Da’wah and Politics Among Muslim Preachers in Contemporary Indonesia

This paper discusses how politics shapes the landscape of Islamic da’wah in Indonesia. In this context, Muslim preachers use da’wah as an instrument of politics. One of the tools used by Muslim preachers to roll political influence into da’wah is through preaching on digital media. Through qualitative studies based on library data, websites and social media, this paper shows that Muslim preachers in contemporary Indonesia can be seen from the critical preaching to the existing secular government. They attempt at Islamizing the state by criticizing the secular state. This article finds that the discourse of globalization has allowed them to get information about Islamic movements in other countries. Second, the rise of Muslim political preachers is influenced by government policies towards the political, social and economic fields. Third, their preaching for political Islam is not focused on normative goals such as the formation of an Islamic state. Instead, they focus on pragmatic goals. Politicians also support their popularity. On the one hand, it provides the diversity of da’wah in Indonesia, but on the other hand, it challenges the established political Islam model. Keywords: Da’wah, Politics, Muslim Preachers, Indonesia, Diversit