Communicating Islam under Crisis: Institutional Trust and Religious Authority during Public Controversies in Contemporary Muslim Societies
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Abstract
Research on Islamic responses to public crises has examined fatwas, health communication, state regulation, and digital religion, but rarely explains how institutional trust and religious authority are negotiated together when official guidance becomes controversial. This study examined how Islamic institutions projected trustworthiness and defended religious authority during COVID-19 controversies in Indonesia, Turkey, and Egypt. It used a qualitative comparative design based on document analysis of fatwas, sermons, worship guidelines, public statements, and vaccination rulings issued by the Majelis Ulama Indonesia, Diyanet, Al Azhar, and Dar al Ifta between March 2020 and December 2021. The findings showed that credibility depended less on formal status than on visible coordination between medical expertise and religious reasoning. Trustworthiness was stronger when institutions explained changes in worship, offered practical alternatives, and preserved visible judgment while cooperating with the state. Controversy did not simply weaken authority but changed the conditions under which it had to be defended. The study identified dual legitimacy translation, authority distance, and authority collateralisation as mechanisms explaining how Islamic institutions converted medical knowledge into religious guidance while managing political and reputational risk.
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