Filial Responsibility in Contemporary Muslim Indonesia: Reconfiguring Religiously-grounded Elder Care Practices

Filial Responsibility in Contemporary Muslim Indonesia: Reconfiguring Religiously-grounded Elder Care Practices | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Filial Responsibility in Contemporary Muslim Indonesia: Reconfiguring Religiously-grounded Elder Care Practices Askuri Askuri, Siti Noordjannah Djohantini, Islamiyatur Rohmah, and 3 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-8238153/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract This study examines how Muslim families in Indonesia reinterpret and enact filial responsibility amid rapid socio-economic change and expanding digital infrastructures. Despite the centrality of birr al-wālidayn—the Islamic ethic of honoring and caring for parents—in shaping family obligations, research has rarely explored how these religious imperatives interact with modern constraints such as migration, urban labor demands, and technological mediation. Drawing on in-depth interviews, participant observation, and digital ethnography involving 36 participants across urban and semi-rural regions, this study develops the concept of Islamic Filial Responsibility (IFR) to capture the interplay between normative religious teachings and lived caregiving practices. Findings reveal that elder care is framed as a divinely grounded duty, but its practical enactment is negotiated through distributed caregiving roles, gendered labor expectations, and digitally mediated forms of presence. Digital tools, including WhatsApp, video calls, and telemedicine, enable adult children to sustain emotional closeness, coordinate daily care, and fulfill moral obligations across distance. These practices illustrate a significant shift from proximity-based care toward intentional, coordinated, and technologically supported forms of filial engagement. The study highlights the contributions of community and religious institutions, which complement family-based care and help address care gaps for ageing parents. By articulating IFR, this study extends the global filial piety literature beyond its East Asian and secular paradigms, illustrating the intersection of religious ethics, digital mediation, and socio-economic realities in shaping intergenerational care within Muslim-majority societies. The findings offer implications for gerontology, Islamic studies, and digital sociology, and underscore the need for policy frameworks that integrate cultural, religious, and technological dimensions of elder care, ensuring more comprehensive support for ageing populations. responsibility muslim indonesia elder care practices INTRODUCTION The accelerating global trend of population ageing has reshaped the landscape of family life, long-term care systems, and intergenerational obligations in profound ways (Lum et al., 2022 ; Utomo et al., 2022). Across continents, states are confronting growing pressures related to elder care, driven by increased life expectancy, declining fertility rates, and strained social welfare infrastructures (Teo et al., 2019). Much of the scholarly attention to filial responsibility and intergenerational care has focused on East Asian contexts-particularly Confucian-influenced societies such as China, Korea, and Japan-where filial piety ( xiao ) constitutes a central cultural model shaping expectations of elder care (Bedford & Yeh, 2019 ; Park & Chesla, 2020). This heavy regional concentration in the literature has produced a global knowledge imbalance, leaving the experiences of other cultural-religious communities underexamined, including those of Muslim-majority societies (Padela & Mohapatra, 2019 ). Within contemporary gerontology, there remains a notable absence of conceptual frameworks that articulate how Islamic ethical teachings inform family care practices, despite clear evidence that religion shapes family obligations, emotional commitments, and moral expectations (Hashim & Hussin, 2020 ; Abu-Ras & Abdel-Samad, 2021 ). Although Muslim societies emphasize family responsibility, compassion, and reverence toward parents, these values have rarely been theorized as part of the global discourse on filial obligation. In classical Islamic ethics, the concept of birr al-wālidayn —a moral imperative mandating kindness, respect, and support for parents—forms a rich and multilayered foundation for understanding care relations (Hashim & Hussin, 2020 ). Yet, despite its centrality in Islamic thought, birr al-wālidayn has not been systematically explored within ageing studies, nor has it been examined in relation to contemporary challenges such as urban migration, gendered divisions of caregiving labor, and digital mediation in trans-local families (Teo et al., 2019). Indonesia provides a unique and compelling context for addressing this gap. As the world’s largest Muslim-majority nation, Indonesia combines strong religious norms with rapid social transformations, including rural–urban migration, global mobility, the rise of nuclear households, and expanding digital infrastructures (Utomo et al., 2022; Schröder-Butterfill & Kreager, 2020 ). These conditions generate new tensions in fulfilling elder care responsibilities, particularly as families negotiate between normative religious expectations and the practical constraints of everyday life. While elder care continues to be framed as a moral and religious duty, the mechanisms through which these obligations are enacted are changing, often in ways that remain undocumented in academic literature (Baldassar & Wilding, 2020 ). This article addresses the problem of how Muslim families in Indonesia reinterpret and renegotiate filial responsibility amid shifting socio-economic and technological conditions. Despite the powerful normative emphasis on birr al-wālidayn , little is known about how families adapt these teachings when facing geographical separation, economic pressures, and limited state-provided care infrastructure (Utomo et al., 2022). Moreover, existing studies have not adequately captured how digital communication platforms—such as WhatsApp, video calls, and telemedicine—mediate filial relations and serve as new modalities of care (Peng & Wong, 2020 ; Hjorth & Lim, 2022 ). To respond to these gaps, the present study proposes the analytic category of Islamic Filial Responsibility, a conceptual framework that integrates Islamic ethical imperatives with empirical realities of contemporary family life. The study aims to: (1) conceptualize Islamic Filial Responsibility as a culturally and religiously grounded model of intergenerational care; (2) examine how Muslim families in Indonesia reconfigure birr al-wālidayn in both