Is there an Islamic communication? The persistence of ‘tradition’ and the lure of modernity

Abstract

Since 'culture' has become an essential category in trying to explain the post-1989 world, a new wave of essentialist thinking has emerged in the social sciences, including media studies. One such reaction is the so-called Islamic theory of communication based on a narrow and essentialist conceptualisation of 'authentic' culture. While trying to take issue with Eurocentrism, such an approach still operates within an Orientalist worldview. This article explores the central thesis, the limits and implications of Islamic Exceptionalism as related to media culture in the region, and Iran in particular. It suggests that claims of difference and of a singular 'Islamic' perspective on communication suppress the internal differences within such perceivedly singular 'cultures', and more significantly they overlook the real and more pressing 'differences' which need our urgent attention. In this article I argue that the claim of regional or religious 'exceptionalism' is only one part of a global cultural system that itself calls for the essentializing of local truths, and that tries to show how universal theories of culture and society do not fit these singular spaces/cultures. This recent 'cultural turn', and the emergence of alternative cultural claims to modernity, should be precisely seen as an attempt to reconstruct modernity according to 'particular' regional models, despite the avowed rejection of 'modernity'.

Menimbang Komunikasi Spiritual: Sebuah Tinjauan Konseptual

“…Dengan demikian, tradisi Islam bukan tidak mungkin juga bisa menjadi tradisi yang berbeda. Di kancah internasional, salah satu nama yang paling terkemuka dalam wacana Islam dan komunikasi adalah Hamid Mowlana (Mowlana, 2003(Mowlana, , 2007(Mowlana, , 2021, meskipun pendekatannya pun mendapatkan kritik (Khiabany, 2007). Karya dan pikiran Mowlana tidak disebut dalam dua buku teks komunikasi Islam di Indonesia (Hefni, 2015;Muslimin, 2022), yang mengindikasikan kurangnya keterkaitan wacana tersebut dengan konteks komunikasi Islam yang lebih luas.…”

Tren Kajian Komunikasi Islam di Indonesia

“…Di tahun 2007, Gholam Khiabany mempertanyakan adakah sebenarnya Komunikasi Islam. Baginya, kehadiran Studi Komunikasi Islam hanyalah reaksi dalam usaha untuk menciptakan budaya 'otentik' ketika masyarakat Islam berhadapan dengan eurosentrisme dan orientalisme pasca tahun 1989 (Khiabany, 2007). Budaya menjadi kategori penting dalam menjelaskan ilmu pengetahuan, salah satunya dengan munculnya gelombang baru pemikiran esensalis yang lahir dalam ilmu-ilmu sosial.…”

Western and Islamic Communication Model : A Comparative Analysis on A Theory Application

“…While in Islamic perspective, the message that is delivered or received must be well monitored in terms of its reliability and choice of words. The message should not possess elements that are misleading in human's judgment and it should be kept within the sender's and receiver's own secrets (Khiabany, 2007). While unlike the western models that highlight only on the ability of both sender and receiver in interpreting the message or decoding process, the Islamic model stresses on the personality of both the sender and the receiver who should follow the right teachings of Islam based on the holy Quran and prophet's traditions as the reference in life.…”