JURIS (Jurnal Ilmiah Syaria.
Vol.
No.
, pp.
ISSN: 1412-6109.
E-ISSN: 2580-2763
DOI: 10.
31958/juris.
Modern Platforms for Timeless Principles: Sharia-Based AoAurah Norms on TikTok Salinayanti Salim1*.
Siti Nasuha Singki1.
Yusriadi2.
Mohd Sham Kamis1 1Faculty of Education.
Language and Communication.
Universiti Malaysia Sarawak.
Malaysia 2IAIN Pontianak.
Indonesia Corresponding Author: ssalinayanti@unimas.
Received: 09-09-2025 Revised: 08-12-2025 Accepted: 22-01-2026 Abstract: Research on digital Islam examines how Muslim women navigate modesty norms, yet less attention is given to the preachers who produce online moral regulation.
This study addresses that gap by analysing how preachers on Tiktok discursively reconstruct Aoaurah and how religious authority is reshaped into a form of informal digital hisbah .
oral enforcemen.
Using the Discourse-Historical Approach (DHA), the study examined 39 short-form videos from Malaysian and Indonesian preachers, focusing on nomination, predication, argumentation, perspectivisation, and intensification/mitigation to reveal how linguistic choices interact with TikTokAos algorithmic environment to construct gendered socio-legal expectations.
The findings show that TikTok is not only a medium for preaching but a site of Aualgorithmic moral regulation,Ay where preachers portray women as Aumoral risksAy and men as responsible guardians.
Argumentation relies on authority and threat-based reasoning, including eschatological quantification that reframes modesty as a communal A key insight is the Auparadox of affective authority,Ay where strict, fear-oriented warnings are softened with pastoral tones to maintain attention and engagement.
The study contributes to digital religion scholarship by theorising TikTok as a mechanism of digital hisbah that re-entrenches patriarchal authority and compresses complex jurisprudence into simplified, fear-driven moral Keywords: AoAurah.
TikTok.
Muslim Preachers.
Women.
Sharia.
Socio-legal.
DHA
Introduction he concept of Aoaurah Aithe boundaries of bodily concealment mandated in Islamic lawAihas long operated as a mechanism of social regulation, structuring Muslim moral identity, gendered expectations, and communal norms of propriety (Irfan & Yaqoob, 2023.
Manzoor et al.
, 2024.
Nurdin et al.
While classical jurisprudence grounds Aoaurah in scriptural injunctions, its interpretation has always intersected with broader socio-legal norms (Hasbi et al.
, 2.
, positioning modesty as a key instrument of behavioural governance rather than a purely theological prescription.
As Islamic discourse migrates into digital spaces, new tensions arise over how Aoaurah is defined, communicated, and enforced (Karakavak & ynzbylyk, 2023.
Kavakci & Kraeplin, 2.
TikTok restructures religious expression by circulating algorithmically curated, short-form videos that privilege speed, visibility, and emotional resonance, creating a platform environment where spiritual and religious meanings are shaped by affective engagement rather than doctrinal depth (Missier, 2025.
Reinis, 2025.
Xie et al.
, 2.
Existing scholarship has predominantly focused on how Muslim women negotiate digital modesty (Amalanathan & Reddy-Best, 2024.
Bencherrat, 2025.
Hotait & El Sayed, 2025.
Karakavak & ynzbylyk, 2023.
Manzoor et al.
, 2024.
Mishra & Basu, 2014.
Pramiyanti, 2019.
Az-zakia Rahmani et al.
, 2.
yet the production and policing of Aoaurah norms online remains comparatively understudied.
Some studies view TikTok as a passive medium (Chen et al.
, 2025.
Reinis, 2025.
Daswin, 2.
, thereby overlooking how algorithmic visibility and virality actively shape the framing and authority of religious rulings.
TikTokAos AuFor You PageAy elevates preachers, not necessarily trained scholars, based on engagement metrics, enabling new forms of digital moral authority (Kerim et al.
, 2.
As content can be pushed to 30 ic JURIS (Jurnal Ilmiah Syaria.
, 25 .
, 2026 users without intent, the platform generates modes of uninvited moral oversight that traditional offline settings do not replicate.
Regardless, empirical research has not examined how digital preachers construct authority, justify normative claims, or frame Aoaurah as a gendered obligation within these algorithmic The socio-legal implications, particularly the potential for informal moral regulation and the reinforcement of gendered behavioural governance, remain understudied.
This study addresses this gap by analysing how Malaysian and Indonesian preachers on TikTok discursively construct, justify, and moralise Aoaurah within an algorithmically mediated environment.
It examines three questions: Firstly, how is religious authority performed and legitimised in digital daAowah (Islamic preachin.