co-residential and trans-local caregiving arrangements; and (3) analyze the role of digital mediation in sustaining emotional bonding, coordinating care, and fulfilling moral obligations toward ageing parents. By doing so, this article contributes to global gerontology by expanding the cultural scope of filial piety studies and offering new insights into how religious values shape elder care in the digital age. THEORETICAL LITERATURE The theoretical foundation of this study draws upon three major bodies of literature—global filial piety studies, Islamic ethics of care, and sociological perspectives on digital mediation—which together illuminate how filial responsibility is conceptualized and enacted within contemporary Muslim Indonesia. While research on filial piety has long been dominated by East Asian contexts, where Confucian xiao shapes expectations of reverence and co-residence (Bedford & Yeh, 2019 ; Park & Chesla, 2020), a growing body of work from the Middle East, Africa, and Latin America expands this discourse beyond its traditional geographical anchors. Studies in the Arab region, for instance, highlight how kinship obligations are intertwined with Islamic moral duty and tribal reciprocity (Joseph, 2020 ; Barakat, 2021 ), while African scholarship emphasizes ubuntu‑based ethics that frame elder care as a communal and moral commitment rather than a purely familial one (Nwoye, 2017 ; Kasongo, 2020 ). Latin American research similarly shows how Catholic and communitarian values shape multigenerational caregiving, particularly in contexts of migration and economic precarity (González & De León, 2019 ). Western gerontology, by contrast, foregrounds autonomy, intergenerational solidarity, and functional exchanges as indicators of healthy intergenerational relations (Lum et al., 2022 ; Teo et al., 2019). Yet across these diverse settings, scholars have noted that religious and moral worldviews remain understudied as structural forces that shape caregiving practices—particularly within Muslim-majority societies where Islamic ethical frameworks strongly influence family responsibilities. Islamic ethical thought places extraordinary emphasis on compassion, respect, and sustained kindness toward parents, articulated through the foundational concept of birr al-wālidayn . Classical and contemporary scholars highlight that this ethic derives its authority not from social hierarchy, but from divine accountability and the moral reciprocity embedded in parental sacrifice (Hashim & Hussin, 2020 ; Padela & Mohapatra, 2019 ). Beyond Southeast Asia, Middle Eastern scholarship has demonstrated how Islamic moral frameworks around kin duties intersect with broader structures of reciprocity and communal honor, making birr al-wālidayn both a familial and social virtue (Joseph, 2020 ; Barakat, 2021 ). African Muslim contexts similarly show that parental care is embedded in broader ethical systems—such as ubuntu and Islamic communal ethics—that emphasize collective responsibility and interdependence across generations (Nwoye, 2017 ; Kasongo, 2020 ). In South Asia, studies reveal that care for ageing parents is shaped by the convergence of Islamic duty, extended family systems, and everyday moral reasoning among Muslim households in India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh (Haque, 2019 ; Zaidi & Sattar, 2020). Acts of care are framed as forms of worship ( ʿibādah ), underscoring their spiritual weight while reinforcing the moral centrality of gratitude and reciprocity. Despite this richness, religiously grounded ethics of elder care remain insufficiently theorized in global ageing scholarship and rarely integrated into comparative frameworks that examine intergenerational care across diverse Muslim-majority and minority contexts (Abu-Ras & Abdel-Samad, 2021 ; Khan & Kirmani, 2022 ). At the same time, contemporary family life is increasingly shaped by digital infrastructures that redefine how emotional closeness and care responsibilities are maintained. Sociological studies on mediatization and mediated presence show how digital technologies create new modes of relational proximity, allowing families separated by migration or distance to sustain ongoing communication, coordinate daily tasks, and offer emotional support (Hjorth & Lim, 2022 ; Baldassar et al., 2016 ). In Muslim-majority contexts, emerging research highlights how digital technologies reinforce kin-based obligations and religiously infused moral expectations, particularly in settings where migration and dispersed households are common (Al-Sharmani, 2018 ; Madianou, 2016 ). WhatsApp, video calls, and telemedicine platforms enable forms of “virtual co-presence” that expand traditional boundaries of care (Baldassar & Wilding, 2020 ), while studies from the Gulf, North Africa, and South Asia show that digitally mediated caregiving often intertwines with Islamic notions of duty, compassion, and accountability (Haque, 2019 ; Khan & Kirmani, 2022 ). Despite these developments, research has only begun to explore how mediated practices intersect with Islamic moral expectations around filial responsibility, particularly in societies where religious norms strongly shape the meaning and enactment of elder care. Synthesizing these strands, this study advances the concept of Islamic Filial Responsibility (IFR) as an analytic lens that bridges Islamic ethical imperatives with the diverse realities of contemporary caregiving across the Global South. Beyond its grounding in classical Islamic virtues—duty ( farḍ ), compassion ( raḥmah ), gratitude ( shukr ), respect ( iḥtirām ), and obedience ( ṭāʿah )—IFR resonates with broader moral ecologies documented in African, Middle Eastern, and South Asian caregiving traditions. Studies across Sub‑Saharan Africa show how Islamic ethics blend with ubuntu philosophies to shape intergenerational care as a communal and moral responsibility (Nwoye, 2017 ; Kasongo, 2020 ), while contemporary Middle Eastern scholarship highlights the intertwining of kinship, Islamic duty, and social honor in sustaining elder care (Joseph, 2020 ; Barakat, 2021 ). In South Asia, research demonstrates how Islamic moral reasoning interacts with extended family structures and migration-driven separations to produce hybrid models of obligation, negotiation, and distributed care (Haque, 2019 ; Zaidi & Sattar, 2020). IFR also encompasses practical caregiving dimensions, including emotional companionship, material support, and digitally coordinated care shaped by gendered roles, mobility, and shifting household structures (Teo et al., 2019; Utomo et al., 2022). Emerging work from the Gulf, North Africa, and African Muslim diasporas underscores how digital mediation is