Al-Istinbath Jurnal Hukum Islam Vol.
No.
2, 2025, 513-534
P-ISSN: 2548-3374 .
, 25483382 .
http://journal.
id/index.
php/alistinbath Reimagining Islamic Political Structures in Contemporary Muslim Societies: The Role of Global Networks and Transnational Movements *Saif Saad Ahmed1.
Abdulsatar Shaker Salman2.
Ali Ghassan Ahmed Mohammed3.
Aida Apyshova4.
Aqeel Mahmood Jawad5 Al-Turath University.
Baghdad 10013.
Iraq1 Al-Mansour University College.
Baghdad 10067.
Iraq2 Al-Mamoon University College.
Baghdad 10012.
Iraq3 Osh State University.
Osh City 723500.
Kyrgyzstan4 Al-Rafidain University College Baghdad 10064.
Iraq5 * saif.
saad@uoturath.
DOI: 10.
29240/jhi.
Received: 25-05-2025 Revised: 23-06-2025 Accepted: 06-07-2025 Cite this article:
Saif Saad Ahmed.
Abdulsatar Shaker Salman.
Ali Ghassan Ahmed Mohammed.
Aida Apyshova.
Aqeel Mahmood Jawad .
5 Reimagining Islamic Political Structures in Contemporary Muslim Societies: The Role of Global Networks and Transnational Movements.
Approach.
AlIstinbath : Jurnal Hukum Islam, 10 .
, 513-534.
Doi : 10.
29240/jhi.
Abstract This article offers a critical analysis of how transnational Islamic movements are changing the landscape of Islamic political thought by appropriating global digital networks for political participation, authority, and discourse.
It examines how classical Islamic idealsAi shrA .
Aoadl .
, ummah .
are reappropriated in modern forms of civic engagement and global Implementing a multimethod approach that combines geospatial network mapping, thematic content analysis of political speech, sentiment analysis of digital exchange, and multivariate statistical modeling, the study is also a test of these two methods.
Furthermore, survey tools were used to test ideological consistency and commitment to Islamic governance principles for a sample of five diaspora groups.
Five transnational Islamic movements .
ithout identificatio.
were concurrently analyzed in perspective of ideological spread, operational organization, digital enthusiasm and user behavior.
The results suggest that centralized religious authority has been replaced by digitally mediated ideological mobilization.
Islamic political ideas are more and more inscribed into transnational Copyright A 2025 Saif Saad Ahmed, et.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-ShareAlike 4.
International License 514 | Al-Istinbath: Jurnal Hukum Islam.
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discourses of justice, consultation and solidarity.
Sites like Telegram and Twitter represent strategic spaces of ideological spread, and engagement on the Internet and with organizational structures are the strongest predictors of alignment with Islamic governance, according to a regression analysis.
In the 21st century.
Islamic political identity is being reconfigured through digital-enabled, decentralized and ideologically cohesive transamination networks.
These structures constitute an adaptive development of Islamic governmentAirooted in the classical traditions yet responsive to the pluralistic, participatory and technological conditions of the realities of modern global politics.
Keywords: Islamic governance.
transnational movements.
political Islam.
digital ummah.
khilAfah.
civil society.
Islamic theory.
Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC).
Introduction Islamic political systems are in the midst of drastic restructuring as a result of the overlapping currents of globalization, digitalization, and the emergence of transnational ideological movements.
Islam as a model of governance has historically been based on territorial models, embodied by the early caliphates, sultanates, and later nation-states of postcolonial era, where spiritual and temporal rule resided in a single locus and was sustained through traditional jurisprudence.
But this classical structure of power is being reconfigured in the 21st century, from hierarchical and vertical to dispersed and horizontal, by mobile populaces of shadowy, networked agents with few walls or borders.
The emerging movements are not just reacting to the legacy of colonialism or the Westphalian system but are reconstructing the Islamic model of governance to meet the requirements of the modern world.
"With a growing number of networked digital ecologies, higher rates of migration and decentralized civil societies.
Islamic political actors are developing new political communities that operate outside and independently of the state.
Islamic political movements such as Hizb ut-Tahrir, international branches of the Muslim 1 A.