? Secondly, what linguistic strategies construct Aoaurah as a normative rule? Thirdly, how do these strategies shape gendered expectations and socio-legal governance? Using the Discourse-Historical Approach (DHA), the study analyses nomination, predication, argumentation, perspectivisation, and intensification/mitigation strategies to connect textual patterns with socio-historical gender norms and the affordances of the platform.
By situating Aoaurah discourse within debates on digital religious authority and moral regulation, this study contributes new empirical evidence and theoretical insight.
It shows that TikTok not only circulates religious teachings but reshapes the production of normative Islamic discourse by amplifying patriarchal authority, intensifying moral surveillance, and enabling new forms of algorithmically driven behavioural governance.
Literature Review Algorithmic Religious Authority and the Discursive Production of Normativity The movement of daAowah (Islamic preachin.
into digital platforms marks a structural transformation in how religious authority is produced, circulated, and legitimised.
Platforms such as TikTok actively shape which religious messages gain visibility through algorithmic gatekeeping (Alfi et al.
, 2.
Although earlier studies highlighted the democratising potential of online daAowah (JimaAoain, 2023.
Kerim et al.
, 2.
more recent work shows that platform architectures create new hierarchies based on visibility, affective appeal, and engagement rather than traditional scholarly credentials (Carrigan & Jordan, 2022.
Hygberg.
Wong, 2.
Rachman et al.
describe this as a post-normal environment where authority emerges through platform performance.
This shift produces moral tensions, as noted by Setia and Dilawati .
and Hasan and Anoraga .
The speed and brevity demanded by algorithmic formats encourage preachers to simplify complex rulings, sometimes at the expense of doctrinal nuance, which scholars of maqasid al-sharia .
igher objectives of Islamic divine la.
view as essential for responsible interpretation (Mat & Shamsuddin, 2.
Analysing this environment necessitates a discursive approach that extends beyond sociological Missier .
argues that digital influence increasingly relies on affect and emotional resonance, highlighting the central role of discourse in shaping persuasion.
Van Dijk .
conceptualises discourse as a tool through which ideological actors shape social reality.
Digital preachers can thus be understood as ideological brokers whose authority is performed through rhetorical choices.
FaircloughAos .
argument about authoritative discourse in low deliberation settings applies to TikTok, where religious rulings are compressed into 15 to 60 second clips.
Under these constraints, the DHA strategies are especially suitable because they enable categorical classification, moral evaluation, and emotionally heightened messaging to be delivered in highly compressed formats.
These broader shifts in platform-mediated authority are also reflected in how digital users, namely content producers and audiences, encounter and respond to religious guidance online.
Recent studies show that digital platforms have fundamentally reshaped how fatwas are produced, circulated, and consumed, creating new patterns of public engagement with religious authority in online spaces (Adel & Numan, 2023.
Ali & Aljahsh, 2.
Research across Pakistan.
Indonesia, and the broader Muslim world demonstrates that digital fatwas now gain influence through platform dynamics such as visibility, sentiment, and audience interaction, rather than through traditional institutional structures alone (Mualimin et al.
, 2025.
Wahid et al.
, 2025.
Interestingly, the relatable style typical of digital fatwa (Islamic ruling.
communication increases acceptance among young audiences, at the same time, can obscure the Modern Platforms for Timeless Principles: Sharia-Based AoAurah Norms on TikTok ic31 power dynamics embedded within simplified religious messaging (Rosidi, 2.
The literature, therefore converges on the idea that digital media reshape the conditions under which religious authority is However, there remains limited empirical evidence on how authority is performed linguistically in short-form video.
This study addresses that gap by analysing the discursive strategies through which preachers frame Aoaurah as a normative rule within an algorithmic environment.
Gendered Moral Regulation and the Discursive Control of AoAurah Even though Aoaurah is doctrinally applicable to both men and women (Sawai et al.
, 2.
Uthman, 2.
, research consistently shows that its enforcement disproportionately targets women.
Classical sources such as Surah An-Nur.
Surah Al-Ahzab, and tafsir works by Ibn Kathir and al-Tabari provide interpretative flexibility (Nurdin et al.
, 2.
Contemporary moral discourse, however, tends to compress this interpretative breadth into rigid behavioural expectations that link community honour to womenAos appearance and conduct (Arshad et al.
, 2024.
Manzoor et al.
, 2.
Studies on religious socialisation further show that women shoulder a heavier burden of embodying communal piety, modesty, and moral respectability (Auliya et al.
, 2022.
Gondal & Hatta, 2.
Digital environments do not significantly alter this imbalance.
While some scholarship highlights how Muslim women reclaim agency online using TikTok.
Instagram, and other platforms to challenge stereotypes, resist stigma, and articulate alternative interpretations of modesty (Aslam et al.
, 2025.