increasingly interpreted as a legitimate extension of religiously grounded attentiveness and moral presence (Al‑Sharmani, 2018; Madianou, 2016 ; Khan & Kirmani, 2022 ). As such, IFR provides a culturally grounded framework that situates elder care within intertwined domains of Islamic ethics, digital transformation, gendered labor, and global ageing processes—offering an expanded, comparative foundation for understanding intergenerational care in Muslim-majority and Muslim-minority societies worldwide. METHODS This study employed a qualitative interpretive design to examine how Muslim families in Indonesia conceptualize and enact filial responsibility within the shifting socio-economic and technological landscape of contemporary elder care. The interpretive approach allows for an in-depth understanding of how individuals make sense of their moral obligations toward ageing parents, how religious teachings inform caregiving practices, and how digital technologies mediate intergenerational relationships. The study also incorporates elements of digital ethnography to capture the role of communication technologies in sustaining care across distance. Research Design A qualitative interpretive methodology was selected to explore the lived experiences and moral reasoning that shape elder care practices. This approach aligns with the study’s goal of understanding how Islamic ethical imperatives interact with social realities to produce diverse caregiving arrangements. The design integrates: In-depth semi-structured interviews, suitable for capturing narratives of obligation, negotiation, and emotional labor; Situation-based case exploration, focusing on specific family arrangements (co-residential, trans-local, and fully digitally mediated care); and Digital ethnography, observing communication patterns through WhatsApp groups, video calls, and teleconsultation interactions. This multi-layered design provides a comprehensive understanding of how filial responsibility is conceptualized, justified, and practiced. Setting and Participants The research was conducted in three major urban centers (Jakarta, Yogyakarta, and Surabaya) and two semi-rural regions (Central Java and West Nusa Tenggara), which represent diverse socio-economic and religious environments in Indonesia. Participants were recruited using purposive sampling to ensure inclusion of families with varying caregiving arrangements. Eligibility criteria were as follows: adult Muslim children (ages 25–60) actively involved in caring for at least one ageing parent; older adults (ages 60+) receiving care; and family caregivers or siblings participating in coordinated caregiving tasks. A total of 36 participants were included: 20 adult children, 10 elderly parents, and 6 additional caregivers (siblings or in-laws). This sampling strategy enabled exploration of multi-perspective caregiving dynamics. Data Collection Data were collected over six months using multiple qualitative techniques: In-depth semi-structured interviews (60–90 minutes each), conducted in person or via video call, depending on participant location. Interviews explored perceptions of filial responsibility, motivations for care, challenges in fulfilling obligations, and the role of Islamic teachings. Participant observation, performed during home visits and family care activities (e.g., medication management, meal preparation, religious rituals). Field notes documented caregiving interactions and decision-making processes. Digital ethnography, focusing on WhatsApp family groups, archived voice notes, and video call routines used to maintain emotional presence and coordinate care. Screenshots and interaction logs (with consent) provided insight into mediated care practices. All interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed verbatim, and translated into English when necessary. Data Analysis Thematic analysis following Braun and Clarke’s six-phase framework was used to identify core themes across interview transcripts, observational notes, and digital communication data. Coding was conducted iteratively using NVivo 14 to enhance analytic rigor. Patterns were examined across three domains: (1) normative articulations of filial responsibility; (2) practical caregiving strategies; and (3) digital mediation processes. The analysis also incorporated constant comparative techniques derived from grounded theory to refine emerging conceptual categories and ensure coherence between empirical data and the proposed model of Islamic Filial Responsibility. Ethical Considerations The Institutional Review Board of the affiliated university granted ethical approval for this study. All participants provided informed consent before data collection, including consent for audio recording and the optional use of anonymized digital communication excerpts. Pseudonyms were used in all transcripts and publications to protect confidentiality. Participants were informed of their right to withdraw from the study at any time without consequence. Special care was taken when interviewing older adults to ensure clarity, comfort, and emotional safety during the research process. RESULTS The findings of this study reveal how Muslim families in Indonesia interpret, negotiate, and enact filial responsibility amid dynamic socio-economic changes and expanding digital infrastructures. Analysis generated five major themes that illuminate the moral foundations, practical tensions, and mediated forms of elder care embedded in Islamic ethical teachings. The Moral Architecture of Islamic Filial Responsibility Participants consistently framed elder care as a religiously grounded duty, drawing on Qur’anic injunctions and prophetic teachings. Across interviews, adult children invoked birr al-wālidayn as a moral compass shaping their decisions, even when external constraints limited their capacity to provide direct care. One participant explained, “Caring for one’s parents is not a choice but an obligation. God has commanded us to honor them, so in any situation, we must be present” (AD1). Another daughter emphasized the emotional-spiritual dimension of caregiving, stating, “Whenever I feel tired or confused about what to do, I remind myself that honoring my parents is a path toward drawing closer to God. That is what strengthens me” (AD5). A son who lived overseas added, “Even though I am far away, I intend every video call as an act of worship. I want my parents to know that I am still present for them” (AS1). This sense of divine accountability fostered an ethic of compassion and respect, extending beyond material support to include emotional presence, moral deference, and attentiveness to parents’ wishes. One mother noted, “My children always