Yusuf Hanafi, Muhammad Lukman Arifianto, Muhammad Saefi, Hanik Mahliatussikah, Faris Khoirul Anam, Abd Rauf Hassan, Muhammad Fahmi Hidayatullah
In reality, many students misunderstand several Islamic religious terms that come from Arabic; regarding jihad, caliphate, and bid’ah. This study used qualitative and quantitative data collection methods to investigate students’ perspectives on these terms. We collected data through a questionnaire on 122 Muslim students at the university who were suspected of being exposed to radicalism. After examining student responses, our examination led to mapping “positive,” “moderate,” and “negative” sentiments. The results revealed that few students achieved a positive category. Students expressed their attitudes, beliefs, and evaluations that the term Islam was abused and associated with violence, enforcement of the caliphate, and accusations of bid’ah against different groups. Analysis of data on student comments revealed that students’ meaning of terms tended to be influenced by the definition of radical Muslim groups. These findings indicate that radical groups can influence the way students interpret a term and create negative sentiments. Through this research, we suggest that “an indicator of moderate-radical Muslim group tension,” in the context of this study, between Nahdlatul Ulama and Muhammadiyah versus Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia, can be used as material for deradicalisation policies for campuses in Indonesian. © 2022 The Author(s). This open access article is distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) 4.0 license.
Faculty of Letters, Universitas Negeri Malang, Malang, Indonesia; Faculty of Science and Technology, Universitas Islam Negeri Maulana Malik Ibrahim Malang, Malang, Indonesia; Faculty of Modern Language and Communication, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Serdang, 43400,, Malaysia; Faculty of Islamic Religion, Universitas Islam Malang, Malang, Indonesia