Classical Wisdom Meets Digital Da’wah: Reinterpreting Rumi’s Ethical Messages for the Millennial Muslim Generation

Authors

  • Badrah Uyuni *

    Faculty of Islamic Studies, As-Syafiiyah Islamic University, Jakarta 17411, Indonesia
  • Mohammad Adnan

    Faculty of Islamic Studies, Universitas Islam Negeri Syarif Hidayatullah, Jakarta 15412, Indonesia
  • Hadi Yasin

    Faculty of Islamic Studies, As-Syafiiyah Islamic University, Jakarta 17411, Indonesia
  • Rabiah Al-Adawiyah

    Faculty of Islamic Studies, Institut Agama Islam At-Taqwa, Bekasi 17612, Indonesia

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.55121/cl.v3i2.562

Abstract

The digital transformation of religious communication has created new opportunities and challenges for engaging Muslim millennials with classical Islamic spirituality. This research examines how Jalal al-Din Rumi's ethical teachings—rooted in the esoteric (bāṭinī) tradition of Islam and expressed in his major works, Mathnawi, Fihi Ma Fihi, and Divan-e Shams—are reinterpreted and disseminated through contemporary digital platforms. Employing a qualitative descriptive approach, this study combines analysis of Rumi's original Persian texts with content analysis of 100 posts from ten prominent Islamic da'wah accounts on Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube (January–May 2025). The findings reveal that Rumi's messages of divine love ('ishq), self-purification (tazkiyat al-nafs), patience (ṣabr), and universal compassion are adapted across a spectrum ranging from explicit Islamic contextualization to universal aesthetic spirituality. Accounts that intentionally frame Rumi's teachings within Islamic theology—integrating Qur'anic verses, hadith, and Sufi concepts—successfully maintain theological depth while achieving meaningful engagement. However, digital dissemination presents a paradox: the same platforms that enable unprecedented reach also facilitate decontextualization and secularization when Rumi's verses are extracted from their Sufi foundations and presented as motivational soundbites. The study introduces a three-pole spectrum of reinterpretation (Islamic framing, hybrid approaches, universal spirituality) as a heuristic tool for analyzing religious transformation in digital spaces. It argues that Rumi's universalist, love-oriented mysticism—irreducible to either sectarian orthodoxy or secular humanism—offers a distinctive resource for contemporary Islamic ethics, recovering neglected dimensions of Islamic spiritual heritage. The findings provide practical strategies for da'wah practitioners to maintain theological integrity while engaging millennial audiences. This study contributes to discourses on digital religion, ethical pedagogy, and the revival of classical literature in contemporary Islamic da'wah.

Keywords:

Rumi, Digital Da’wah, Islamic Ethics, Classical Literature, Millennials, Sufism, Social Media Religion

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Vol. 3 No. 2 (November 2025)

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