ask for my opinion before making any decision. That makes me feel respected” (EP1). A caregiver assisting her older sister reflected, “We consider caring for her not a burden, but a trust. That is why we try to speak gently and accompany her with care” (CG1). The moral architecture of Islamic filial responsibility thus integrates duty ( farḍ ), compassion ( raḥmah ), gratitude ( shukr ), and reverence ( iḥtirām ), forming a normative framework that guides caregiving practices. For many participants, religious teachings provided both moral clarity and emotional motivation. Acts of caregiving were viewed not only as social obligations but also as forms of worship ( ʿibādah ) and pathways to spiritual reward. This religio-moral grounding distinguished Islamic filial responsibility from secular models of intergenerational support, emphasizing that elder care is both relational and theological. Tensions Between Normative Teachings and Real-Life Constraints Despite strong moral commitments, families often faced significant tensions in fulfilling caregiving obligations. Participants frequently cited economic pressures, demanding work schedules, and geographical separation as barriers to fulfilling idealized models of direct caregiving. Migration to urban centers or overseas created physical distance that complicated co-residence, long considered the normative arrangement for elder care. These constraints were especially pronounced for the sandwich generation, who were simultaneously responsible for raising children and caring for ageing parents. One participant stated, “I want to care for my mother every day, but my job in Jakarta makes it impossible. Sometimes I feel guilty for not always being by her side” (AD2). Another participant echoed this struggle, explaining, “My child is still young, but my father also needs attention. It feels like being pulled in two directions” (AD10). Gendered care patterns also emerged, with daughters disproportionately performing caregiving tasks, even when sons expressed comparable moral commitments. One daughter shared, “I am the one who has to manage everything—children, work, and my parents. Sometimes I have no time for myself” (AD11). Women described balancing employment, childcare, and elder care, often at the expense of personal well-being. These tensions illustrate the complex interplay between moral ideals and socio-economic realities. Families navigated structural limitations by redistributing responsibilities among siblings, hiring paid caregivers when financially feasible, or relying on extended kin networks. Nevertheless, emotional guilt and moral ambivalence persisted, showing how strongly Islamic filial ethics continue to shape expectations. Digital Mediation as a New Form of Filial Care Digital technologies played a crucial role in enabling adult children to fulfill caregiving obligations across distance. Families relied heavily on WhatsApp groups to coordinate medication schedules, monitor daily routines, and share updates. One daughter explained, “Every morning we check on our father through the family WhatsApp group. If something needs to be bought or checked, we immediately divide the tasks” (AD3). Another participant described a similar routine: “We create a schedule in the group—who reminds him to take his medicine, who sends money, who checks his blood pressure. Everything is done through WhatsApp, so nothing is missed” (AD6). WhatsApp voice notes and video calls functioned as substitutes for physical presence, creating a sense of emotional proximity despite geographical separation. A son working in Kalimantan shared, “Every night I video call with my mother. She says it feels as if I’m sitting in the living room with her” (AS2). Another elderly parent expressed how digital communication eased loneliness: “When my children call or send a voice note, my heart immediately feels calm. It feels like someone is accompanying me” (EP2). Video calls were particularly valued for maintaining emotional bonds. Participants described using regular video calls to provide companionship, reduce loneliness, and reinforce a sense of attentiveness. One participant shared, “When I video call at night, my mother keeps smiling. She says she feels accompanied even though I am far away” (AS3). Another parent expressed how meaningful such interactions were: “When I see my children’s faces on the screen, my heart feels warm. I no longer feel alone” (EP3). Telemedicine platforms were also used for remote health consultations, allowing adult children to accompany parents virtually during appointments. As one daughter described, “During every doctor’s check-up, I join through video call. I want to make sure all of her questions are answered” (AD7). Digital money transfers via mobile banking further enabled timely financial support, with a participant noting, “If there is an urgent need, I can immediately transfer money. There is no need to wait until I return home” (AS4). These practices demonstrate how digital mediation allows families to enact filial responsibility through technologically facilitated forms of presence. While not a full replacement for in-person care, digital tools significantly expanded families’ ability to maintain moral and emotional commitments. Reconfiguring Islamic Filial Responsibility The interaction between religious norms, socio-economic pressures, and digital infrastructures produced new interpretations of what it means to be a filial Muslim child. Participants increasingly emphasized intentionality over physical co-residence, suggesting that filial responsibility is not solely measured by proximity but by sincerity, coordination, and consistency of care. Families reconfigured caregiving roles by sharing responsibilities among siblings, both locally and internationally. Some siblings took turns visiting parents, while others contributed financially or managed digital coordination. One adult daughter explained, “We divide roles. My younger sibling, who lives near my mother, is the one who visits her often, while I, who lives out of town, take care of the finances and coordinate everything through WhatsApp” (AD8). Another participant described, “Every month we have a schedule—who will visit, and who will ensure that her medication needs are fulfilled. This is how we maintain balance” (AS5). These arrangements were seen as aligning with Islamic teachings, as long as parents’ needs were met. One participant noted, “What matters most is that parents feel cared for. The forms of care may vary, but the intention remains the same: to honor them” (AD4). The negotiation of autonomy also emerged as a significant theme. Adult children balanced respect for parental authority with the