Dr. Murtala Ibrahim holds a Ph.D. in Philosophy and Religious Studies from Utrecht University (2017) and a foundational degree in Religious Studies from the University of Jos, Nigeria. His postdoctoral research has explored the nexus of religion, security, and urban authority. This includes his role on the ERC-funded project Sacralizing Security (SACRASEC) at Utrecht University, where he conducted a comparative ethnographic study of religious vigilante groups in Lagos, Jakarta, and Rio de Janeiro. Prior to his current position, he was a Postdoctoral Fellow with the Global Encounter Platform at the University of Tuebingen.

Ibrahim’s work is characterized by its global-comparative framework and its focus on applying contextually-grounded ethnographic research to complex questions of authority in the digital and urban spheres.

His research on religion and new media technologies is supported by a grant from the German Research Foundation (DFG).

Anthropology of Religion and Artificial Intelligence (AI), Winter Semester 2025/3026.

Algorithmic Religiosity: Social Media Algorithms and the Emergence of Salafi Digital Authority, Community, and Piety in Northern Nigeria

Project Description

In this project, I will explore the role of Facebook algorithms in the Salafi mode of building religious authority, community, and piety in northern Nigeria. As social media becomes deeply embedded in Nigerian society, many Salafi religious leaders (digital imams) and groups (digital communities) have adopted Facebook and applied its algorithmic technology as a medium for building religious authority, collectivity, and religious self-cultivation (digital piety). This study investigates how algorithmic quantification—metrics such as subscribers, likes, and shares—becomes a new currency for religious authority, influencing the thematic and stylistic choices of digital content. Moving beyond a unidirectional model of influence, the analysis focuses on the recursive dialectic between Salafi users and the platform: users generate active and passive signals (e.g., comments, view time), to which the algorithm responds with personalized curations such as recommendations and notifications. This dynamic, I argue, constitutes a process of algorithmic self-cultivation, whereby the pursuit of piety is increasingly mediated and shaped by algorithmic logic. Ultimately, this project challenges theories of religion and media that offer a one-sided account of technological impact. Instead, it demonstrates how Salafi users and the social media platform comingle to co-produce and co-constitute one another, resulting in a relationship of mutual governmentality—a bidirectional form of self-fashioning between humans and the machine.

Furthermore, I will focus on how Salafi leaders and users interact with Facebook algorithms through engaging with both passive and active signals (view time, subscriptions, likes, shares, thumbs-ups, and comments), and how the algorithms-mediated platform responds to them through personalization of experience, recommendations, and notifications, ultimately shaping their subjectivity.

Monograph

Ibrahim, M. (2022): Sensational Piety: Practices of Mediation in the Nigerian Pentecostal and Islamic Religious Movement. London: Bloomsbury Publishers. https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/sensational-piety-9781350282308/.

Refereed articles

Ibrahim, M. (2025). Illumination. Material Religion, 1-8. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17432200.2025.2587445.

Ibrahim, M. (2025). Hemato-Politics: Self-Sacrifice and the Aesthetics of Vigilante Authority in the Nigerian City of Jos. Ethnos, 1–17. https://doi.org/10.1080/00141844.2025.2560341.

 Ibrahim, M. (2025). A Geopolitical Intervention in African Religious Studies. Utambuzi Journal for the Study of Religions of Africa and its Diaspora, : Studying African Religions in the 21st Century: (Re)setting the Agenda(Vol. 8 No. 1 (2025)), 47-59. https://doi.org/10.36615/r6smnh57.

Ibrahim, M. (2024). Islam in the digital infrastructure: the rise of Islamic cyber practices in Northern Nigeria. Religion, State and Society, 52(2–3), 114–132. https://doi.org/10.1080/09637494.2024.2353956.

Ibrahim, M. (2023). The people with iron skin: protective charms, traditional religion, and vigilante authority in Lagos, Nigeria. Culture and Religion, 23(3), 240–261. https://doi.org/10.1080/14755610.2024.2344563.

Ibrahim, M. (2022). Theoretical exploration of literature on Pentecostalism and media in Africa. Religion Compass, e12452. https://doi.org/10.1111/rec3.12452.

Ibrahim, M. (2022). The clash of sound, image and light: Inter- and intra-religious entanglements and contestations during Mawlūd celebrations in the city of Jos, Nigeria. Africa, 92(5), 759-779. https://www.doi.org/10.1017/S0001972022000663.

Ibrahim, M., Abubakar, D., Maigari, A. M., & Ibrahim, A. (2022). Curtailed Worship, Conspiracy Theories, and Hollywood Dystopias: Reactions to the COVID-19 Pandemic among the Reformist Muslims and Pentecostal Christians in Nigeria. Entangled Religions, 12(3). https://doi.org/10.46586/er.12.2021.9092.

Ibrahim, M. (2020). Spatial Piety: Shia Religious Processions and the Politics of Contestation of Public Space in Northern Nigeria. In: Balkenhol, M., van den Hemel, E., Stengs, I. (eds) The Secular Sacred. Palgrave Politics of Identity and Citizenship Series. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-38050-2_5.

Ibrahim, M. (2020). "The Sites of Divine Encounter: Affective Religious Spaces and Sensational Practices in Christ Embassy and NASFAT in the City of Abuja", Affective Trajectories: Religion and Emotion in African Cityscapes, Hansjörg Dilger, Astrid Bochow, Marian Burchardt, Matthew Wilhelm-Solomon, Durham. NC. Duke University Press. Pp. 78-97. https://doi.org/10.1215/9781478007166-005.

Ibrahim, M. (2017). Oral transmission of the sacred: Preaching in Christ Embassy and NASFAT in Abuja. Journal of Religion in Africa, 47(1), 108-131. https://doi.org/10.1163/15700666-1234010.

Ibrahim, M. (2015): The Rise of Boko Haram and its Socio-Economic Impact in Northern Nigeria. Edited. Kingsley Owetel, Freedom, Self-Determination and Growth in Africa. Mediateam IT Education Center GmbH. Berlin, 2015.

Ibrahim, M. (2013): The presence and Challenges of New Religious Movements (NRMs) in Nigeria. International Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences (IJHSS). Center for Promoting Ideas, USA. Vol. 3 No. 15; August 2013. www.ijhssnet.com/journals/Vol_3_No_15_August_2013/21.pdf.

Ibrahim, M. (2016): Islamic Concept of Knowledge. Jalingo: Journal of Arabic and Islam1ic Studies. Vol.3 No.1, June, 2016.

Ibrahim, M. (2015): Concept of Human Rights in African Traditional Religion and Culture. Journal of African Religion and Culture (J.A.C.C), Vol. 5. No.2, 2015.

Ibrahim, M. (2015): Worldview of Hare Krishna and Eckankar: A Comparative Perspective. Foundations of African Theology, Vol. 4, No.2, published under the auspices of the Ecumenical Association of Third World Theologians (EATWOT).

Forthcoming articles

Ibrahim, M. “Charity for Security: Communities’ Reciprocation to Vigilante Groups during Coronavirus-Induced Lockdown in Jos.” In: Journal of Muslim Philanthropy & Civil Society. Published by Indiana University Press, USA. (in press).

Ibrahim, M. Charmed Weapons and Anti-Weapons Charms Among the OPC Vigilante Groups in Lagos, Nigeria. In: Routledge Studies in Anthropology Series. (revision).

 Ibrahim, M. The Drink of the Gods: Traditional Religion and Informal Security Governance among the Oodua People’s Congress (OPC) in Lagos: In African Studies. Taylor & Francis.