Department of Islamic Studies, Usmanu Danfodiyo University Sokoto - Nigeria
Social media utilization in Covid-19 epoch: Virtual da’wah-ramadan lectures in Northern Nigeria
Social media have become part of the individual and public lifestyles of Muslims globally. The paper examined the utilization of social media platform such as Facebook and YouTube as an available option to conduct Virtual Da’wah Ramadan lectures on the commentary of the Glorious Qur’an and Ta’aleem in Northern Nigeria and this was done with the sampled of scholars from the three zones in Northern Nigeria, i.e. North-West, North-Central and North-East. The paper adopts the use of secondary data as method of data collection where In-depth survey of the various pages/channels on social media and participant observation to obtain data. The researchers purposively sampled nine scholars for the study and survey was carried out on their various social media pages/channels to ascertain their level of utilization of the technology during the COVID-19 period to teach their followers with the restriction of movement and gathering in places of worship in Nigeria. Some of the findings of the study revealed that the sampled Muslims scholars finds it convenient to present live programme of their teachings virtually and post video and audio of their Virtual Da’wah Ramadan lectures on the commentary of the Glorious Qur’an and Ta’aleem social media. The research paper concludes Muslim scholars to continue with the utilization of the social media platforms even after the Ramadan and Post-COVID-19 pandemic in carrying out their day to day virtual teachings so that other audience who are not close to their Masjid will benefit from their lectures on the various teachings of Islam.
Keywords: COVID-19; Ramadan Fast; Lectures; Utilization; Social Media
- Adam, G., Salem, H. (2009). The impact of Facebook on our Muslims students. Teach. Lib., vol.36 (5): page 36.
- Adebowale O., (2020). The Nigerian Victory against the 1918 Influenza Pandemic and the 1897 Epidemic. Guardian Nigerian Newspaper, March 29th. http://m.guardian.ng/life/the- nigerian-victory-against-the-1918-influenza- pandemic-and-1897-smallpox-epidemic/
- Ahmed W., Vidal-Alaball J., Downing, J., & Seguí, L.F., (2020). Dangerous Messages or Satire? Analysing the Conspiracy Theory Linking 5G to COVID-19 through Social Network Analysis. Journal of Medical Internet Research.22 (5). https://doi.org/10.2196/preprints.19458.
- Ashraf, M. (2010). The Role of Information Technology in Islam, Canadian Journal on Network & Information Security Vol. 1, No. 7.
- Boyd, d. m. & Ellison, N. B. Social network sites: Definition, history, and scholarship. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 2007, vol.13 (1), 210-230.
- Burke D., (2020). "What Churches, Mosques and Temples are doing to fight the Spread of Coronavirus". CNN. Retrieved from http://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.cnn.com/cnn/2020/03/14/world/churches-mosques-temples-coronavirus-spread/index.html. 29th May 2020.
- Coyle, C., Vaughn, H. (2008). Social networking: Communication revolution or evolution?, Bell Labs Journal, vol3, page13-17.
- Hernandez, S. (2010). Ball State Study Shows College Students' Smartphone Usage Rising, Ball State University. Retrieved from http://www.bsudailynews.com/ball-state-study-shows-college-students-smartphone-usage. 18th May 2020.
- Jang, K., & Baek, Y.M., (2019). When Information from Public Health Officials is Untrustworthy: The Use of Online News, Interpersonal Networks, and Social Media during the MERS Outbreak in South Korea. Health Communication, 34(9):991–998.
- Kamal A., (2020). The Islamic Guidance to Deal with Coronavirus COVID-19. Retrieved from https://www.newmuslim.net/featured/the-islamic-guidance-to-deal-with-coronavirus-covid-19/ . 20th May 2020.
- Maoz, M., Jacobs, J., Davies, J. (2009). Predict 2010: customer service meets Social CRM, Gartner RAS core Research Note G00172347, Thompson Ed.
- Muhammad Muhsin Khan, (1997). The Translation of the Meaning of Sahih Al-Bukhari (Arabic-English). Riyadh: Dar-Us-Salam Publications.
- Nasiruddin al-Khattab, (2007). English Translation of Sunan Ibn Majah of Imam Muhammad Bin Yazeed Ibn Majah Al-Qizwini. Riyadh: Dar-us-Salam.
- Ngozika A.O, Chinenye A. & Mathias C.I., (2020). Social Media and the COVID-19 Pandemic: Observations from Nigeria. Cogent Arts & Humanities. (7)1: 1-15. https://doi.org/10.1080/23311983.2020.1799483
- Nigerian Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), (2020). Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) Pandemic. https://covid19.ncdc.gov.ng/. 19th May 2020.
- Oh, SH., Lee, SY., & Han, C., (2020). The Effects of Social Media Use on Preventive Behaviors during Infectious Disease Outbreaks: The Mediating Role of Self-relevant Emotions and Public Risk Perception. Health Communication, 1-10. https://doi.org/10.1080/10410236.2020.1724639.
- Opejobi S., (2020). COVID-19: No Ramadan lectures, congregational prayers’ this year- Sultan of Sokoto. Daily Post, 20th April. https://www.google.com/amp/s/dailypost.ng/2020/04/20/covid-19-no-ramadan-lectures-congregational-prayers-this-year-sultan-of-sokoto/.
- Parke C., (2020). "Churches cancel Sunday Service, move online amid Coronavirus outbreak". Fox News. Retrieved from https://www.foxnews.com/us/coronavirus-update-church-sunday-service-online.amp. 23rd May 2020.
- Salau S. & Adunola S., (2020). Muslims embrace virtual lectures during Ramadan. The Guardian. https://www.google.com/amp/s/guardian.ng/features/muslims-embrace-virtual-lectures-during-ramadan/.
- Salman J., (2011). Impact of Media and Social Media on Islam and Muslims. Retrieved from https://messageinternational.org/impact-of-media-and -social-media-on-islam-and-muslims/ on 23rd May 2020.
- Serrat, O. (2009). Social Network Analysis, Regional and Sustainable Development Department, Asian Development Bank.
- Sule, M.M., and Abubakar, S. (2017). An Investigation of the Social Media Platforms Utilization among Muslim Students. A Paper Presented at the National Conference on Religion and Pugnacity Organised by Nigerian University Scholars in Religions (NUSREL) Held on 21st – 24 April 2017 at Al-Hikmah University Ilorin, Kwara State, Nigeria.
- World Health Organization (WHO), (2019). There is a Current outbreak of Coronavirus (COVID-19) Disease. http://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019. 17th May 2020.
- World Health Organization (WHO), (2020). Safe Ramadan practices in the context of the COVID-19: Interim guidance. https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/safe-ramadan-practices-in-the-context-of-the-covid-19-interim-guidance.
- Yusha'u A.I., Mohammed I.Y., Abdullateef A., & Ahmed M., (2020). COVID-19: Muslim Organizations, Scholars Move Ramadan Tafsir Online. Daily Trust, 24 April 2020. https://dailytrust.com/covid-19-muslim-organizations-scholars-move-ramadan-tafsir-online.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.