Millennial Identity and Piety

Millennial Identity and Piety

The millennial era is the era of the rapid development of information and communication technology. The term millennial is obtained because this is the only generation that has ever passed the second millennium, this was introduced by the Hungarian sociologist Karl Mannheim. The Indonesian Muslim youth population is experiencing a shift in tradition, which was transformed into a digital system. Things like this certainly affect the identity, traditions, religion, and social patterns of the current Muslim generation. According to projections, the population of Indonesia’s Muslim generation will increase due to a demographic surge. Moreover, the majority of Indonesians adhere to Islam.

Today we are faced with various realities, namely social reality and virtual reality. Both exist together and are able to influence the style of society, depending on what reality is dominant in the current generation of society. Social reality is more about the surrounding reality that is found by the community. Meanwhile, virtual reality is imaged through the internet and social media.

Millennial Piety

The tendency of the current generation of Indonesian Muslims is to pay attention to religious issues on social media. Virtual da’wah page fans have grown rapidly nowadays. The existence of this virtual da’wah has become an alternative literacy of Islam for millennial Muslim youth. Virtual da’wah usually contains scriptural content that understands religion by referring to the Qur’an and hadith without interpretation. Content that is packaged with videos is a strategy for the celebrity cleric in preaching. This strategy started with the development of new media (new media) in which the millennial generation prefers virtual-based things. Not infrequently we find them idolizing social media clerics or those who are familiarly called celebrity clerics rather than temporary scholars. Celeb ustadz are in demand because they are always present to provide Islamic knowledge through their virtual space. So that this triggers an attitude of fanaticism and understanding of the current tolerance of millennial Muslims.

Of course this situation gives morality and piety significance to the millennial generation. There are various reasons that millennial Muslim generations prefer virtual da’wah. He feels that online lectures are more flexible and effective wherever they are, even though they are not in places of worship (mosques). They tend to watch online lectures on social media and then share them with their followers (followers of social media). They also idolize ustads who are famous on social media.

Millennial Muslim Identity Hybrid

The hybrid identity in question is the existence of identity as a result of crossing religious affiliations and orientations based on the dynamics and socio-political-religious interactions that affect them in their social environment. This is what gives birth to a new identity. The results of the CSRC research, Cener for the study of islam (PPIM) UIN Jakarta, Convey Indonesia, in collaboration with UNDP on the hybridization of Muslim youth identities, concluded that the most dominant marker of Muslim youth today is experiencing a phenomenon called the hybridation of identity. The hybridization of millennial Muslim identities is influenced by the experiences they get from adolescence to university studies.

The research found that there is a hybridization of socio-religious identities among millennial Muslims. As happened in Bulukumba district, South Sulawesi. At first this young man was an activist who was persistent in fighting for the enforcement of Islamic law through the organization of the Preparatory Committee for the Enforcement of Islamic Law (KPPSI), and various other similar organizations in Bulukumba and the South Sulawesi region in general. However, his struggle fell out of context after the local elite figures in the government who carried these jargons dropped out. When leaders who bear Islamic law lose in local political contestation because they do not get sufficient response from their constituents in the regions. Activists who used to play an active role in the Islamic sharia movement organization, now have to change course because support for this is inadequate. Because of that, they prefer to work in the field of community empowerment that does not touch religious issues. On the other hand, this phenomenon gives a positive tendency in the sense that there is an open mind to accept new values ​​without leaving the socio-religious basis.

Millennial Muslim Literacy

Some have changed, some have survived. Because times cannot be resisted, that’s a quote from the foremost poet of Indonesia, Chairil Anwar. In the current era of modernization, there is a transformation of people’s literacy patterns, especially the millennial generation. Reading books or getting information is not only through printed books but also changes to Smartphone media capable of providing electronic versions of reading material. In research released by a team from UIN Sunan Kalijaga, CONVEY Indonesia, Cener for the study of islam (PPIM) UIN Syarif Hidayatullah, and UNDP, they found that the Muslim millennial generation is more interested in popular Islamist readings. Today’s millennial Muslim generations prefer to access Islamic knowledge from works written by Indonesian Muslim writers who appropriate Islamist ideas and then package them into popular writing, novels and comics. Not a few even access other sources through the Facebook, Instagram, line, YouTube, WhatsApp, and other reading websites. It provides a new pattern of reading production from print to digital versions.

Millennial Muslims and the Future of Religion

The shifting pattern of the religious pattern of the millennial generation of Muslims has a major influence on the future of religion, especially Islam. In this situation they have to deal with Islamism which offers hope for change. Religion has become a sensitive narrative to shape social construction in society and young people today. Thus, there is an attraction to something sacred which is divinely oriented compared to profane relationships.

 Author:
Amril Maryolo. AR
(Alumni of Pps UIN Sunan Kalijaga Yogyakarta)