Networked Islam and liquid authority: Everyday influencers and young Muslim practice

The rise of digital Islam has opened organic spaces in which Muslims learn, debate, and live their faith online, reshaping how religious influence and credibility emerge. While professional influencers often dominate digital religious spaces, everyday influencers, lacking formal religious authority yet embedded in close peer networks, play a crucial role in shaping religious practice. Drawing on 40 in‑depth semi‑structured interviews conducted between November 2024 and February 2025 in Egypt, Morocco, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates, this article engages Campbell’s framework of networked religion as a point of dialogue rather than a fixed model. We propose the concept of liquid authority to explain how religious credibility emerges through trust, relational proximity, and algorithmic visibility in digital contexts. Findings show that social media complements rather than replaces traditional religious practice. While formal scholars remain central to institutional authority, algorithmically mediated and peer‑embedded forms of authority increasingly shape lived religious practice.