Nurturing Islamic Media Content in Digital Environment

Today, in the globalized world, new media technologies including social media platforms have dramatically changed the nature of human communications. Old and new media platforms have to some extend converged and allowed the circulation of content to reach global audiences. Media content in various forms has been transmitted to the Muslim society through oral communication, written materials as well as printing, broadcast and new media technologies. Ideally, Muslim culture is derived from the culture of knowledge and communication. As understood from the notion of ‘ilm (knowledge) and iqra’ (read), the history of communication in Islam has been firmly based on the transmission of Islam as a comprehensive way of life. This article offers a systematic way of understanding the nurturing process of Islamic media content in the digital environment by examining and conceptualizing the related issues of the media ecosystem in Muslims society. Therefore, crafting the variety of Islamic media content to suit the different medium is in a need to be re-examined. This paper will evaluate issues related to overview of Islamic entertainment, examine the need for new ijtihad (legal reasoning), and nurturing Islamic popular culture through the establishment of a competitive and dynamic Islamic production house. It is argued that globalization has “imposed” some sorts of new challenges to the Muslim world with regards to the media philosophy and technology.