Az-zakia Rahmani et al.
, 2025.
Einstein Mara, 2024.
Hotait & El Sayed, 2025.
Syzen, 2.
the broader communicative ecology still privileges gendered surveillance.
Hasyim .
demonstrates that male preachers frequently construct women as morally vulnerable and in need of correction, a framing that aligns with long-standing patriarchal expectations.
Algorithmic systems further reinforce such narratives Hegazy & Abdelgalil .
observe that conservative, essentialist discourse often receives stronger amplification because it elicits high emotional engagement.
This phenomenon mirrors broader findings that TikTokAos algorithm prioritises content that triggers affective responses, whether moral, conspiratorial, or emotionally charged (Cotter et , 2022.
Kanthawala et al.
, 2025.
Romann & Oeldorf-Hirsch, 2.
Existing literature examines womenAos digital self-presentation and the rise of digital authority, but little is known about how male preachers use linguistic strategies to regulate womenAos bodies in short-form video.
By grounding the study in DHA and in broader theories of discourse and power from Wodak, van Dijk, and Foucault, this research investigates how Aoaurah operates as a mechanism of gendered control that is reinforced by the algorithmic design of digital platforms.
Method This study employed a discourse-oriented qualitative design to analyse how Malaysian and Indonesian Muslim preachers construct Aoaurah in short-form digital daAowah.
Rather than examining audience reception or platform analytics, the focus was on the linguistic and rhetorical strategies through which authority, morality, and gendered expectations were articulated on TikTok.
This design is appropriate because the study seeks to uncover how discourse functions as a mechanism of socio-religious regulation within an algorithmically mediated environment.
TikTok was selected as the data site because of its high engagement rate, rapid circulation patterns, and growing prominence as a source of Islamic guidance among users.
A purposive sampling strategy was used to identify videos where Aoaurah was explicitly discussed.
For this study, videos were included based on three criteria.
Firstly, they needed to discuss Aoaurah rules or modesty norms clearly.
Secondly, they had to refer to Islamic sources such as QurAoanic verses, hadith, or fatwa traditions.
Lastly, they were required to be in a short-form format of about 30 seconds to three minutes.
These criteria reflect the platformAos content norms and allow for the consistent analysis of discursive features within the constraints of TikTokAos design.
39 videos were collected from Malaysian and Indonesian preachers, using high-traffic hashtags commonly associated with Aoaurah content (#Aurat, #AuratWanita, #MenutupAurat, #AuratdalamIsla.
These two contexts share linguistic and cultural proximity, allowing the study to focus on a transnational Malay-Islamic digital sphere rather than conducting a comparative national analysis.
All videos were transcribed verbatim in their original languages and translated into English to preserve meaning and 32 ic JURIS (Jurnal Ilmiah Syaria.
, 25 .
, 2026 facilitate analysis.
The analysis was guided by the Discourse-Historical Approach (DHA) (Reisigl & Wodak, 2.
, that links linguistic patterns to broader socio-historical contexts.
DHA is suitable for the study of religious discourse because it recognises how doctrinal concepts, such as Aoaurah, grounded in classical jurisprudence, are recontextualised in new social settings.
The approach is problem-oriented and attentive to the reproduction of power, legitimisation, and normativity, making it appropriate for examining how preachers frame gendered moral obligations and assert digital religious authority.
Its structured taxonomy of discursive strategies provides a systematic method for identifying how claims about Aoaurah are justified and moralised.
A three-stage coding process was employed in this study.
Firstly, the videos were examined holistically to identify broad thematic patterns that shaped the overall narrative and tone of the content.
Secondly, the textual and verbal features were coded using five DHA strategies tailored for short-form digital religious content.
These included: .
Nomination, which examines how social actorsAisuch as men, women, families, and communities are identified and categorised, including cases where women are defined primarily by their Aoaurah.
Predication, which focuses on the attributes and moral evaluations assigned to these actors, such as framing modest women as AupureAy or describing immodesty as AusinfulAy or AushamefulAy.
Argumentation, which identifies the topoi used to justify claims, particularly the topos of authority .
criptural evidence used to close debat.
and the topos of threat .
arnings of divine .
Perspectivation, which analyses how preachers position themselves, by aligning their speech with prophetic instruction to enhance legitimacy.
Intensification and Mitigation, which captures how emotional force is modulated through fear appeals or softer pastoral tones.
Finally, insights from these stages were synthesised to demonstrate how these strategies collectively reconstruct Aoaurah as a gendered moral boundary within an algorithmically shaped religious sphere.
Results Nomination: Linguistic Coding of AoAurah The data from the findings showed that nomination strategies constructed Aoaurah as a gendered and identity-defining boundary rather than a behavioural guideline.
Preachers used categorical and essentialising language to link womanhood directly to the obligation of concealment.
