The Urgency of Islamic Religious Education Management in Strengthening the Value of Religious Moderation in the Digital Era

EDUSOSHUM Journal of Islamic Education and Social Humanities Vol. 5 No. 3, December 2025, pp. 777-788 ISSN 2776-5229 1 777 The Urgency of Islamic Religious Education Management in Strengthening the Value of Religious Moderation in the Digital Era Muhammad Ilham Hidayat1, M. Syahrul2, Supriandi3 Pascasarjana Sekolah Tinggi Agama Islam Al-Furqan Makassar , 1,2,3 ARTICLE INFO ABSTRACT Article history Received December 23, 2025 Revisied January 27, 2026 Accepted February 6, 2026 Keywords: PAI Management, Religious Moderation, Digital Era, Islamic Education. The development of digital technology has brought significant changes in the educational landscape and religious practices, including in Islamic Religious Education (PAI). On the one hand, digitalization opens up opportunities to strengthen innovative and inclusive PAI learning, but on the other hand, it presents serious challenges in the form of the rapid flow of unverified religious information, the emergence of exclusive religious narratives, and the potential for the spread of intolerant and radical ideas in the digital space. This condition demands the strengthening of the value of religious moderation as a just, balanced, and tolerant principle of religion. This study aims to analyze the urgency of Islamic Religious Education management in strengthening the value of religious moderation in the digital era. This research uses a qualitative approach with the type of library research, through a critical study of the Qur'an, Hadith, policies of the Ministry of Religion, as well as scientific literature related to Islamic education management, religious moderation, and digitization of learning. Data analysis was carried out with a thematic, descriptive-contextual, and content analysis approach. The results of the study show that the main challenges of PAI in the digital era are not only technological, but also ideological and managerial. Strengthening PAI management, which includes planning, organizing, implementing, and supervising learning, has proven to have a strategic role in integrating the value of religious moderation systematically and sustainably. Effective PAI management allows Islamic education to function as an ideological bulwark against digital intolerance and radicalism, as well as a means of forming a moderate, inclusive, and social-peace-oriented religious character. 1. INTRODUCTION The development of digital technology has brought fundamental transformations in various aspects of human life, including in the field of education and religious practices. The digital era is characterized by easy access to information, acceleration of communication flows, and the expansion of social interaction spaces through various digital platforms such as social media, websites, and internet-based applications (Amin, 2023; Ramdhan, 2025). This condition makes the digital space a new arena in the formation of religious understanding, attitudes, and behaviors of the community, especially the younger generation. In the context of Islamic education, digitalization opens up great opportunities to develop Islamic Religious Education (PAI) learning that is more creative, interactive, and adaptive to the needs of the times, such as through e-learning, audiovisual media, and the use of digital Islamic content. However, these developments also present complex and serious challenges. The massive flow of religious information in the digital space is not always accompanied by an adequate religious verification and literacy process. As a result, students and society are easily exposed to partial, textual, and even extreme religious narratives. The spread of exclusive religious beliefs, hate speech, EDUSOSHUM Journal of Islamic Education and Social Humanities Vol. 5, No. 3 December 2025, pp. 777-788 ISSN 2776-5229 3 778 and intolerant and radical content in digital media has become a worrying phenomenon and has the potential to erode the values of togetherness, tolerance, and national unity. This condition demands the active role of educational institutions, especially Islamic Religious Education, in fortifying students from deviant religious understandings while building moderate and responsible religious awareness. Religious moderation as a religious principle that emphasizes fairness (i'tidal), balance (tawazun), tolerance (tasamuh), and respect for differences (ta'addudiyyah) is a very urgent need in a multicultural and digital society (Agustian, 2019; Nurlaili et al., 2023; Ramdhan & Arifin, 2025). Religious moderation is not intended to weaken religious beliefs, but rather to place religious teachings in proportion so that they are able to coexist harmoniously in diversity (Fahmi, 2025; Haluti et al., 2025; Hidayat et al., 2025). In this context, Islamic Religious Education has a strategic position as the main means of instilling the values of religious moderation from an early age. PAI not only functions as a medium for the transfer of Islamic knowledge, but also as a vehicle for the formation of inclusive characters, religious attitudes, and social ethics of students and oriented towards the common good. However, the effectiveness of Islamic Religious Education in internalizing the value of religious moderation is highly dependent on how the educational process is managed. PAI learning that only focuses on cognitive and normative aspects has the potential to fail to answer the challenges of the dynamic and complex digital era. Therefore, it is necessary to manage Islamic Religious Education that is professional, systematic, and oriented towards strengthening values. PAI management includes learning planning that is responsive to contemporary issues, organizing competent and moderate educator resources, implementing learning that uses digital media wisely, and continuous supervision and evaluation of educational processes and outcomes. It is in this context that the management of Islamic Religious Education is a crucial aspect that cannot be ignored in efforts to strengthen the value of religious moderation in the digital era. Good management allows for the consistent integration of religious moderation values into the curriculum, learning methods, teaching materials, and culture and educational climate in educational institutions. On the contrary, weak PAI management can cause religious learning to run formalisically, lack contextuality, and be unable to fortify students from the negative influence of the digital space. Therefore, a study on the urgency of Islamic Religious Education management in strengthening the value of religious moderation in the digital era is important and relevant to be carried out, in order to provide a conceptual and strategic foundation for the development of Islamic education that is adaptive to technological developments, inclusive of diversity, and oriented towards the realization of peace and social harmony. 2. METHODS This study uses a qualitative approach with a descriptive-a (...truncated)