Sumud Nusantara: Online Sentiments and Islamic Ethics on Social Media Solidarity with Palestine
Sumud Nusantara: Sentimen Dalam Talian dan Etika Islam dalam Solidariti Media Sosial dengan Palestin
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.53840/ejpi.v12i6.307Abstract
This study investigates how Islamic ethical values shape digital expressions of solidarity with Palestine, focusing on Sumud Nusantara, a Malaysian-led humanitarian flotilla movement. Adopting a mixed-method research design combining automated sentiment analysis and qualitative thematic interpretation, the study examines how users articulate faith-driven hope and moral solidarity through Instagram comments. Data were collected from the official @sumudnusantara account, encompassing 144 cleaned comments drawn from the ten most engaging posts. Using a Python-based scraping pipeline, comments were extracted, cleaned, and preprocessed to remove metadata, duplicates, and non-human entries. Lexicon-driven sentiment detection and emotion-based scoring (via text2emotion and NRCLex) were employed to classify thematic presence and intensity across two ethical dimensions: faith-driven hope and moral solidarity. Subsequent qualitative interpretation mapped these sentiments against the Islamic ethical principles of ʿadl (justice) and ḥifẓ al-nafs (preservation of life). Findings show that 132 comments expressed faith-driven hope, while 77 conveyed moral solidarity, often overlapping. The multilingual discourse—dominated by Malay and English—reflects both local cultural grounding and transnational ummah consciousness. Word frequency analysis highlights the dominance of spiritual and humanitarian terms (e.g., Allah, semoga, safe, sumud), signifying digital expressions of compassion, vigilance, and steadfastness. Engagement patterns demonstrate a community-oriented participation, reflecting the moral equilibrium of ʿadl and the protective compassion of ḥifẓ al-nafs. The study concludes that Sumud Nusantara’s online activism represents a form of digital adab (ethical conduct), where justice and compassion converge in networked moral practice. It shows how faith-based digital publics translate Islamic ethics into contemporary humanitarian advocacy, transforming social media into a moral public sphere grounded in justice, empathy, and the preservation of life.
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