Mohiuddin, "Islamism and Globalisation: Unpacking the Dialectics of Ideology and Socio-Economic Change in the Middle East," Journal of Globalization Studies 15, no.
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Brotherhood, and diaspora-driven advocacy networks demonstrate how political Islam is shaped by global rather than solely local processes.
These are ideologically varied and strategically separate movements, and this is key.
They nonetheless, all share a common commitment to develop Islamic political thought in light of what they see as crises of governance, legitimacy and social justice in the Muslim world.
This has spawned literatures that have sought to reconcile Islamic law with modern notions of civil rights, state capacity, and participative governance.
The classic Islamic political theory was situated in a hierarchical framework and bequeathed legal authority by religious learning and institutional A traditional concept of governance was one of central ruler and the literati, based on religious texts.
4 Such formations often emphasized divine sovereignty and top-down governance.
Recent academic investigations, however, are indicating a shift in Public intellectuals have begun to acknowledge the transformative effects of globalization on Islamic political agency.
Currently, transnational Islamic movements have shifted from hierarchical forms of organization to decentralized structures, relying on ideological unity, cultural brotherhood, and global involvement, rather than territorial sovereignty.
5 These evolving relationships amount to a divergence from territorially-bound government to networked political representation grounded in Sharia but responsive to transnational conditions.
Furthermore, hybrid Islami identities are taking shape vis-a-vis interaction with international institutions and development discourses.
Principles like Aoadl .
, shrA .
onsultative design of governmen.
, and masAouliyah .
ollective responsibilit.
are now circulated widely in the global discourse of human rights and governance and the role of civil society in those areas.
Both secular Western 2 Zubairi Furhan.
Badi Jamal Ahmed Bashier, and Ruhullah Mohammad Eisa, "Quranic Analysis: A Critical Examination of Gender in Islamic and Western Paradigms," MAQOLAT:
Journal of Islamic Studies 2, no.
3 Suheir A.
Daoud, "Between Religion and Politics: The Case of the Islamic Movement in Israel," Religions 15, no.
4 Said Salih Mohammed Nameer Hashim Qasim.
Raad Fajer Ftayh.
Mohammed Zuhair, & Jassim Kadhi Kabrch, " Examining Legislation and Enforcement Mechanisms to Combat International Human Trafficking from an Islamic Criminal Law Perspective," Al-Istinbath: Jurnal Hukum Islam 10, no.
5 Morta Vidnait, "The Agency in Islam or .
Human Rights? The Case of Pious Baltic Muslim Women," Religions 14, no.
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paradigms and ultraorthodox, fundamentalist readings of Islamic law are cast into question by these reinterpretations, clearing the way for alternative Islamic political projects rooted in pluralism and rights-based morality.
There is a central role for diaspora communities in this change.
Muslims as they assimilate into Western democracies, they are acquiring new political skills which are already having an impact on Islamic thought and activism in their home These are bridge communities, that carry Islamic discussions across cultures and geographical lines, where topics are calibrated anew based on the transnational times and lives in which they are lived.
7 Digital technologies, too, have transformed the landscape of Islamic political speech.
Telegram.
Twitter and YouTube provide online conduits for ideological indoctrination, bottom-up mobilization and alternative organizational frameworks.
8 These online spaces contest traditional religious authorities of all kinds, democratizing who can participate in Islamic political thought and, in doing so, facilitate horizontal practices of leadership and debate.
9 Hence.
Islamic authority is now taking shape more as a networked form of legitimacy than as an institutional status.
Figure 1 illustrated the structural reconfiguration of Islamic governance arrangements under the impact of digital and transnational flows.
As Merone and McCarthy point out, the binary of state-endorsed religious institutions and radical guerrilla dissident groups no longer represents the rich tapestry of contemporary Islamic political life.
10 In their place are new hybrid types of activism, based equally in memory of the past and dreams of the future, made possible through emotionally charged languages of ummah, shrA, and Aoadl.
6 Sharaiz Chaudhry, "Towards a Theology of Class Struggle: A Critical Analysis of British MuslimsAo Praxis against Class Inequality," ibid.
, no.
7 Nasrin Rahimieh, "Politics of Vengeance in Iranian Diaspora Communities," International Journal of Middle East Studies 55, no.