The utterance AuA woman is Aoaurah, meaning most parts of a woman's body are considered AoaurahAy [Preacher .
relied on the copular verb AuisAy to collapse identity into a requirement to be covered.
This identity-equivalence structure turned Aoaurah into an inherent feature of women rather than a negotiable rule.
The phrase Aumost parts of a womanAos bodyAy expanded the domain of vulnerability and constructed exposure as nearly unavoidable without strict Male figures were nominated in a contrasting way.
They were constructed as supervisors whose religious identity depended on their regulation of women.
In the phrase AuA father who allows his daughter to go out without covering her Aoaurah will be dragged into hell by his daughterAy [Preacher .
, the conditional clause marked the father as morally responsible.
The metaphor Audragged into hellAy nominated men as accountable guardians whose salvation was tied to ensuring compliance.
This relational nomination created a hierarchy in which women were positioned as exposed bodies and men as custodians who had to control that Preachers also nominated body parts and clothing as moralised objects.
Terms such as Auhair,Ay Auarms,Ay and AulegsAy were used not as neutral anatomical references but as signs of spiritual danger.
The statement AuOne strand of hair exposed will become a dark mark in the afterlifeAy [Preacher .
used minimisation through the phrase Auone strandAy to intensify the severity of even the smallest exposure.
The expression AuDressed but nakedAy [Preacher .
reclassified clothing by equating tight garments with nudity.
Body parts and garments were linguistically constructed as unstable sites of moral risk.
At the societal level, nomination framed the present era as morally degraded.
The utterance AuExposing is haram.
ItAos sinful.
ItAos everywhere.
Why? Because today, itAos become normalAy [Preacher .
used the adverbs AueverywhereAy and AutodayAy to classify contemporary society as a corrupted moral environment.
The analogy AuShowing the arm is on the same level as Western women wearing bikinis at the beachAy [Preacher .
nominated Western femininity as a contrasting and morally Modern Platforms for Timeless Principles: Sharia-Based AoAurah Norms on TikTok ic33 inferior category.
This comparison built cultural boundaries that positioned Muslim modesty as a marker of moral superiority.
These nomination patterns constructed a moral taxonomy in which women were identified as inherently exposed subjects, men were identified as guardians responsible for enforcement, body parts and garments were treated as moral triggers, and contemporary society was framed as a site of moral These linguistic constructions reflected broader Islamic revivalist concerns in Malaysia and Indonesia, where modesty was positioned as a key marker of moral identity.
In nomination, preachers stabilised Aoaurah as an identity-defining boundary linked to gender hierarchy and cultural differentiation.
Predication: Moral Evaluation and the Construction of Obedience and Transgression Within the predication strategy, moral identities were constructed through evaluative adjectives, moralising verbs, categorical labels, metaphors and intensifiers that marked actors as virtuous or deviant.
The discourse did not merely state whether Aoaurah was covered.
it attached moral value to the actors through language that guided the audience toward fixed judgments about behaviour, intention and Positive predication relied on evaluative verbs and adjectival predicates that attributed virtue to compliant women.
In AuWomen who obey Allah, the Prophet, and their husbands, what did the Prophet say? Eight gates .
f paradis.
Choose whichever one you want to enterAy [Preacher .
, the verb AuobeyAy functioned as a positive moral predicate that elevated compliant women into a spiritually privileged category.
The rhetorical structure, which combined a triadic listing of religious authorities with the imperative AuChoose whicheverAy, linguistically encoded compliance as rewarded moral status.
Similarly, in AuYou will feel calmAy [Preacher .
AucalmAy operated as an affective predicate.
By linking emotional regulation to bodily discipline, the discourse positioned modesty as both religiously correct and psychologically beneficial.
These positive predicates demonstrated how linguistic features were used to construct obedience as a holistic moral identity.
Negative predication was far more frequent and relied on categorical labels, metaphors and extreme case formulations that framed non-compliance as spiritual danger.
The label Aumembers of hellAy [Preacher .
used a collective noun to categorise women into a fixed moral group, implying permanent identity rather than temporary behaviour.
The phrase Audressed but not really dressedAy [Preacher .
employed a paradoxical predicate to delegitimise partial compliance.
The negating form Aunot really,Ay linguistically erased the appearance of modesty, reclassifying tight clothing as an identity marker of transgression.
A more intensified form of negative predication appeared in AuSatan understands this, and he uses women as an easy way, a very easy way, to drag men into sinAy [Preacher .
Here, the repetition of intensifiers (Aueasy way,Ay Aua very easy wayA.
and the verb AudragAy constructed women as metaphoric instruments of temptation.
This agentive metaphor framed the female body as spiritually weaponised, not merely uncovered.
