qunut prayer in the second rak'ah of the dawn prayer, the use of the veil, and the response to the Covid-19 vaccine. This research also strengthens its analysis by combining library research and direct interviews with platform managers.

In his main argument, Masrur asserts that both Bincangsyariah.com and Rumaysho.com actively display the ideological identity they believe in while mainstreaming the authority of the clerics they respect. The process of determining the boundaries of what is categorized as "sunnah" and the extent to which the hadith ḍa'īf can be tolerated as a postulate depends heavily on the construction of identity and authority built by each of the cyber media managers.

The field findings show that there are fundamental differences in the methodology and approach of the two sites. Rumaysho.com mainstream the understanding that the sunnah must always be strictly based on hadith that is proven to be valid. For this platform, the existence of the hadith ḍa'īf can only be accepted as religious evidence when there are other authentic narration lines to strengthen it.

On the other hand, Bincangsyariah.com offer a wider spectrum of meaning. In addition to being based on the history of hadith, sunnah is also understood to be sourced from an in-depth interpretation of the verses of the Qur'an. This platform views that the hadith ḍa'īf still has space as a religious postulate as long as its status is not a false hadith (maudhū') and the substance of its understanding still receives explanation or legitimacy from mu'tabar scholars.

Academically, the findings of this research corroborate previous studies conducted by Boutz et al. (2018), Duderija (2022), and Choironi (2022) regarding the tendency of Islamic media in maintaining group identity and selecting respected scholarly authority. Consistency in presenting religious narratives is an important instrument to maintain a readership base and credibility in cyberspace.

Interestingly, this study also provides criticism of the popular thesis that the existence of the internet gives birth to new authorities that completely oppose traditional non-digital authorities, as initiated by Bunt (2018) and Campbell (2021). Masrur proves that in cyberspace, traditional authority does not disappear, but is reproduced, repackaged, and repurposed to strengthen religious legitimacy in the digital age.

Masrur successfully defended his thesis under the guidance of Dr. Rifqi Muhammad Fatkhi, MA, and was tested in front of a board of examiners consisting of Prof. Dr. Yusuf Rahman, MA, Dr. Rifqi Muhammad Fatkhi, MA, Dr. Atiyatul Ulya, M.Ag, Dr. Abdul Hakim Wahid, MA.

After paying attention to the thesis writing, the comments of the examiner team and the candidate's answers, the examiner team determined that Muhamad Masrur Irsyadi graduated with the title of Very Satisfactory. Muhamad Masrur Irsyadi is the 2823rd Master in the field of Islamic Studies, in the Master's program of the Graduate School of UIN Syarif Hidayatullah Jakarta. (Jay A)