need to make practical decisions regarding health, finances, and daily care. This balancing act reflected a shift from unilateral obedience toward collaborative decision-making. Community and Religious Institutions as Supplementary Care Spaces Finally, community-based and religious institutions played important roles in supporting elder care. Mosques, pengajian groups, and Aisyiyah-run programs provided socialization, spiritual enrichment, and basic health monitoring for older adults. These networks filled gaps in familial care, especially for parents whose children lived far away. Some communities organized regular visits, delivered food packages, or facilitated day‑care‑like activities for senior citizens. One participant noted, “Every week, volunteers from the mosque come to visit my mother. They check her blood pressure and keep her company. It helps us tremendously” (CG2). Another elderly parent shared, “I enjoy joining the elderly programs at the study group. There is exercise, there are lessons. I don’t feel lonely” (EP4). Volunteers, often motivated by Islamic values of service ( khidmah ), complemented family efforts. As one daughter explained, “I feel supported because Aisyiyah volunteers often bring food and accompany my mother. It feels like an extension of our own hands” (AD9). Participants consistently expressed gratitude for these community supports, viewing them as extensions of their own filial obligations and as part of a broader moral ecosystem that upholds the dignity and well‑being of older adults. These findings highlight that elder care in Muslim Indonesia is not limited to the private household but operates within a broader moral and social ecosystem informed by Islamic teachings, community solidarity, and emerging technological infrastructures. DISCUSSION The findings of this study reveal that filial responsibility in contemporary Muslim Indonesia is a dynamic, adaptive, and multifaceted construct shaped simultaneously by Islamic moral teachings, socio-economic pressures, shifting household structures, and the rapid expansion of digital infrastructures. Rather than adhering to a single normative model, families continuously negotiate what it means to honor, support, and remain emotionally present for ageing parents. This negotiation reflects a convergence of longstanding religious imperatives and the lived realities of mobility, labor precarity, and technological mediation (Hashim & Hussin, 2020 ; Lum et al., 2022 ; Utomo et al., 2022). Across interviews, participants consistently anchored their understanding of elder care in the Islamic ethic of birr al-wālidayn , which framed caregiving as divinely mandated, spiritually meritorious, and emotionally fulfilling. This moral foundation parallels, yet also diverges from, global models of filial piety. While Confucian xiao emphasizes hierarchical obedience and ritual continuity (Bedford & Yeh, 2019 ; Park & Chesla, 2020), Islamic filial ethics situate care within a theocentric moral framework rooted in compassion, reciprocity, and accountability before God (Padela & Mohapatra, 2019 ; Hashim & Hussin, 2020 ). These findings show that religious motivation—not merely cultural expectation—remains a powerful driver of caregiving commitments, even for highly mobile and digitally connected generations. At the same time, the Indonesian context exhibits meaningful overlap with Western gerontological concepts such as intergenerational solidarity and relational care ethics (Teo et al., 2019; Lum et al., 2022 ). Participants described caregiving in terms of emotional closeness, shared decision‑making, and reciprocal assistance, indicating that Islamic Filial Responsibility (IFR) encompasses both normative and affective dimensions. This hybridity positions IFR as a culturally grounded but globally relevant framework that extends beyond East Asian or secular Western models, illustrating how filial norms evolve within diverse moral ecosystems. A major contribution of this study lies in demonstrating how digital technologies reshape—not diminish—the enactment of filial duty. Digital mediation allowed participants to maintain emotional resonance, coordinate caregiving tasks, and monitor daily well-being through WhatsApp groups, video calls, telemedicine, and digital financial transfers. These practices align with global scholarship on virtual co-presence and ambient connection (Baldassar et al., 2016 ; Hjorth & Lim, 2022 ; Baldassar & Wilding, 2020 ), but the Indonesian case adds a new dimension by showing how digital presence becomes sacralized as an extension of birr al-wālidayn . Participants described video calls as acts of moral attentiveness and even worship, reframing technology as a medium through which religious obligation is fulfilled. Digital care, therefore, is not a secondary or inferior substitute; rather, it becomes an ethically meaningful modality embedded within the fabric of Islamic moral practice (Peng & Wong, 2020 ; Khan & Kirmani, 2022 ). The study also highlights how families negotiate caregiving responsibilities within complex socio-economic and gendered constraints. Economic pressures, demanding work schedules, long‑distance migration, and the absence of formal long‑term care systems create structural tensions that complicate traditional co‑residential expectations. Gendered care patterns remain pronounced, with daughters disproportionately the emotional and logistical burden of care, mirroring broader Asian trends (Teo et al., 2019). Yet digital coordination enabled greater participation from sons—especially those living far away-who used technology to manage finances, medical consultations, and emotional support. These findings contribute to global debates on the redistribution of care responsibilities and the adaptive strategies families employ when idealized models clash with structural realities. Furthermore, the findings illuminate the crucial but often overlooked contributions of community and religious institutions. Mosques, pengajian groups, and Aisyiyah-run initiatives provided social engagement, health monitoring, and emotional support for older adults, functioning as supplementary care spaces that extend family networks. These communal forms of support exemplify how Islamic moral economies operate in practice, reinforcing the idea that elder care is not solely a private obligation but part of a broader ecosystem of religiously infused social solidarity (Joseph, 2020 ; Nwoye, 2017 ). This communal dimension complicates Western assumptions that elder care is primarily a family or state responsibility, showing instead how religious communities serve as active nodes of care provision. Taken together, the findings demonstrate that ageing in