Author: Azka Amananda PutriEditor : Ayom Mratita Purbandani

Abuya Mama Ghufron Al-Bantani, or popularly known as Mama Ghufron, is the founder of the Uniq Nusantara Islamic Boarding School (pondok pesantren) in Malang, East Java, which has recently gone viral on social media. The controversial clip spread on platforms, including Tiktok and Instagram. Some of these clips include him pronouncing “Syududu” which he claims is from Suryani language, asserting that he is able to communicate with ants, and making a video call with the grim reaper.

The case became subsequently controversial on social media, generating a wave of jokes and memes that were widely perceived as pejorative within the broader community. Although Mama Ghufron had established legacy and religious authority as head of Uniq Nusantara Islamic Boarding School, media exposure was able to reshape public perception of him. This raises an important question, how can media reshape religious authority that has been built through conventional means?

The Legitimacy of Religious Authority and Its Developments

Historically, religious authority was built through a long and multi-layered process. As the media techologies have evolved, the structure and sources of religious authority has also changed. In Indonesia, where the majority of the population is Muslim, one of the prominent mechanisms for establishing religious legitimacy is the sanad system.

Sanad System refers to the transmission of knowledge from one generation to the next, ensuring the authenticity of teaching and scholarly authority. According to Nurhamidin, in the past, the authority of religious scholars was earned through scholarly lineage, institutional legitimacy and moral, and spiritual reputation. The emergence of digital media, however, has altered the conventional pathways. Religious authorities no longer rely exclusively on scholarly chains of transmission. Instead, it is increasingly shaped by media visibility and popularity on social media.[1]

The Distribution and Algorithms of Religious Content

To understand the shift in religious authority in the digital age, the concept of mediatization of religion provides a useful analytical framework. Mediatization refers to the influence of media on changes in social interactions. As a result, religious practices cannot be separated from developments on media. The mediatization of religion results in a more fluid representation of religion in how of building relationships, compared to conventional practices characterized by strict hierarchies[2]. Based on this, religious institutions have become integrated into and are now shaped by media logic.

The popularity of Mama Ghufron’s content illustrates this through influence of community activity on social media by the number of likes, shares, comments and followers. Research by Deza and Parikh describe this phenomenon through the concept of viral content. Viral content can be considered viral if it has been shared repeatedly by social media users and has spread across social media networks[3]. Mama Gufron’s sermon content which was uploaded to YouTube, was then edited into short clips (clippers) and shared across various media platforms. These clippers attracted the attention and shaped public perception without considering the context of the full video. As a result, an emotionally triggered audience drives engagement.

This phenomenon relies on how the platform media work. According to Van Dijk and Poell, social media content has a popularity-driven characteristic[4]. This characteristic aligns with the design of social media platforms, which promote visibility through algorithms so that content can be widely and rapidly disseminated with just one click. These decontextualized clippers create a fragmented understanding and leads to emotional polarization.

Fragmented Authority and Dialog Polarization

A controversial video clip by Mama Ghufron drew criticism from an Islamic organization Majelis Ulama Indonesia (MUI). The criticism stemmed from the perception that the clip was lacked a credible religious foundation and could mislead Muslims[5]. Several Islamic religious figures have also spoke out about Mama Ghufron sermon, including Ustadz Felix Siauw[6] and Ustadz Adi Hidayat[7]. Ironically, this response has brought the content to the forefront and turned it into a topic of public discussion. Content creators and the general public have joined in, reacting to the video clip with everything from humor to sarcasm. The multi-layered responses from religious institutions and figures, along with public mockery, diminished Mama Ghufron’s authority on social media platforms.

Nevertheless, Mama Ghufron responded only minimally to the criticism. He emphasized that what he taught was not heretical, but derived from the Quran and the Hadis[8]. Islamic boarding school also confirmed the scholarly chain of transmission that Mama Ghufron had received, passed down from generation to generation from the Prophet Muhammad[9]. According to him, the viral controversial content benefited his boarding school by allowing it to reach a wider audience. To this day, Mama Ghufron still has followers who believe in his teachings, particularly among the students at his islamic boarding school.

(Picture 1 Mama Ghufron’s Academic Lineage (Sanad))

Through this phenomenon, the system of authority is no longer centered on a single source but has instead become increasingly decentralized. Mama Ghufron’s system of justification operates in parallel, without invalidating other forms of validation. This is due to the polarization of religious views related to the beliefs of each group.

Interestingly, the condemnation issued by Islamic institutions, such as the MUI, has not undermined the trust of his followers at his Islamic boarding school. This phenomenon demonstrates that in the age of social media, official institutions are no longer the sole centralized source of validation. This is because every individual has their own way of interpreting a figure’s authority, whether through the sanad system, popularity, or based on existing evidence.

Public opinion regarding Mama Ghufron has become polarized. This polarization has created an “echo chamber” between the digital sphere and Mama Ghufron’s community. An echo chamber refers to a space filled with the views of people who share the same opinions, one that does not foster constructive dialogue and leads to views that remain isolated from one another.[10] Mama Ghufron’s followers base their arguments on personal trust in their teacher. Meanwhile, the critics base their arguments on textual and institutional grounds. The two sides never engage in dialogue because each operates within a different logic of truth.

