Algorithmic religion? Between #muslimtiktok and make-up tips on Instagram

Under the title ‘Algorithmic religion? Between #muslimtiktok and make-up tips on Instagram’, Dr Christoph Günther presented first insights into the ongoing research of the Erfurt sub-project of Islam and Digitality. In addition to interrogating the ‘power’ of algorithms, two arguments were central to his examination of videos by Muslim content creators on social media platforms: First, it is worthwhile paying more attention to the audiovisual composition of images and videos, and learning from their ’created-ness’ about the presentation of content. Secondly, a critical look at short video formats that aim to convey Islamic norms and values as timeless without any contextualisation is equally apt. The lecture, which was part of the series ‘Islam as an occupation. Religious Profession between Self and World Reference’ by the Centre for Islamic Studies (Zentrum für Islamische Studien) in Frankfurt, garnered huge interest from students of Islamic theology.

Foto: Lale Diliktaş