Such predication positioned women as passive objects but powerful moral threats, demonstrating how language produced gendered risk.
Men were also morally evaluated, using relational predicates that tied to their authority over In AuThe man is a leader for the womanAy [Preacher .
, the predicate AuleaderAy normalised gender hierarchy through a relational noun.
Male identity was predicated as supervisory and corrective.
Negative predication appeared when men failed to regulate women, as in Auforbidden from entering paradiseAy [Preacher This predicate functioned as a sanctioning formula, positioning moral masculinity as dependent on disciplinary anger.
Acceptance or tolerance became linguistically marked as spiritual failure.
Variation across the dataset showed that predication did not form a uniform pattern.
Softer predicates such as AucalmAy and AustrugglingAy created a pastoral sub-discourse, while more punitive predicates such as Audragged into hellAy and Aumembers of hellAy represented a highly intensified mode.
This fluctuation reflected how digital preachers managed audience expectations and algorithmic visibility through shifts in evaluative tone.
From a discourse perspective, predication here acted as a mechanism of moral governance.
Women were linguistically positioned as moral subjects whose value depended on bodily discipline, while men were positioned as guardians whose moral worth depended on corrective action.
The evaluative load of the predicates shaped how Aoaurah was understood: not as neutral behaviour but as a moral index of Islamic 34 ic JURIS (Jurnal Ilmiah Syaria.
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, 2026 Furthermore, platform dynamics amplified emotionally charged predicates, reinforcing the visibility of content framed around fear, shame or spiritual reward.
Argumentation: Legitimising 'Aurah through Divine Authority Within the argumentation strategy.
Aoaurah observance was legitimised by recurring discursive warrants, notably the topos of authority, topos of threat, and topos of moral rectitude.
These warrants did not merely describe religious rules.
they functioned as linguistic mechanisms, namely scriptural citation, causal connectors, quantification, metaphor, and refutational questions that collectively framed Aoaurah as an obligation with no interpretive alternatives.
The topos of divine authority appeared through direct scriptural citation, functioning as argumentative warrants.
QurAoanic verses and hadith were mobilised as premises designed to close debate.
The invocation of Surah al-Ahzab 59 was used to establish that covering is mandatory linguistically.
In a hadith, the utterance AuWomen who are dressed but naked will not even smell ParadiseAy (Muslim 2.
served as a conclusive warrant, presenting the claim as doctrinally sealed.
Likewise.
AuThe Prophet said: Your everyday clothing.
O women, should be like the clothing you wear in prayerAy [Preacher .
used analogy as argument, mapping ritual attire onto everyday behaviour.
Authority was encoded linguistically via prophetic imperatives, constructing compliance as non-negotiable.
The topos of threat used causal structures and intensified eschatological imagery that justified Aoaurah enforcement by foregrounding consequences.
Utterances such as Auheaded straight into the pit of hellfireAy [Preacher .
employed violent metaphor to generate fear-based legitimation.
Similarly.
AuOne of the ten people whose prayers Allah does not accept is the person who prays but leaves the house without covering their AoaurahAy [Preacher .
relied on an ifAethen causal logic, framing modesty as a prerequisite for valid worship.
Quantification strengthened this threat-based reasoning.
The utterance AuIf one person sees you, thatAos one sinA Ten people see you? ThatAos ten sins.
And you get all of itAy [Preacher .
used numerical escalation to present immodesty as an accumulative spiritual liability.
This linguistic framing constructed risk as measurable and transferable, broadening responsibility beyond the individual to the wider community.
The topos of moral rectitude operated through definitional reversal and evaluative reasoning that disqualified alternative moral claims.
In AuI donAot eat porkA I just donAot wear the hijab.
But I have a good heart.
How is that a good heart? ThatAos a misunderstandingAy [Preacher .
, the predicate AumisunderstandingAy functioned as a definitional correction, asserting that moral goodness required visible compliance.
Another utterance.
AuItAos better to say: Yes.
IAom still strugglingA Please pray for me to changeAy [Preacher .
, used a comparative evaluative frame to normalise struggle as the morally acceptable stance, implicitly delegitimising moral autonomy.
Argumentation relied on refutational moves, formulated as rhetorical questions that presupposed the invalidity of opposing views.
AuIs the QurAoan not enough to be a guide?Ay [Preacher .
served as a pre-emptive rebuttal with presuppositional framing, assuming the sufficiency of Similarly.
AuThatAos not covering your Aoaurah.
ThatAos just covering your veinsAy [Preacher .
used contrastive metaphor to undermine insufficient covering.
The metaphor of AuveinsAy foregrounded anatomical exposure, reinforcing the argument that modesty required concealing shape rather than merely Variation across the data demonstrated that argumentation was not one-sided.
