Da'wah Values in Maher Zain's Awaken
Keywords:
Da'wah Values, Semiotics, Song Lyrics, Maher ZainAbstract
Abstract. Popular music increasingly functions as a strategic channel for cultural da'wah in the contemporary digital era, exemplified by Maher Zain's song "Awaken," whose lyrics narrate modern urban life without explicit religious vocabulary while arguably concealing deeper layers of da'wah meaning. This study aims to describe the denotative meaning, analyze the connotative meaning, and uncover the mythical meaning embedded in the song's lyrics, framed through mass-communication theory and Roland Barthes' model of signification. Employing a qualitative descriptive-interpretive approach, data were collected through documentation of the official lyrics and textual-auditory observation, with validity established through theoretical triangulation and persistent observation. The findings show that, denotatively, the lyrics merely depict secular urban realities such as construction, shopping, and physical fatigue. Connotatively, however, the lyrics carry substantial Akidah (faith) values, namely tawhid-based awareness of human dependence on Allah and eschatological anxiety toward the Day of Judgment, alongside Akhlak (moral) values comprising critiques of hedonism and materialism, the practice of muhasabah (self-reflection), and genuine social empathy. Mythically, the song deconstructs the widespread assumption that happiness is equivalent to material accumulation, offering rational eschatological awareness as an alternative form of self-control for modern urban society.
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