Muslim Indonesia must be understood not only through demographic or economic indicators but through the interplay of religious ethics, digital transformation, gendered labor, and community-based support. Islamic Filial Responsibility emerges as a powerful analytic framework for capturing this interplay, offering gerontology scholars a more culturally situated understanding of elder care. By illustrating how moral obligation adapts to contemporary pressures without losing its theological grounding, this study challenges dominant narratives of declining filial piety and instead highlights pathways through which intergenerational care continues to thrive amid modernization and mobility. CONCLUSION This study examined how Muslim families in contemporary Indonesia conceptualize and enact filial responsibility within the moral framework of Islamic teachings, particularly the ethic of birr al-wālidayn , while navigating the structural and technological realities of modern life. The findings show that filial responsibility is neither static nor diminishing; rather, it is being actively reinterpreted and reconfigured in ways that allow families to uphold religious obligations under new socio-economic and spatial conditions. Participants consistently framed elder care as a divinely grounded duty, yet their caregiving practices reflected adaptive strategies shaped by migration, labor demands, gendered expectations, and digital infrastructures. Theoretically, this study introduces Islamic Filial Responsibility (IFR) as a conceptual contribution to global filial piety research. IFR integrates Islamic normative ethics—duty, compassion, gratitude, and reverence—with the lived practices of caregiving in contemporary Muslim contexts. By articulating this model, the study expands the comparative landscape of filial piety beyond its Confucian and Western formulations. IFR highlights the importance of religious moral architectures in shaping how families understand and fulfill intergenerational obligations, offering gerontology scholars a more culturally inclusive framework for analyzing elder care. Practically, the findings underscore the need for policy approaches that recognize the critical role of families in elder care while supporting them through accessible long-term care infrastructures. Digital health innovations, community-based elder programs, and caregiver support initiatives—particularly within religious organizations—can complement familial obligations and reduce the burden on single households, especially those experiencing trans-local caregiving pressures. Policymakers in Indonesia and other Muslim-majority countries should consider how religious values and digital technologies intersect to shape care practices, as this intersection offers opportunities for culturally resonant interventions. The study also carries implications for Islamic studies, gerontology, and digital sociology. It demonstrates that religious ethics continue to hold significant influence in shaping everyday family practices, even in highly mobile and digitally mediated societies. Furthermore, it highlights how digital platforms become sites of moral action, enabling new forms of presence and connection that align with Islamic teachings on attentiveness and compassion. Several limitations should be acknowledged. The study’s qualitative design, while allowing for rich interpretive insights, limits the generalizability of its findings. The sample was also geographically concentrated, and digital ethnography was constrained by ethical boundaries surrounding private family communications. Nevertheless, these limitations open important pathways for future research. Future studies may explore the development of a psychometrically validated scale of Islamic Filial Responsibility, building on the dimensions identified here. Additional research could evaluate digital care interventions, such as telehealth-based elder monitoring or religiously grounded caregiver support programs, to assess their effectiveness in Muslim-majority settings. Comparative studies across Indonesia, Malaysia, Egypt, Pakistan, and other Muslim contexts would further illuminate the diversity of Islamic filial ethics and their adaptation to different socio-cultural environments. Overall, this study contributes to a more nuanced understanding of elder care in Muslim Indonesia, demonstrating that filial responsibility remains a vital, evolving, and morally anchored aspect of family life—one that continues to adapt alongside social transformation and technological change. Declarations Author Contribution Author ContributionsStudy conception and design: W, SND, IR, Data collection: W, EKN, FMRData analysis and interpretation: EKN, IRDrafting of the article: W, EKN, ACritical revision of the article: A Acknowledgement The authors thank the National Research and Innovation Agency and the Indonesia Endowment Fund for Education Agency Funding Program 2025 (BRIN and LPDP 2025). References Abu-Ras, W., & Abdel-Samad, M. (2021). Islamic ethics and family caregiving: Contemporary challenges and interpretations. Journal of Muslim Mental Health , 15 (2), 45–62. https://doi.org/10.3998/jmmh.1389 Al-Sharmani, M. (2018). Transnational migration and Muslim family practices: Negotiating care, obligation, and intimacy. Global Networks , 18 (4), 675–692. https://doi.org/10.1111/glob.12197 Barakat, H. (2021). Kinship, honor, and care in contemporary Arab societies. 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Islamic moral reasoning and elder care in South Asian Muslim families. Journal of Religion and Health , 58 (6), 2103–2120. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10943-019-00855-1 Hashim, R., & Hussin, N. (2020). Birr al-Walidayn in contemporary Muslim family ethics. International Journal of Islamic Thought , 17 (1), 45–56. https://doi.org/10.24035/ijit.17.2020.167 Hjorth, L., & Lim, S. (2022). Ambient co-presence in mobile media: Reimagining intimacy and family life. New Media & Society , 24 (8), 1650–1667. https://doi.org/10.1177/14614448211017874 Joseph, S. (2020). Kinship, care, and moral economies in Arab Muslim societies. Contemporary Islam , 14 (2), 145–167. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11562-019-00439-8 Kasongo, T. (2020). Ubuntu, Islam, and intergenerational caregiving in African Muslim communities. African Journal of Social Ethics , 12 (1), 55–73. https://doi.org/10.4314/ajose.v12i1.5 Khan, S., & Kirmani, F. (2022). Digital religiosity and mediated family obligations among Muslim diasporas. Information Communication & Society , 25 (6), 789–807. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369118X.2020.1864005 Lum, J., Shiang, K., & Low, L. (2022). Transforming filial piety: Contemporary shifts in Asian elder care. Journal of Aging Studies , 62 , 101049. