The rise of religious influencers and their impact on social communication in Asia: A systematic review of Da’wah, preaching, and public discourse

Abstract

This systematic review examines how digital platform ecosystems have reshaped Islamic da’wah, contemporary preaching practices, and public-facing religious engagement in Asian contexts through the growing prominence of online faith-based opinion leaders. The review synthesizes studies indexed in Scopus covering the period 2020–2025. Using a qualitative thematic synthesis approach, the article analyzes recurring patterns related to authority transformation, platform-specific communication strategies, credibility and authenticity, youth engagement, religious moderation, gender participation, ethical risks, media literacy, and institutional adaptation. The findings show that religious authority in digital environments is increasingly negotiated through visibility, engagement, relatability, and algorithmic circulation rather than through formal institutional credentials alone. Religious communicators successfully expand access to religious learning by adopting short-form video, live interaction, collaborative content, and personalized storytelling, particularly for younger audiences. At the same time, the review identifies substantial risks, including interpretive oversimplification, misinformation, commercialization pressures, gendered constraints on legitimacy, and the amplification of polarizing content by platform logics. The study further demonstrates that sustainable digital religious communication requires hybrid governance arrangements that combine theological stewardship, operational content standards, media literacy interventions, and strategic collaboration between scholars, institutions, and digital communicators. Overall, the review highlights that the digitization of da’wah is not merely a technological shift, but a structural transformation in how religious authority, trust, and public moral discourse are produced, circulated, and contested across Asian societies.