Jombang — Qhoirin Anisa, a student in the Master’s Program for Quranic Studies and Exegesis (S2 IAT) at the Faculty of Ushuluddin and Islamic Thought, UIN Sunan Kalijaga Yogyakarta, presented her research findings at the Muktamar Turats Nabawi (MUTUN) and the 2026 Annual Meeting of the Indonesian Hadith Studies Association (ASILHA), held at Ma’had Aly Hasyim Asy’ari in Tebuireng, Jombang, East Java. The presentation took place during Parallel Session I on Monday, October 5, 2026, from 13:00 to 15:00 WIB.

At this academic forum, Qhoirin Anisa presented an article titled “Kitab Riyāḍ al-Ṣāliḥīn as a Source of Narrative: The Representation of Hadith in the Film Cinta Riyadus Solihin.” Her research examines how hadith (prophetic traditions) sourced from the book Riyāḍ al-Ṣāliḥīn are represented within the film—not only through explicit textual citations but also through dialogue, character actions, conflicts, plot development, and visual elements.

The study is motivated by the growing use of hadith in audiovisual media. Hadith appear not merely as quotations or recitations of religious texts; rather, they function as integral components of narrative construction—shaping characters, driving conflicts, and conveying moral messages to the audience. Consequently, this research seeks to understand how hadith are transformed from normative texts into cinematic narratives, and how this transformation influences the interpretation of the hadith themselves.

To address these issues, Qhoirin employed a qualitative approach, utilizing film analysis methods and Stuart Hall’s encoding-decoding theory. Data were gathered through repeated viewings of the film, documentation—including dialogue transcriptions and screenshots of specific scenes—and a review of relevant literature. The primary sources for this research include the film Cinta Riyadus Solihin and the book Riyāḍ al-Ṣāliḥīn, while the secondary sources encompass Syarḥ Riyāḍ al-Ṣāliḥīn (commentary on Riyāḍ al-Ṣāliḥīn) and literature concerning representation theory and the encoding-decoding model.

The analysis was conducted by identifying explicit and implicit representations of hadith, then comparing them with the content of the hadith and their explanations in the syarah (commentary) text. This approach allowed the research not only to identify the hadith appearing in the film but also to examine how religious messages are constructed through cinematic and narrative elements.

The research findings indicate that the representation of hadith in the film Cinta Riyadus Solihin covers four main themes: etiquette of eating, gentleness toward women and the concept of righteous women, social relations, and patience. Explicit representations are found through the recitation of hadith and dialogue between characters, while implicit representations are constructed through characters' actions, camera focus, social interactions, conflicts, and the progression of the narrative.

These findings demonstrate that hadith in the film function not merely as religious texts but as integral components of the narrative construction. The values ​​derived from the hadith are conveyed through character development and the events experienced by the characters, rendering the religious message more contextual and relatable to the audience's own experiences.

Applying Stuart Hall’s encoding-decoding theory, this research identifies two tendencies in the interpretation of hadith representations. First, a "dominant-hegemonic reading" is observed in the representations of hadith concerning patience and social relations; in these instances, the meanings constructed within the film align closely with the normative content explained in Syarḥ Riyāḍ al-Ṣāliḥīn.

Second, a "negotiated reading" is found in the representations of hadith regarding the etiquette of eating, gentleness toward women, and the concept of righteous women. In these themes, the messages of the hadith undergo contextual adjustments and dramatization to serve the requirements of the narrative. This process reveals a negotiation between the normative message of the hadith and the way a film constructs its audiovisual narrative.

Overall, Qhoirin Anisa’s research concludes that the transformation of hadith into film does not necessarily negate its normative function. Instead, this transformation introduces narrative and communicative functions. Hadith can play a role in shaping characters, developing conflicts, driving the plot, and conveying religious values ​​through a popular medium.

This study also underscores the importance of examining hadith within popular media by considering two interconnected aspects: the content of the hadith text and the manner in which it is represented within an audiovisual context. Consequently, understanding the message of a hadith as presented in a film cannot rely solely on the source text; it must also account for the processes of construction and meaning-making that occur through the medium of film.

Qhoirin Anisa’s participation in MUTUN and the 2026 ASILHA Annual Meeting serves as a dissemination of research conducted by a master’s student in the Ilmu Al-Qur’an dan Tafsir (IAT) program at UIN Sunan Kalijaga Yogyakarta, while also demonstrating the relevance of hadith studies within the field of media and popular culture. This research opens a space for dialogue between...