The Phenomenon of Young Preachers: Between Ambition and Competence in Transmitting Islamic Sharia

The enthusiasm of the younger generation in conveying Islamic teachings should be appreciated in the current era. However, there is something that has escaped our attention regarding young preachers or those who are usually referred to as influencer. This very fundamental problem regarding the scientific competence of preachers is considered trivial. Many preachers who only have a large following on social media or dress like religious figures, dare to appear in public to convey religious messages without clear scientific principles. This problem is compounded by people’s mindset which is focused on visual things, for example handsome/beautiful preachers who edit their preaching style content on social media will attract a lot of people’s attention and of course the algorithm will help make it viral.

Of course, the role of preachers must still be appreciated because they also carry out their obligations mandatory task in Islamic teachings. They also carry out the spirit of the prophet’s hadith that they read

Give me just one sign

Convey just one verse from me.[1]

The issue of incompetence in the world of young preachers is very important. The public should be presented with data about Islam from the opinions of credible scholars in their field, not personal opinions packaged as if they were Islamic teachings. Quoting the opinions of ulama in preaching/lectures must be presented, because through ulama we can understand al-Quram and hadith.

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Efforts have been made to screen preachers who have competence, for example by the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) which has produced approximately 4000 preachers in the 2020-2025 term of office through the Da’i standardization program.[2] However, there are still many preachers, especially those from young people who do not have legal standards from the MUI. This problem adds to the fact that there is no special body to supervise the lectures of young preachers. If they make a mistake, no one will reprimand or remind them.

They should perfect their religious knowledge first before diving into Islamic teachings. What is feared is if they speak and rely on the words of the Prophet or the scholars, even though these words come from themselves, but indirectly they lie in the name of the prophet, that is a big sin and the threat of hell. Then if he quotes a verse from al-Quan then immediately concludes the meaning of the verse without following the interpretive scholars. honor, he actually interpreted the Qur’an with his own opinion. He was also threatened with hell. Imam Nawawi al-Bantani said in his tafsir book

Whoever speaks about the Qur’an without mastering the rules, linguistics and grammar, then he is very far from God Almighty.

Whoever speaks about the Qur’an without mastering the science of origin, linguistics and grammar, then he is very far from Allah.[3]

The Dangers of Fools Who Become Preachers

In the hadith narrated by Imam Bukhari and Imam Muslim

From Abdullah bin Amr bin Al-Aas, he said: I heard Rasulullah SAW say that Allah does not withhold knowledge in the abstract. He took it from the servants, but He took knowledge as He took it from the scholars, so that when He did not leave a scholar, humans took ignorant people as their heads. They were asked and they gave a fatwa. Without knowledge they are lost and lost

From Abdullah bin ‘Amru bin Al ‘Ash said, I heard the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, “Indeed, Allah does not take knowledge from a servant at once, but Allah takes knowledge by killing the scholars until when there are no scholars left, humans will appoint leaders from among the ignorant people, when asked they give a fatwa without knowledge, they are astray and misleading.[4]

The hadith above explains that the Prophet Muhammad SAW may God bless him and give him peace He himself said that if there was a time when there were few people with knowledge, people would take fatwas from stupid people. This phenomenon is already happening nowadays, this is very dangerous because stupid people are misguided and can mislead other people who take their fatwa opinions.

The Importance of Deepening Knowledge

In a study completed by influencer, sometimes just filled with statementQ which does not reflect Islamic teachings. For example, it only contains motivation about love and personal life. In addition, the study that they are filling in is aimed at people who like studies on that theme, their aim in coming to the recitation assembly is just to hear the motivation of the resource person, which is actually a personal statement that does not represent Islamic teachings.

To influencer and listeners/audiences must actually both understand what they need. influencer requires depth of knowledge in order to convey it to the people, while the audience must also deepen their knowledge so that they can select everything they hear from the recitation, whether it includes knowledge in Islam or only limited to statement the preacher. This irony occurs a lot in society, both from the perspective of preachers who adhere to the spirit of spreading Islam without studying knowledge and from the audience who cannot select between studies that are based on science and those that are based on mere virality.

Studying religious knowledge is mandatory as in the hadith narrated by Ibn Majah:

From the history of Anas bin Malik he said: Rasulullah SAW said: Seeking knowledge is obligatory for every Muslim, and people who spread knowledge to people other than those who are entitled to it. Like pigs that imitate jewels, pearls and gold.

from Anas bin Malik he said, Rasulullah ﷺ said, “Purchasing knowledge is an obligation for every Muslim. And a person who places knowledge not in the hands of an expert, is like a person who puts pearls, diamonds and gold around a pig’s neck.[5]

According to scholars, said al-Science What is meant in the hadith above is sharia/religious knowledge, so the law of studying religious knowledge or deepening it is mandatory for every Muslim individual.[6] It needs to be emphasized, preachers should deepen their knowledge first because that is base from the dai’ who is actually a spokesperson for religion, it is not permissible for someone with little or no knowledge to become a preacher because it will lead the people astray.

Also Read: Why Do Students Listen to Influencers More Than Teachers?

[1] HR Imam Bukhari 3461.

[2]

[3] Nawawi al-JawiAngry LAbid li Kashf Ma’nā al-Qur’ān al-Majid1/112.

[4] HR Imam Bukhari No.98, Imam Muslim No.4828.

[5] HR Ibn Majah N0. 220.

[6] Muhammad ibn Ali, Masyariq al-Anwar Syarah Sunan Ibnu Majah, (Riyadh: Dar al-Mughni, 2006), 4/330.

Nurdiansyah Fikri Alfani Santri Tebuireng

Editor: Sutan