An Epistemological Reformulation of Islamic Education in Response to the Post-truth Era

Abstract

This article examines the challenges facing Islamic education in responding to the phenomena of post-truth, disinformation, and hoaxes, which increasingly threaten the epistemological and social order of Indonesian Muslim society. The objectives of this study are to identify the epistemological implications of the post-truth era for the Muslim community, analyze the structural challenges faced by Islamic educational institutions, revitalize Quranic values as the foundation of digital literacy, and formulate transformative strategies for Islamic education. This study employs a qualitative method using a conceptual-integrative content analysis approach to examine accredited academic literature, normative Islamic texts (the Quran and Hadith), and the works of contemporary Islamic educational thinkers. The findings indicate that: i) the post-truth era creates an epistemological crisis exacerbated by the phenomena of digital taqlid and algorithmic echo chambers; ii) Islamic education faces structural challenges in curriculum, educator competencies, the digital information ecosystem, and digital character; iii) the concepts of tabayyun, tadabbur, and tafakkur constitute the foundations of Islamic epistemology that are relevant and structurally aligned with contemporary digital literacy methods such as SIFT and lateral reading; iv) the methodology of hadith chain criticism (jarh wa ta’dil) represents a legacy of multi-layered verification that can be adapted for digital literacy. The implications of this research underscore the urgency of reformulating the Islamic Religious Education curriculum based on the integration of Islamic epistemology and digital literacy.