Competing Qur’anic Authorities in the Public Sphere: Textual Meaning, Social Contestation, and Interpretive Politics in Contemporary Indonesia

Muhammad Reza Pahlavi; Abdul Aziz Hasibuan; Yessy Sundary

Authors

Muhammad Reza Pahlavi Universitas Al-Ahgaff Tarim
Abdul Aziz Hasibuan Universitas Islam Negeri Sumatera Utara
Yessy Sundary Universitas Islam Negeri Sumatera Utara

Keywords:

Qur’anic authority, public sphere, interpretive politics, digital Islam, Indonesian Islam

Abstract

This article examines how Qur’anic authority is constructed, contested, and circulated in contemporary Indonesian public discourse. While Qur’anic interpretation has often been studied through exegetical content, theological method, or textual genealogy, less attention has been given to the mechanisms through which Qur’anic textual authority becomes public authority in legal, political, digital, and civic arenas. Focusing on Indonesia’s post-Reformasi public sphere, this study analyzes the contestation surrounding Q. al-Mā’idah 5:51, the translation of awliyā’, digital Islamic media, and state discourse on moderasi beragama. Methodologically, the article employs a qualitative textual and socio-discursive design, combining document analysis, critical discourse analysis, qualitative content analysis, and socio-hermeneutic interpretation. The primary corpus includes MUI’s institutional statement, the North Jakarta District Court decision, Qur’anic translation platforms, NU Online tafsir articles, Islami.co discourse, and Kementerian Agama policy documents. The findings show that Qur’anic authority in Indonesia is produced through four interrelated processes: institutional humidification, semantic contestation, digital fragmentation, and state-mediated civic reframing. MUI’s intervention converted scriptural interpretation into public legitimacy and legal relevance; competing translations of awliyā’ shaped different political and social meanings; digital platforms expanded and fragmented Qur’anic publics; and moderasi beragama reframed Qur’anic public ethics through civic norms. The article contributes to Qur’anic studies and Islamic hermeneutics by conceptualizing Qur’anic interpretation as a socio-discursive public practice in which sacred textual meaning becomes authoritative through institutions, translation, media, law, and state governance.

Keywords: Qur’anic authority; public sphere; interpretive politics; digital Islam; Indonesian Islam.

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