8 Antonia Olmos-Alcaraz, "Islamophobia and Twitter: The Political Discourse of the Extreme Right in Spain and Its Impact on the Public," Religions 14, no.
9 Sahar Khamis, "The Paradoxes of Modern Islamic Discourses and Socio-Religious Transformation in the Digital Age," ibid.
15, no.
10 Fabio Merone and Rory McCarthy, "Explaining the Distinction between Religious and Political Activism in Islamism: Evidence from the Tunisian Case," Politics and Religion 17, no.
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Figure 1.
Reconfiguring Islamic Political Structures through Global Networks and Transnational Movements At the same time.
Islamic actors also engage world institutions such as the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), organs of the United Nations, and transnational NGOs and although this is more an act of bricolage.
Islamic governance elements are mixed with universal discourses about sustainability, justice, and peacebuilding.
11 These twin commitments are tactical gambits to optimize legitimacy in Muslim societies and in the world of diplomacy.
Islamic political identity is therefore evolving to become even more digitally intermediated, transnationally networked, and non-state driven.
Cyberspaces have emerged as important sites where discourses about Islamic political futures are challenged, contested, and re-narrated.
This reconfiguration calls for an alternative hermeneutic, one that takes into consideration the feedback between tradition, mobility, and modernity.
Even as Islamic political systems evolve, scholars have not developed appropriate frameworks for studying the multi-scalar, transnational Islamic Yet theorizations about Islamic governance are often made from within territorially-centric types the state, the caliphate, monarchy Ae even as the fact of the matter is driven by ideologically vibrant movements working through diasporic formations, digital campaigns, and through civil society activism.
Such a conceptual misfit gives rise to important issues.
For example, many of todayAos Islamic political actors are also involved in transnational humanitarian activities, 11 Faisal Devji, "Escaping the Global Event: Pan-Islam and the First World War," Modern Intellectual History 21, no.
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online activism, and ideological pedagogy, but are not controlled by state-based Current legal and political theories provide few resources to help us understand how such actors can invoke visions of classical Islamic covenants in order to justify new modalities of authority and governance, which are both extraterritorial and broadly embraced.
Moreover, scholarly and policy discourse tend to amalgamate various Islamic movements, considering them to be ideologically homogeneous.
This occludes internal diversity and an understanding of the subtle ways Islamic political thought is being rearticulated across different cultural, political, and digital environments.
The lack of comprehensive comparative studies and empirical evidence further exacerbates inadequate understanding about the complexity and legitimacy of current forms of Islamic governance.
Given these problems, the article poses problems:
To investigate the ways in which global networks and transnational Islamic movements mold Islamic political thought.
To assess the reassembling of the classical terms such as ummah, shrA.
Aoadl, khilAfah, and uAkimiyyah in digital political discourse.
To investigate the impact of diaspora engagement, digital mobilization, and ideological orientation on the perceived legitimacy of Islamic To understand the motives and interests that shape the emergence of political Islam in the age of globalization.
The article seeks to evaluate the ways in which global networks and transnational Islamic movements are creating new political spaces for Islamic It examines the way in which these agents rework classical Islamic thinking to conform to the pressures and opportunities presented by global politics today, identifying modes of action through which they contribute to the construction of institutional forms and discursive paradigms consistent with Islamic traditions and modern civil concern.
12 The article makes a theoretical and methodological contribution to recent debates about political Islam, digital transformation and religious authority through a transdisciplinary framework based on empirical research, theoretical synthesis and methodological reflection.
The analysis is grounded on an interdisciplinary analytical framework comprising spatial modeling, thematic coding, survey-based indicators.
AI-driven 12 Abbas Jong and Saman Ebrahimzadeh, "Ahmad Moftizadeh and the Idea of the Islamic Government: A Discursive Tradition Analysis in the Field of Political Islam," Religions 15, 2 .
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sentiment computation, and multivariate statistics.
This methodological technique seeks to account for the shifting powers of Islamic political formations in a globalized and digitalized milieu.
The approach is comprised of five interrelated components: .
geospatial network visualization.
ideological content analysis.
diaspora engagement metrics.
sentiment analytics of political discourse.
statistical modeling of ideological drivers.
All approaches are situated within the emerging literature on networks of political Islam, transnational movements, and digital governance.
