Visuality and Digital Religiosity in Instagram Da’wah: Negotiating Islamic Normativity and Religious Authority

Abstract

Purpose: This study examines how visuality in Instagram da’wah contributes to the construction of digital religiosity through the negotiation of artistic creativity, Islamic normativity, and religious authority. Focusing on the Instagram account @egg_winner, the study investigates how visual choices communicate religious meaning beyond conventional Islamic symbols and how these representations are negotiated through audience interaction. Methodology: The study employs a qualitative single-case design centered on one Instagram Reel selected from content observed between August and November 2025. The analysis integrates visual culture analysis with Van Dijk’s sociocognitive Critical Discourse Analysis and interprets the findings through Glock and Stark’s dimensions of religiosity and Campbell’s concept of networked religion. The analytical corpus includes visual composition, character design, color, typography, overlay text, and publicly available audience comments. Findings: The Reel constructs religiosity primarily through visual practice rather than explicit religious iconography. The deliberate omission of facial features functions as a visual response to the Islamic discourse of tasywir, while color, composition, character design, and text overlays translate religious considerations into an accessible digital aesthetic. Informal language and dialogic prompts encourage audience participation and create a less hierarchical communicative relationship between creator and followers. Audience interactions further indicate that aesthetic appreciation and religious evaluation intersect within the comment space. These practices suggest that digitally visible creators can participate in the mediation of religious knowledge and authority, although such authority remains informal and platform-dependent. Implications: The findings show that Instagram da’wah should be understood not merely as the digital transmission of religious messages but as a visual and participatory practice in which Islamic norms are interpreted, aestheticized, and negotiated. The study also highlights the need for greater attention to the relationship between visual literacy, platform logic, and religious authority in contemporary digital Islam. Originality: This study contributes to scholarship on digital religion and visual culture by demonstrating how religious meaning can be produced through aesthetic decisions embedded in everyday creative practice. It extends the concept of networked religion by foregrounding visuality as a mechanism through which Muslim identity, Islamic normativity, and emerging forms of digital religious authority are negotiated on short-form social media.