Some preachers relied on calm scriptural anchoring, while others used threat-based escalation, with vivid imagery and numerical logic.
This variation reflected different rhetorical alignments within MalaysiaAeIndonesiaAos digital daAowah ecosystem, where platform algorithms tended to amplify emotionally charged warnings while still sustaining gentler persuasive strands.
Across these patterns, argumentation discursively produced legitimacy for Aoaurah with layered warrants that constructed modesty as obligatory, deviation as dangerous, and alternative interpretations as invalid.
These interlocking linguistic strategies indicate that Aoaurah emerged not as a matter of personal discretion but as a rationalised and morally binding duty grounded in scriptural authority and eschatological consequence.
Modern Platforms for Timeless Principles: Sharia-Based AoAurah Norms on TikTok ic35 Perspectivisation and Framing: Positioning AoAurah as a Collective Duty Between Self.
Society, and Allah In the perspectivisation and framing strategy.
Aoaurah was formed as a multilayered duty situated among the self, the community, and divine command.
The discourse positioned it as a shared moral structure of the ummah .
, not as a private lifestyle choice.
A coordinated use of deictic movement, evaluative patterning, and stance-taking practices guided the audience interpretation to a preferred moral viewpoint.
Perspectivisation showed how speakers momentarily adopted personal, communal, or divine standpoints to legitimise their claims while delegitimising behavioural alternatives.
At the personal level, enactive perspectivisation was used through the ventriloquation of listenersAo The utterance AuI want to be my true selfA Now I want to be myselfAy [Preacher .
reconstructed autonomy as misguided reasoning.
This was immediately countered by evaluative stance-taking such as AuIf your heart is good, you will listen to GodAy [Preacher .
, which framed obedience as the only credible moral The alternation between mimicked self-justification and corrective evaluation guided audiences to reject autonomy-based arguments and recentre divine command as the primary moral reference point.
Collective perspectivisation broadened responsibility to the societal level.
Nostalgic framing in AuThere is no more shameA In our time, itAos become normal not to coverAy [Preacher .
contrasted an idealised past with a morally degraded present, constructing non-compliance as symptomatic of broader social decline.
Epistemic warnings such as AuIf you donAot have knowledge, donAot speak.
You could mislead many peopleAy [Preacher .
positioned improper speech as a communal hazard.
AoAurah became a shared moral duty in which individual lapses were presented as threats to collective religious integrity.
Religious framing was activated when speakers adopted a divine vantage point.
Statements such as AuCovering Aoaurah A thatAos not a command from an ustaz but from AllahAy [Preacher .
displaced interpretive agency from preachers to God, reinforcing the idea that modesty was not subject to personal negotiation.
Eschatological framing intensified this stance, with utterances such as AuMost of the people in hell are womenA The biggest sin: not covering AoaurahAy [Preacher .
, embedding Aoaurah within a salvific logic tied to ultimate Moral-social framing further positioned bodily visibility as a communal risk.
Hyperbolic formulations like AuJust a glimpse of a girlAos hairA wow, thatAos something elseAy [Preacher .
and causal constructions such as AuJust one strand of your hairA can drag four men into hellAy [Preacher .
shifted perspectivisation to the imagined male gaze.
These linguistic moves presented female bodily visibility not as individual expression but as a catalyst for male spiritual danger.
Moreover, practical framing softened the strictures of Aoaurah through actionable advice.
In AuIf you donAot feel like wearing socks, wear a long top and closed shoes.
InshaAllah it wonAot be visibleAy [Preacher .
, modesty was framed as manageable rather than burdensome, presenting compliance as achievable in everyday routines.
The perspectivisation connected the micro-level framings to the wider MalaysiaAeIndonesia socioreligious dynamics.
Nostalgic contrasts echoed regional concerns about moral decline in a rapidly modernising, media-saturated environment.
The construction of womenAos bodies as communal risk aligned with longstanding patriarchal models of moral regulation in Southeast Asian Islamic revivalism.
Emphasis on visibility, obedience, and public judgement resonated with the rise of digital religious authority on platforms like TikTok, where algorithmic visibility amplifies disciplinary speech.
These choices connect to wider debates because the way preachers preach about modesty, gender roles, and religious duty reflects ongoing discussions in society about how Islam shapes behaviour and identity today.
Intensification and Mitigation: Enforcing AoAurah with Fear Appeals and Pastoral Reassurance In the intensification and mitigation strategy.
Aoaurah was presented in the forms of patterned linguistic amplification and selective softening.
The discourse operationalised lexical intensifiers, hyperbole, extreme case formulations, sensory imagery, metaphoric contrasts, repetition, and imperative constructions to heighten emotional impact.
The linguistic devices positioned Aoaurah as a high-risk moral threshold whose violation endangered spiritual standing, communal stability, and divine approval.