Geospatial and Organizational Network Mapping yayaycI = ( yaycn log.
cAycn ) OoycUycn ) y log.
ycIycn ) Where yaycn is the count of active countries, ycAycn is the number of online members, ycUycn is the age of the movement .
n year.
,13 ycIycn reflects a composite of regional influence metrics .
edia citations, regional alliances, and scholarly 14 Movement A achieved the highest GIS score .
, indicateng long-term institutional consolidation and broad geographic penetration, consistent with patterns described.
Thematic Content Analysis of Political Discourse To investigate the ideological motifs propagated by transnational Islamic movements, 120 digital texts, including manifestos, speeches, and official communiquys were analyzed using NVivo 14.
Five key Islamic political concepts were coded: ummah .
, shrA .
Aoadl .
, khilAfah .
, and uAkimiyyah .
ivine sovereignt.
Each was measured using the Thematic Saturation Coefficient (TSC):
ycA ya ycu ycNycIyayc = ( ycN yc ) y .
ycu Where ycAyc total mentions of theme yc, ycNycu total texts analyzed, yaycu percentage overlap with global political norms .
oded from UN.
EU.
OIC governance document.
13 Akhmad Zaeni and Zainuri Zainuri, "Memahami Gerakan Islam Transnasional (Studi Kasus Di Indonesia.
Brunei.
Dan Thailan.
," Jurnal Pendidikan Islam 1, no.
14 Z.
Mutaqin, "The Network of Islamic Radicalism: Proposing a Mapping Model," Islamic Studies Review 1, no.
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This metric isolateAos themes acting as ideological bridges between Islamic and global civic discourses.
Ummah showed the highest TSC due to its resonance with contemporary ideas of solidarity and civil society 1, 19.
Diaspora Political Engagement Metrics To examine the diffusion of Islamic political identity across diaspora communities, a structured online survey was administered in five countries: UK.
Germany.
USA.
Canada, and Malaysia.
The survey measured:
trust in Islamic political organizations, participation in digital advocacy campaigns, and support for Islamic governance principles.
These were synthesized into the Digital Engagement Index (DEI):
yayaya = ycN ycE ycI Where ycN trust level (%),ycE campaign participation rate (%),ycI ideological support for Islamic governance (%).
15 Malaysia scored the highest DEI .
reflecting strong digital political identity within an Islamic civil framework.
Sentiment Analysis of Digital Political Discourse To evaluate emotional framing and ideological tonality, a corpus of 6,850 digital entries .
weets, posts, comments, and transcript.
was subjected to lexiconbased sentiment analysis using a modified VADER algorithm.
Sentiment intensity across platforms (Twitter.
Telegram.
YouTube.
Blogs.
Faceboo.
was measured using the Sentiment Dispersion Index (SDI):
ycIyaya = ycEOeycA ycE ycA ycAyce Where ycE, ycA, ycAyce represent the percentage of positive, negative, and neutral sentiments respectively.
Telegram showed the highest positive sentiment .
%) and the lowest entropy, indicating ideological cohesion and effective mobilization.
Claudia Liebelt, "The Religious Which Is Political: Revisiting Pnina WerbnerAos Imagined Diasporas and Beyond," Religions 15, no.
16 R.
Nakka.
Lakshmi.
Priyanka.
Sai.
Praveen.
Sirisha.
, "Lambda:
Lexicon and Aspect-Based Multimodal Data Analysis of Tweet," Ingynierie des Systymes dAoInformation 29, no.
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Multivariate Statistical Modeling of Ideological Predictors To identify factors predicting ideological alignment with Islamic governance, a multivariate regression model was developed.
Independent variables included religious activity (Likert scal.
, social media usage .
ours/wee.
, diaspora age group .
ecade band.
, and formal membership in Islamic organizations.
The dependent variable was an Ideological Alignment Score (IAS), scaled from 0 to 10.
The regression model used :
yayaycI = yu1 ya yu2 ycI yu3 ycI yu4 ya yu5 ycC yuA Where ya education level,ycI religious activity,ycI social media engagement,17 ya age group,ycC organizational affiliation, and yuA is residual error,.
The strongest predictors were organizational membership ( = 0.
and digital engagement ( = 0.
