Muslim Women's Religious Leadership in the Digital Age: How Online Platforms Transform Traditional Authority Struc-Tures.

The article examines how digital technologies are transforming Muslim women's access to religious leadership by enabling them to circumvent traditional institutional and theological barriers rooted in patriarchal interpretations of Islam. Utilizing a systematic review of 178 scholarly sources, the study highlights that Muslim women employ online platforms—such as blogs, social media, and virtual study groups—to assert interpretive authority through ijtihad, build transnational feminist networks, and create alternative religious spaces beyond male-dominated institutions. Framed within liberal feminist philosophy, the research underscores the negotiation between maintaining Islamic authenticity and promoting gender justice, while also addressing challenges like digital divides, online harassment, and institutional resistance. The findings suggest that digital empowerment fosters hybrid models of religious authority based on lived experience and community recognition rather than formal credentials, offering practical implications for Islamic communities to integrate women's digital leadership within traditional frameworks.