Rekonstruksi Konsep Muraqobah dalam Pengawasan Diri di Era Media Sosial

Abstract

The rapid proliferation of social media in the digital era has fundamentally transformed patterns of human communication while simultaneously giving rise to a crisis of self-regulation, manifested in the widespread dissemination of misinformation, hate speech, cyberbullying, validation-seeking behavior, and digital addiction. These phenomena indicate that external regulatory mechanisms alone are insufficient to address the complex ethical challenges emerging within digital platforms. This study aims to reconstruct the concept of muraqabah (awareness of Allah’s constant supervision) in Imam al-Ghazali’s Sufi thought as a foundational framework for self-regulation in the age of social media. Employing a qualitative library research design with a descriptive-analytical approach, the study draws upon Imam al-Ghazali’s primary works, particularly Ihya' 'Ulum al-Din, alongside contemporary scholarly literature on Sufism, Islamic ethics, and digital media studies. The data were analyzed using content analysis complemented by critical-descriptive interpretation. The findings reveal that al-Ghazali’s concept of muraqabah is constructed upon two principal dimensions, namely ma'rifah (gnostic knowledge of Allah) and self-surveillance, which are manifested through obedience to Allah, avoidance of sinful conduct, and the proportional use of permissible (mubah) activities. These dimensions are subsequently reconstructed into a social media ethics framework consisting of three implementation stages: pre-action awareness (muraqabah qabl al-fi'l), self-regulation during action (muraqabah fi al-fi'l), and post-action self-evaluation (muraqabah ba'd al-fi'l). The novelty of this study lies in reconceptualizing muraqabah from a purely spiritual discipline into an applicable framework for digital ethics, thereby offering a distinctive alternative to secular models of self-regulation. Accordingly, the reconstructed concept of muraqabah contributes to the advancement of Islamic digital ethics by proposing a transformative model for cultivating moral integrity amid the complexities of the contemporary social media landscape.