Intensification formed the dominant mode of regulation.
One recurrent mechanism was graduated exclusion, which escalated the severity of punishment in layered phrasing.
The utterance AuThose prohibited by Allah from even smelling paradise, not entering it, just smelling itAy [Preacher .
built successive levels of 36 ic JURIS (Jurnal Ilmiah Syaria.
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, 2026 exclusion, transforming a doctrinal rule into an escalating threat.
This structural pattern intensified fear by portraying punishment as increasingly absolute.
Intensification also relied on sensory and visual imagery, as in AuA father bathes naked while the child plays with a yellow duck in the basinAy [Preacher .
The striking juxtaposition of innocence and impropriety created a semiotic shock effect, implying that Aoaurah boundaries were violated even in domestic spaces.
AoAurah became a boundary requiring vigilance in all contexts through such imagery.
Preachers used extreme case formulations to construct Aoaurah violations as categorically severe.
Statements suggesting an inevitable trajectory toward hellfire or asserting that minor lapses could invalidate prayer framed Aoaurah as a non-negotiable threshold obligation.
These formulations echoed broader digital daAowah patterns where fear-based rhetoric secured audience attention within competitive algorithmic environments.
Intensification also showed numerical escalation, as in AuIf one person sees you, that is one sinA Ten people see you? That is ten sins.
And you get all of itAy [Preacher .
This arithmetic logic converted Aoaurah into a quantifiable moral burden, presenting sin as cumulative.
Mitigation appeared as a secondary yet significant strategy, used to maintain engagement without loosening doctrinal boundaries.
In AuFor those who are not there yet, help them with prayer.
Do not belittle.
Do not InviteA Pray for themAy [Preacher .
, the repeated negation and imperative verbs softened the interpersonal stance.
The discourse cultivated a pastoral voice that encouraged compassion toward those struggling with compliance through ritualised repetition.
Mitigation here served relational functions, offering emotional support while maintaining Aoaurah requirements.
Mitigation were also expressed in empathetic redefinition, which was visible in AuWearing a long hijabA that is not a sign of being a religious That is a sign that she is struggling to obey AllahAy [Preacher .
This reframed visible piety as a sign of sincere effort rather than pretension.
Linguistically, the shift from judgment to empathy expanded the moral community to include those in transition, reducing resistance while preserving normative Variation across the data unveiled the intensification and mitigation functioned along a spectrum rather than as uniform patterns.
It highlights a tension that reflects a market-driven environment in which algorithms reward dramatic, punitive warnings.
At the same time, community expectations still value the gentleness associated with traditional religious guidance.
The reliance on eschatological imagery, maximalist metaphors, and quantification reflected anxieties surrounding moral decline and Islamic identity politics in contemporary Malaysia and Indonesia.
Mitigation strategies mirrored communal norms that value pastoral care and collective responsibility.
These discursive moves reasserted religious authority, reinforced gendered norms, and framed Aoaurah observance as an emotionally charged yet navigable moral duty.
Discussion This study examined how preachers on TikTok discursively construct Aoaurah, how religious authority is performed in short-form digital daAowah, and how these strategies shape gendered expectations and sociolegal practices.
The findings reveal that Aoaurah discourse is not merely moral instruction but a digitally mediated regime of governance shaped by linguistic choices, algorithmic incentives, and long-standing patriarchal norms.
Using DHA, the discussion integrates the micro-linguistic patterns identified in the Results with broader socio-historical, gendered and platform-specific dynamics.
Algorithmic Morality and the Rise of Digital AoAurah Governance In answering RQ1 and RQ3, the study shows that religious authority on TikTok is constructed through gendered nomination and predication strategies that position women as primary moral subjects.
This is consistent with Gondal and Hatta .
, yet the current findings extend their argument by showing how TikTokAos architecture amplifies such framings.
In van DijkAos terms, preachers reproduce Auideological squareAy patterns that foreground womenAos vulnerability and background male responsibility, thereby naturalising asymmetrical gender roles.
The fragmentation of the female body into regulated parts reflects WodakAos DHA premise that discursive strategies materialise social hierarchies.
Within a Foucauldian lens, the constant availability of these messages through algorithmic circulation creates what can be understood as a digital panopticon, where users internalise surveillance even without direct enforcement.
This re- Modern Platforms for Timeless Principles: Sharia-Based AoAurah Norms on TikTok ic37 entrenchment is not merely rhetorical but also socio-legal.
By repeatedly linking menAos piety to their governance of womenAos Aoaurah, preachers reproduce a system of vicarious morality where male guardianship becomes a communal expectation.
This supports Hasyim .
on patriarchal reinforcement but adds a new dimension: TikTokAos circulation mechanics push gendered warnings into public visibility, making Aoaurah policing more pervasive and normalised than in traditional settings.
