CELEBRITY ULAMA’: opportunities for the commodification of religion and the values of Islamic education Das’ad Latif

Das’ad Latif is a popular and well-known Muslim preacher among the upper-middle-class Muslim community, such as government officials and security forces, as well as among ordinary people. With social media support, he became popular with many followers and often appeared on national television shows. Using a qualitative approach with the Sade-Beck Netnography method, this article highlights the form of Das’ad Latif’s Islamic preaching as an opportunity for the commodification of religion and the pedagogical value of Islamic education in the contemporary era. This study examines how and under what conditions Das’ad Latif creatively uses these aspects to construct himself as a ‘celebrity cleric’. This study uses the analysis of Shusterman, Alatas, and Sasono. These findings argue that the visibility of preaching and the pedagogical value of Islamic education from Das’ad Latif’s sermons can boost his popularity in public segments that other celebrity preachers do not touch. This study contributes to creating a new style of religious authority where diverse public spaces can receive religious messages with narratives easily digested by the public. This study provides a new model of celebrity ulama construction for studying Indonesian Islam and the Muslim world in general.