, contributing 30% and 28% respectively to the modelAos variance.
These results corroborate that the transnational mobilization of Islamic intellect is fueled by spiritual presence and technological presence.
Procedures for all data collection were approved by the university research ethics All survey respondents consented to participating in the study, and all identifiable information was removed.
The digital content examined was based on public sources, so private accreditations were not required.
The limitations are potential sampling bias .
anguage used in surve.
, under-sampling of offline population, and context undecidability in some of the online texts.
Notwithstanding these limitations, the triangulated multi-method approach serves to improve the reliability and generalizability of findings in the area of Islamic political analysis.
17 S.
Syamsuar.
Chapakia.
Hamsa.
, & Amelia.
, "Integration of Maqashid Syaria in Nurcholish MadjidAos Thingking About Principles for Effective Good Governance.
," AlIstinbath: Jurnal Hukum Islam .
18 M.
Murod.
Sulastri.
Gunanto.
Sahrasad.
, & Mulky.
, "Islam and the State:
Indonesian Mosque AdministratorsAo Perceptions of Pancasila.
Islamic Sharia and Transnational Ideology," HTS Teologiese Studies / Theological Studies 78, no.
19 Wael Mahmoud Fakhry.
Maher Ibrahim Ebed Emam, and Hussain Said Saif Al Ghafri, "Effectiveness of the International Judiciary in Climate Issues and the Preservation of Future Generations Rights," International Journal of Religion 5, no.
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Discussion Network Expansion Trends of Islamic Movements .
9Ae2.
A consideration of the spread of Islamic political movements over the worldwide digital and institutional terrain indicates distinctive scales of increase during 2019Ae2024.
Drawing on a longitudinal event-history data model of a composite Global Index Score, this section follows the activity, organizational resilience, and influence of five anonymized transnational movements (Networks AAeE).
These networks were reviewed on an annual basis and it was noted that they are able to maintain ideological involvement, spread out regionally and apply digital strategy over time.
The most distinct growth was in Network A, which maintained a steady increase from year to year but still indicated long-term strategy maturity.
Other networks exhibited differing trajectories.
for instance.
Network E was growing fastest after 2022, which may indicate a digital adoption and expansion model at later stages.
Figure 2.
Annual Growth Trends of Transnational Islamic Networks .
9Ae In all the years.
Network A performed better compared to the other networks achieving score to a score of 5.
2 in 2019, .
2 in 2.
This growth represents not only a firm organizational structure, but also an aggressive target for exploration into new regions and technologies.
Network B also significantly increased over time, up from 2.
5 to 4.
1, which is indicative of strong mid-level Network C, although starting at a lower base, strongly improved.
Saif Saad Ahmed: Reimagining Islamic Political Structures A.
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almost doubling its score, suggesting a ground swell approach.
This correlates to success at late-stage mobilization, which may have included focused regional campaigns or increased utilization of encrypted platforms by Network E.
This divergence in trends confirms that digital transformation, leadership renewal and adaptability are key factors for maintaining influence across transnational Islamic political contexts honored in source information.
Digital User Engagement on Islamic Political Platforms The importance of studying user behaviour across these digital platforms (Youtube.
Facebook.
Twitter.
Telegram and Blog.
is that it gives insight on how Islamic political content is received.
These include average watch time, comments per post, share rate, click-through rate (CTR), average likes per post, and Reaction Intensity Index (RII).
Telegram was the most dynamic in both the use of its broadcast-channel format as well as the user-level interactivity as well as emotional investment.
Twitter came in close seconds, particularly by share activity and conversation intensity, with YouTube for more passive interaction.
Blogs, despite having a devoted readership, had the weakest real-time engagement.
Figure 3.
User Engagement Metrics on Political Platforms The highest average comments per post .
CTR .
7%), and RII .
leaders were shown by Telegram .
ccording to Figure .
Twitter also performed well in Aocomment frequencyAo .
and share ratio .
3%), suggesting that users are more critical of short-form content.
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watch time .
2 minute.
and like count .
per pos.
suggests video is still working in the arena of doctrinal communication.
Facebook performed pretty consistently by metric, no spikes, potentially algorithm- or attention-dilutiondriven.
Blogs were also a less interactive (RII = 0.
yet had educative functions.