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaging.2022.101049 Madianou, M. (2016). Ambient co-presence: Transnational families and polymedia communication. Media Culture & Society , 38 (3), 428–444. https://doi.org/10.1177/0163443715607623 Nwoye, A. (2017). African communalism and elder care: An ubuntu-informed perspective. Journal of Ageing in Africa , 9 (2), 89–108. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12126-017-9299-0 Padela, A., & Mohapatra, S. (2019). Moral obligations in Islamic bioethics: Implications for family care. Journal of Religion and Health , 58 (5), 1675–1690. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10943-019-00772-3 Peng, Y., & Wong, O. (2020). Digital filial piety: How migrant children use ICTs to fulfill family obligations. Information Communication & Society , 23 (9), 1305–1321. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369118X.2019.1586974 Schröder-Butterfill, E., & Kreager, P. (2020). Ageing and sociality in Indonesia: Care, support, and vulnerability. Ageing & Society , 40 (12), 2591–2610. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0144686X19000520 Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. 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Across continents, states are confronting growing pressures related to elder care, driven by increased life expectancy, declining fertility rates, and strained social welfare infrastructures (Teo et al., 2019). Much of the scholarly attention to filial responsibility and intergenerational care has focused on East Asian contexts-particularly Confucian-influenced societies such as China, Korea, and Japan-where filial piety (\u003cem\u003exiao\u003c/em\u003e) constitutes a central cultural model shaping expectations of elder care (Bedford \u0026amp; Yeh, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR6\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2019\u003c/span\u003e; Park \u0026amp; Chesla, 2020). This heavy regional concentration in the literature has produced a global knowledge imbalance, leaving the experiences of other cultural-religious communities underexamined, including those of Muslim-majority societies (Padela \u0026amp; Mohapatra, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR17\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2019\u003c/span\u003e).\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWithin contemporary gerontology, there remains a notable absence of conceptual frameworks that articulate how Islamic ethical teachings inform family care practices, despite clear evidence that religion shapes family obligations, emotional commitments, and moral expectations (Hashim \u0026amp; Hussin, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR9\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2020\u003c/span\u003e; Abu-Ras \u0026amp; Abdel-Samad, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR1\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2021\u003c/span\u003e). Although Muslim societies emphasize family responsibility, compassion, and reverence toward parents, these values have rarely been theorized as part of the global discourse on filial obligation. In classical Islamic ethics, the concept of \u003cem\u003ebirr al-wālidayn\u003c/em\u003e\u0026mdash;a moral imperative mandating kindness, respect, and support for parents\u0026mdash;forms a rich and multilayered foundation for understanding care relations (Hashim \u0026amp; Hussin, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR9\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2020\u003c/span\u003e). Yet, despite its centrality in Islamic thought, \u003cem\u003ebirr al-wālidayn\u003c/em\u003e has not been systematically explored within ageing studies, nor has it been examined in relation to contemporary challenges such as urban migration, gendered divisions of caregiving labor, and digital mediation in trans-local families (Teo et al., 2019).\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIndonesia provides a unique and compelling context for addressing this gap. As the world\u0026rsquo;s largest Muslim-majority nation, Indonesia combines strong religious norms with rapid social transformations, including rural\u0026ndash;urban migration, global mobility, the rise of nuclear households, and expanding digital infrastructures (Utomo et al., 2022; Schr\u0026ouml;der-Butterfill \u0026amp; Kreager, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR19\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2020\u003c/span\u003e). These conditions generate new tensions in fulfilling elder care responsibilities, particularly as families negotiate between normative religious expectations and the practical constraints of everyday life. While elder care continues to be framed as a moral and religious duty, the mechanisms through which these obligations are enacted are changing, often in ways that remain undocumented in academic literature (Baldassar \u0026amp; Wilding, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR5\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2020\u003c/span\u003e).\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis article addresses the problem of how Muslim families in Indonesia reinterpret and renegotiate filial responsibility amid shifting socio-economic and technological conditions. Despite the powerful normative emphasis on \u003cem\u003ebirr al-wālidayn\u003c/em\u003e, little is known about how families adapt these teachings when facing geographical separation, economic pressures, and limited state-provided care infrastructure (Utomo et al., 2022). Moreover, existing studies have not adequately captured how digital communication platforms\u0026mdash;such as WhatsApp, video calls, and telemedicine\u0026mdash;mediate filial relations and serve as new modalities of care (Peng \u0026amp; Wong, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR18\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2020\u003c/span\u003e; Hjorth \u0026amp; Lim, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR10\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2022\u003c/span\u003e).