The findings also address RQ2 and RQ3 by showing how preachers rely on the topos of threat, turning TikTok into a form of digital hisbah.
Unlike RosidiAos .
claim that digital fatwas increase accessibility, the current study indicates a shift toward informal legal adjudication.
Preachers compress complex jurisprudence into simplified binary rules, confirming Setia and DilawatiAos .
observation that social media accelerates doctrinal reduction.
However, the present findings add that such compression is not only cognitive but structural: platform design rewards decisive, punitive language.
Predications such as Audressed but nakedAy and Aupeople of hellAy legitimise moral policing by presenting condemnation as scripturally anchored and therefore incontestable.
This dynamic raises socio-legal concerns: Aoaurah becomes a publicly adjudicated norm, enforced not by formal institutions but by dispersed online actors whose authority is algorithmically elevated.
A central interpretive contribution of this study lies in explaining the tension between intensification and mitigation.
Rather than treating fear and empathy as contradictory, the findings position this duality as a strategic adaptation to the attention economy.
While Hasan and Anoraga .
note increasing dramatisation in digital religion, the present analysis shows that preachers pair fear with pastoral softness to maintain both doctrinal rigidity and audience retention.
This aligns with MissierAos .
argument that young users respond more to affective resonance than doctrinal detail.
Within a Foucauldian view of pastoral power, the mitigation strategies function as techniques of relational control: care is used to secure compliance, not to liberalise norms.
This interpretation connects directly to RQ1: authority is performed through alternating tones that reinforce obedience while preserving the preacherAos credibility as both disciplinarian and guide.
The novelty of this study lies in conceptualising TikTok Aoaurah discourse as an emergent form of digital hisbah, where discursive strategies interact with algorithmic visibility to produce informal moral While prior work has described online preaching, none have shown how DHA strategies, especially the topos of threat and predication, function within platform-driven logics to shape gendered socio-legal norms.
This contribution matters because it reframes digital daAowah not only as content creation but as a mode of governance embedded in everyday media infrastructures.
Conclusion This study examined how preachers on TikTok in Malaysia and Indonesia construct and legitimise Aoaurah norms using the Discourse-Historical Approach (DHA).
The analysis demonstrated that digital daAowah does not merely communicate modesty requirements.
It reconstructs Aoaurah as a fixed, gendered, and morally consequential boundary within coordinated nomination, predication, argumentation, perspectivisation, and intensification/mitigation.
The study shows that religious authority on TikTok is performed using linguistic strategies that merge traditional patriarchal discourse with platform-driven that Aoaurah is framed as a non-negotiable rule justified by divine command, threat, and moral These discursive mechanisms contribute to broader systems of gendered socio-legal governance through communal surveillance and algorithmic amplification.
The findings offer three higher-order Theoretically, the study advances debates on digital religious authority by showing how algorithmic infrastructures reinforce, rather than destabilise, gendered moral regulation.
Methodologically, it demonstrates the suitability of DHA for short-form religious media by illustrating how micro-linguistic patterns and topoi reproduce larger ideological formations.
Empirically, it provides one of the earliest detailed accounts of Malaysian and Indonesian TikTok daAowah on Aoaurah, indicating how platform-specific affordances intensify the circulation of fearful, paternalistic, and disciplinary messaging.
The study has limitations.
The dataset exhibits strong gender asymmetry, but the causes of this imbalance cannot be fully determined.
This constrains the generalisability of the findings beyond Aoaurahcentered discourse.
Future research could explore perspectives from preachers themselves to better 38 ic JURIS (Jurnal Ilmiah Syaria.
, 25 .
, 2026 understand the factors contributing to this gender imbalance in digital preaching.
Moreover, the analysis focuses exclusively on preacher-generated content.
without audience data, it remains unclear how users interpret, negotiate, or resist these constructions.
Future research could extend this work by examining audience reception, particularly how young Muslim women navigate or contest digital moral regulation in their everyday media practices.
Comparative analysis across platforms would clarify how different algorithmic systems shape religious authority, while multimodal approaches could reveal how visual and performative cues interact with language to produce moral governance.
In conclusion.
TikTok functions not only as a site of informal religious instruction but as an emerging arena of digital moral regulation where gendered norms are reinforced, legitimised, and circulated.
Using DHA, this study shows that the interplay of linguistic strategies, patriarchal tradition, and algorithmic visibility sustains an evolving form of digital hisbah, with significant implications for understanding contemporary Islamic discourse and its socio-legal effects.
Acknowledgement This research was funded by Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (UNIMAS) under the Pilot Grant, grant number UNI/F09/PILOT/85702/2023.
Conflict of Interest There is no conflict of interest associated with this article.
References