These patterns underscore the fact that Telegram and Twitter are the "central hubs" of emotional and ideological mobilization, while corroborating insights on user-driven amplification of political identity and narrative framing in digital Islamic discourse.
Ideological Value Alignment Across Muslim Diasporas The study examines the process of internalization of Islamic political values in five countries in which a sizeable Muslim diaspora is found, namely the UK.
Germany, the USA.
Canada and Malaysia.
This is based on a Composite Value Index (CVI) composed of six indicators which are perceptions of justice, perceptions of unity, perceive consultation in governance, perceive religious freedom, assess the compatibility of ShariAoah in modern nation-states, and perception of gender equity in political Islam.
The model provides a sophisticated appreciation of how bedrocks for Islamic governance are negotiated in varying national contexts.
Malaysia rated the highest in all measures and Canada rated the next highest.
These are described as showing how transnational Islamic political identity can thrive in liberal secular societies, especially when animated by a rights-based civic culture and digital inclusion.
Figure 4.
Survey-Based Political Value Alignment Scores Malaysia was ranked highest for values in all of its dimensions, by its justice score .
, its religious freedom .
and gender equality perception .
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Those scores reflect a country where Islamic values are part of the wider democratic tradition.
Canada came in second, with a high religious freedom .
and consultation index .
, which attest to the inclusiveness of its political The U.
and U.
exhibited unity and consultation scores minimally lower than the other countries, which could reflect impediment to integration or less coherent community organization.
Germany was closely behind with a lower ShariAoah adaptability score .
which could be a reflection of policy limitations or cultural frictions.
It is telling that all five countries, despite the strongman rhetoric, had robust CVI scores in excess of 7.
5, suggesting that Islamic governance concepts of justice and consultation are not fundamentally opposed to the notions of modern democratic citizenship, at least not in ways that cannot be readily mitigated through educational programming, increased participation, and the construction of inclusive discursive environments.
Thematic Discourse Saturation in Transnational Islamic Political Texts Transnational Islamic movements communicate five key Islamic political concepts in the digital arena.
Analysis is based on 120 digital texts .
ncluding manifestos, policy documentations, and speeche.
coded on the basis of five key concepts, namely, ummah, shrA.
Aoadl, khilAfah, and uAkimiyyah.
In addition to frequency, the analysis includes contextual density and average word span per mention as cues.
These extensions check not only the frequency with which such terms are used, but how deeply and substantively they are part of political The results indicate the ideological priority, worldwide spread and narrative sustainability of every idea in the discursive toolbox of such 526 | Al-Istinbath: Jurnal Hukum Islam.
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Figure 5.
Thematic Frequency and Global Integration of Islamic Political Concepts ItAos noteworthy that the word ummah tops in frequency .
as well as its contextual richness .
ith the highest contextual density index, equivalent to 0.
91, and a high global overlap of 68%).
This is indicative of a trend whereby movements construe ummah not just as a theological concept, but as an agent of global civic solidarity.
ShrA also features prominently, indicating a wider use of the terminology of participatory government.
Although Aoadl is rare, when used in legal production, it holds strong discursive power.
KhilAfah, which was pivotal in the past, is seen more rarely and when it is in legacy or aspirational The least common and least assimilated concept is that of uAkimiyyah, perhaps reflecting its lessened attractiveness or tactical underuse because of its exclusivist connotations.
Finally, the evidence suggests a thematic progression from hierarchical notions of governance to pluralist, internationally recognized Islamic political discourses in general.
Sentiment Dispersion and Emotional Complexity Across Platforms Emotional tone and complexity in digital Islamic political discourse understanding the emotional tone and complexity of digital Islamic political rhetoric provides some insight into audience appeal, narrative strategy, and ideological affinity.
The study uses the polarity metrics .
ositive, neutral, negativ.
as well as entropy an average word count per post while analyzing posts in five prominent platforms to evaluate emotional clarity and cognitive Telegram is a redoubt of positive and pithy ideological messaging, while YouTube and Facebook show more emotionally fuzzy material.
Sentiment entropy the extent to which emotions are distributed across categories provides a psychological perspective on how narrowly or broadly these storylines are Saif Saad Ahmed: Reimagining Islamic Political Structures A.
