Faith-first Fandom: A Māturīdī Middle Path Analysis of Malay-Muslim Women on K-Pop Fan Spaces

Nur Kareelawati Abd Karim

Abstract


K-Pop fandom in Muslim-majority Malaysia is often framed as either a threat to Islamic values or dismissed as harmless leisure. This article challenges this binary by foregrounding the nuanced ethical reasoning of Malay-Muslim women in fan spaces. It introduces the concept of 'faith-first fandom' as a lived ethic in which entertainment is secondary to religious commitments and is continually negotiated through reflective boundary-work. Drawing on qualitative interviews with 16 Malay- Muslim women who engage with the virtual idol group PLAVE on X (formerly Twitter), the study examines how participants regulate their attention, emotions, time, spending, and online conduct. Analysis employs a Māturīdī-influenced framework—ʿaql (discernment), naql (Islamic values as moral anchoring), and mīzān (balance as praxis)—to illuminate how reason, revelation, and moderation intersect in everyday digital practices. Findings reveal that fandom is actively managed through selective consumption, ethical distancing, moderation, and adab (proper conduct) online. Rather than passively accepting or rejecting K-Pop, participants demonstrate agency by integrating faith-based values into their engagement with K-Pop idols. The article reframes parasocial attachment as an ethically governed relationship and highlights how digital religion operates within ordinary entertainment spaces, contributing to communication scholarship on Muslim women’s agency in global popular culture.

 

Keywords: Korean Wave, Hallyu, K-Pop fandom, Malay-Muslim women, ethical reasoning.

 

https://doi.org/10.17576/JKMJC-2026-4203-32


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References


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