Conclusion

Ultimately, the media has not entirely displaced or eliminated Mama Ghufron’s authority. Instead, Mama Ghufron’s authority has become bifurcated: one in the digital sphere and the other within his community. These parallel forms of validation exist because social media lacks a single, universally recognized definitive authority. Media, which initially created a meeting space for society, has instead transformed into a space where groups reinforce their polarization. This dynamic sustained by competing and often incommensurable claims to truth, making consensus and dialogue increasingly difficult to achieve. In this phenomenon, religious institutions need to rethink their communication strategies. These institutions must continue to educate the public on religious literacy, including the ability to critically analyze content and avoid relying solely on algorithms.

Endnote

1. Nurhamidin, B. et al.(2025).‘Transformasi otoritas keagamaan di era digital: analisis sosiologis terhadap pergeseran pola otoritas ulama di media sosial’. pp 40-41
2. Alimi, M.Y.(2018). ‘Mediatisasi agama, post truth dan ketahanan nasional: sosiologi agama era digital. pp 25-28.
3. Deza, A. & Parikh, D.(2015)‘Understanding image virality’, Proceedings of the IEEE Conference on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition.
4. van Dijck, J. & Poell, T. (2013).‘Understanding social media logic’, Media and Communication.
5. tvOne.(2024). ‘Klarifikasi Maksud Bicara dengan Semut, Mama Ghufron: Semua Ada di Al-Qur’an’. [online] YouTube, 20 July, viewed 30 May 2026,
6. Junaidi. (2024). ‘MUI dorong ada penyelesaian sikapi polemik Mama Ghufron’, [online] Majelis Ulama Indonesia, available at: https://mui.or.id/baca/berita/mui-dorong-ada-penyelesaian-sikapi-polemik-mama-ghufron (accessed 8 June 2026). https://youtu.be/F85guUNuaVk?si=ZmhNWsNXMzS3lLUw
7. Felix Siauw. (2026). Kenapa Orang Bodoh Diikuti. Youtube Video. 19 May, viewed 24 June 2026 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P6lFfkdtZzI&t=215s
8. Redaksi Eramuslim. (2024). Ini tanggapan Ustadz Adi Hidayat soal Mama Ghufron yang klaim bisa bahasa semut. [online] Eramuslim. available at: https://www.tvonenews.com/religi/226264-satire-mama-ghufron-bahasa-semut-ustaz-adi-hidayat-sebut-saat-ini-dianggap-mudah-jadi-ustaz-atau-kiyai-mui-ingatkan-bisa-menyesatkan (accessed 24 June 2026)
9. Al-Banteni, K.H.M.A.G.(2001). Napak Tilas Perjalanan Nahdlatul ‘Ulama (NU), Yayasan Pondok Pesantren UNIQ Indonesia.
10. Sunstein, C. R. (2018). # Republic: Divided democracy in the age of social media. In # Republic. Princeton university press.

1. Nurhamidin, B. et al.(2025).‘Transformasi otoritas keagamaan di era digital: analisis sosiologis terhadap pergeseran pola otoritas ulama di media sosial’. pp 40-41 ↑
2. Alimi, M.Y.(2018). ‘Mediatisasi agama, post truth dan ketahanan nasional: sosiologi agama era digital. pp 25-28. ↑
3. Deza, A. & Parikh, D.(2015)‘Understanding image virality’, Proceedings of the IEEE Conference on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition.↑
4. van Dijck, J. & Poell, T. (2013).‘Understanding social media logic’, Media and Communication. ↑
5. Junaidi. (2024). ‘MUI dorong ada penyelesaian sikapi polemik Mama Ghufron’, [online] Majelis Ulama Indonesia, available at: https://mui.or.id/baca/berita/mui-dorong-ada-penyelesaian-sikapi-polemik-mama-ghufron (accessed 8 June 2026)↑
6. Felix Siauw. (2026). Kenapa Orang Bodoh Diikuti. Youtube Video. 19 May, viewed 24 June 2026 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P6lFfkdtZzI&t=215s ↑
7. Redaksi Eramuslim. (2024). Ini tanggapan Ustadz Adi Hidayat soal Mama Ghufron yang klaim bisa bahasa semut. [online] Eramuslim. available at: https://www.tvonenews.com/religi/226264-satire-mama-ghufron-bahasa-semut-ustaz-adi-hidayat-sebut-saat-ini-dianggap-mudah-jadi-ustaz-atau-kiyai-mui-ingatkan-bisa-menyesatkan (accessed 24 June 2026) ↑
8. tvOne.(2024). ‘Klarifikasi Maksud Bicara dengan Semut, Mama Ghufron: Semua Ada di Al-Qur’an’. [online] YouTube, 20 July, viewed 30 May 2026, https://youtu.be/F85guUNuaVk?si=ZmhNWsNXMzS3lLUw ↑
9. Al-Banteni, K.H.M.A.G.(2001). Napak Tilas Perjalanan Nahdlatul ‘Ulama (NU), Yayasan Pondok Pesantren UNIQ Indonesia. ↑
10. Sunstein, C. R. (2018). #Republic: Divided democracy in the age of social media. In # Republic. Princeton university press. ↑