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Figure 6.
Sentiment Distribution Across Platforms Table 1.
Emotional Complexity Across Platforms Total Posts Analyzed Telegram 950 Blogs Twitter Facebook 1800 YouTube 1200 Platform Peak Year Avg Words/Post Sentiment Entropy Index Content in Telegram is the most targeted and emotionally coherent, as indicated by its low entropy .
and high positivity .
%).
Blogs, despite the emotional phrasing to be the lowest emotionally and the highest in the longest .
ost length 34.
5 word.
to reflect on and provide education.
The higher entropy and brevity .
7 words/pos.
of Twitter suggests high-volume, high-velocity exchange of ideology with more variable emotional tone.
Facebook and YouTube show a balanced emotional distribution, but also the least ideologically extreme captured by their larger entropies .
49 and 0.
These findings hint that restricting the range of expression .
ow entrop.
is associated with platforms that target ideological alignment and mobilization, while platforms that encompass several types of content might diffuse the regulation of emotional effects.
Implications for campaign strategy, trust and user retention in digital Islamic political networks.
Statistical Modeling of Predictors of Islamic Political Alignment The study presents the multivariate regression model used to identify key predictors of ideological alignment with Islamic governance.
The dependent variable.
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explanatory variables.
Expanded analysis includes standardized coefficients and variance inflation factors (VIF.
to validate model stability.
The results confirm the predominance of online engagement and organizational affiliation, followed by education and religious activity.
Low VIF scores across predictors indicate minimal multicollinearity, supporting robust inference from the model.
Table 2.
Multivariate Regression Analysis on Predictors of Islamic Political Alignment
Predictor
Online
Engagement
Organizational Affiliation Education Level Religious Commitment Age Group
Beta
Standard
Error
Explained Variance (%) Standardized Coefficients Variance Inflation
Factor
(VIF)
Online engagement and organizational affiliation are the most influential variables, explaining 34% and 30% of the variance in IAS respectively.
Their standardized coefficients .
41 and 0.
underline their dominant predictive power across demographic groups.
Education and religious commitment follow closely, while age group, though statistically significant, contributes less to model Importantly.
VIF values remain below the critical threshold of 2.
indicating a well-specified model with low redundancy among predictors.
These findings support the assertion that ideological alignment in Islamic political contexts is primarily driven by active participation in digital spaces and structured ideological communities.
The role of education and religious observance confirms their importance in worldview formation, but underscores that engagementAinot just belief, it is the engine of political identity in transnational Islamic contexts.
The findings of this study offer compelling evidence that Islamic political structures are undergoing substantial transformation through the influence of global networks and transnational movements.
The evolution from territorially confined religious-political entities to digitally mobilized, ideologically interconnected networks signify a fundamental shift in how Islamic governance is conceptualized, promoted, and enacted in the modern world.
This Saif Saad Ahmed: Reimagining Islamic Political Structures A.
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transformation is not a passive one, but rather a strategic one and that shows us that Islamic political thought still is very adaptable in a globalizing world.
Compared to those older studies that focused on the inelasticity of Islamic political systems the treatment of those systems merely as static extensions of old caliphates or nationalist-religious paradigms observes the actuality of events and associations, a flexible structure.
we see a system that is full of architectural Contemporary Islamic movements seem to converge between the classical and the modern concept of shrA .
Aoadl .
and ummah .
, with flexible strategies shaped by the nature of the post-modern global governance discourse.
These results challenge earlier conceptual framings that either contained political Islam within the parameters of the postcolonial state or constructed it as non-compatible with democratic participation and The data points to the importance of digital technologies in reframing forms of participation and legitimacy.
High engagement rates on Telegram and Twitter, and the effects of the digital campaign architecture are a departure from more traditional forms of political communication like mosque sermon or institutional fatwa.
The Reaction Intensity Index and user engagement metrics point to the effectiveness of political messaging in Islamic ethical references, when tailored to modern digital instrumentals in a strategically planned fashion.
Previous analyses tended to draw an inaccurate picture by ignoring postinstitutional, data-skewed, networked environments in which ideas spread without being mediated by physical entities as those from the overt state authorizes or the covert media suppressors.
The growth rate of anonymized transnational networks evidenced in this study makes it clear how institutionalized even our non-state sponsored Islamic movements have become.
These new structures have their own proactive developmental environment as opposed to the old models of Islamic political operations which had a largely reactive posture in response to local or national events resulting in temporary crises-based constructs.
Smaller cadres of activists with year-on-year growth, high digital engagement, and varied ideological bridgebuilding do not fit easily into the idea that Islamic political formations have to be bound up with some kind of particular cultural or national tradition.
Rather, they 20 Chindy Shamantha, "Peradaban Islam Pada Masa Khilafah Al-Rasyidah," Az-Zakiy:
Journal of Islamic Studies 1, no.
530 | Al-Istinbath: Jurnal Hukum Islam.
Vol.
No.
2, 2025
Islamic political thought has an element of 'portability', capable of being absorbed into local demands while remaining loyal to the worldwide imaginations.
Political narratives are also becoming increasingly multivalent with respect to the languages and ideologies around which they revolve.
If early narratives were concerned with hardness of ideological position or binary opposition of secularism versus Islamism, the more recent corpus under discussion here uses hybridity of language.
Political ideas combine Islamic legal concepts with modern discourses of justice, rights, and government.
This speaks about a communicative tactic that is culturally rooted as well as globally comprehensible.
The Narrative Complexity Score supports that formal material, like manifestos and speeches, has high lexical density and conceptual depth, while comparisons against simplistic rhetoric in historical discourses are not met.
The statistical modeling also clarifies the emerging psychology of trust in the Islamist rule.
The efficacy of such variables as internet engagement and religious identity in predicting affinity shows that political allegiance is now more a matter not of geography or ecclesiastical authority but of the sense of sincerity, interactive community and digital accessibility.
Early research may have overestimated structural influences such as economic class or national policies, while this study suggests an affectively configured model of political attachment based on shared ideological beliefs and experiences mediated through A further unique aspect of the article is its comparison of value The high composite index scores in the diaspora, as it was pointed out, in countries such as Malaysia and Canada, demonstrate that the principles of Islamic governance, such as justice, consultation .
and unity, are not only compatible but also actually bolstered by pluralistic, democratic systems.
This suggests that Islamic political values are not only not incompatible with modern 21 B.
Pratista, & Herdiansyah.
, "Mencegah Perkembangan Populisme Islam: Analisis Wacana Kritis Terhadap Narasi Menteri Agama Tentang Radikalisme Di Indonesia," Jurnal Tapis:
Jurnal Teropong Aspirasi Politik Islam 18, no.
22 A.
Rastgar.
Maghdid.
Muda.
, & Davoudi.
, "Transparent Government Based on Nahj Al-Balagha and Social Trust among Muslim Citizens," HTS Teologiese Studies / Theological Studies 79, no.
Saif Saad Ahmed: Reimagining Islamic Political Structures A.
| 531
government but instead may reinforce principles of civic participation and social The article shows that Islamic political orders are not relics of the past or inherently incompatible with the global order.
What is being modified is not received structures, rather, political actors who can see-saw between tradition and modern political articulation.
The fusion of ideology, technology, and strategy reflected in this case study marks the latest chapter in the development of Islamic governance, one that is decentralized, cosmopolitan, and conceptually flexible.
Conclusion This article highlights the transformation of contemporary Islamic political structures from a territorial state model to digital-based transnational ideological networks.
Through a mixed methodological approach-including network mapping, content analysis, diaspora surveys, digital sentiment analysis, and statistical modelling-the study finds that participation in digital spaces, such as Telegram and Twitter, is a strong predictor of ideological alignment with Islamic governance principles, more so than traditional demographic factors.
Classical concepts such as ummah, shrA, and 'adl are reinterpreted in terms of global solidarity and human rights discourse.
In contrast, terms such as uAkimiyyah and khilAfah now appear more selective and contextualised.
This study shows that Islamic authority no longer derives primarily from state institutions or official clerics, but from participatory legitimacy established in the digital realm.
In diasporas such as Malaysia and Canada.
Islamic political values even resonate with participatory democratic systems.
In conclusion.
Islamic political structures are now more fluid, adaptive and rooted in global ideological interactions, challenging the conventional approach of Islamic politics as a closed and static system.
References