\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eTo respond to these gaps, the present study proposes the analytic category of Islamic Filial Responsibility, a conceptual framework that integrates Islamic ethical imperatives with empirical realities of contemporary family life. The study aims to: (1) conceptualize Islamic Filial Responsibility as a culturally and religiously grounded model of intergenerational care; (2) examine how Muslim families in Indonesia reconfigure \u003cem\u003ebirr al-wālidayn\u003c/em\u003e in both co-residential and trans-local caregiving arrangements; and (3) analyze the role of digital mediation in sustaining emotional bonding, coordinating care, and fulfilling moral obligations toward ageing parents. By doing so, this article contributes to global gerontology by expanding the cultural scope of filial piety studies and offering new insights into how religious values shape elder care in the digital age.\u003c/p\u003e"},{"header":"THEORETICAL LITERATURE","content":"\u003cp\u003e The theoretical foundation of this study draws upon three major bodies of literature—global filial piety studies, Islamic ethics of care, and sociological perspectives on digital mediation—which together illuminate how filial responsibility is conceptualized and enacted within contemporary Muslim Indonesia. While research on filial piety has long been dominated by East Asian contexts, where Confucian \u003cem\u003exiao\u003c/em\u003e shapes expectations of reverence and co-residence (Bedford \u0026amp; Yeh, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR6\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2019\u003c/span\u003e; Park \u0026amp; Chesla, 2020), a growing body of work from the Middle East, Africa, and Latin America expands this discourse beyond its traditional geographical anchors. Studies in the Arab region, for instance, highlight how kinship obligations are intertwined with Islamic moral duty and tribal reciprocity (Joseph, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR11\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2020\u003c/span\u003e; Barakat, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR3\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2021\u003c/span\u003e), while African scholarship emphasizes ubuntu‑based ethics that frame elder care as a communal and moral commitment rather than a purely familial one (Nwoye, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR16\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2017\u003c/span\u003e; Kasongo, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR12\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2020\u003c/span\u003e). Latin American research similarly shows how Catholic and communitarian values shape multigenerational caregiving, particularly in contexts of migration and economic precarity (González \u0026amp; De León, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR7\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2019\u003c/span\u003e). Western gerontology, by contrast, foregrounds autonomy, intergenerational solidarity, and functional exchanges as indicators of healthy intergenerational relations (Lum et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR14\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2022\u003c/span\u003e; Teo et al., 2019). Yet across these diverse settings, scholars have noted that religious and moral worldviews remain understudied as structural forces that shape caregiving practices—particularly within Muslim-majority societies where Islamic ethical frameworks strongly influence family responsibilities.\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIslamic ethical thought places extraordinary emphasis on compassion, respect, and sustained kindness toward parents, articulated through the foundational concept of \u003cem\u003ebirr al-wālidayn\u003c/em\u003e. Classical and contemporary scholars highlight that this ethic derives its authority not from social hierarchy, but from divine accountability and the moral reciprocity embedded in parental sacrifice (Hashim \u0026amp; Hussin, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR9\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2020\u003c/span\u003e; Padela \u0026amp; Mohapatra, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR17\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2019\u003c/span\u003e). Beyond Southeast Asia, Middle Eastern scholarship has demonstrated how Islamic moral frameworks around kin duties intersect with broader structures of reciprocity and communal honor, making \u003cem\u003ebirr al-wālidayn\u003c/em\u003e both a familial and social virtue (Joseph, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR11\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2020\u003c/span\u003e; Barakat, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR3\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2021\u003c/span\u003e). African Muslim contexts similarly show that parental care is embedded in broader ethical systems—such as \u003cem\u003eubuntu\u003c/em\u003e and Islamic communal ethics—that emphasize collective responsibility and interdependence across generations (Nwoye, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR16\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2017\u003c/span\u003e; Kasongo, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR12\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2020\u003c/span\u003e). In South Asia, studies reveal that care for ageing parents is shaped by the convergence of Islamic duty, extended family systems, and everyday moral reasoning among Muslim households in India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh (Haque, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR8\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2019\u003c/span\u003e; Zaidi \u0026amp; Sattar, 2020). Acts of care are framed as forms of worship (\u003cem\u003eʿibādah\u003c/em\u003e), underscoring their spiritual weight while reinforcing the moral centrality of gratitude and reciprocity. Despite this richness, religiously grounded ethics of elder care remain insufficiently theorized in global ageing scholarship and rarely integrated into comparative frameworks that examine intergenerational care across diverse Muslim-majority and minority contexts (Abu-Ras \u0026amp; Abdel-Samad, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR1\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2021\u003c/span\u003e; Khan \u0026amp; Kirmani, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR13\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2022\u003c/span\u003e).\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAt the same time, contemporary family life is increasingly shaped by digital infrastructures that redefine how emotional closeness and care responsibilities are maintained. Sociological studies on mediatization and mediated presence show how digital technologies create new modes of relational proximity, allowing families separated by migration or distance to sustain ongoing communication, coordinate daily tasks, and offer emotional support (Hjorth \u0026amp; Lim, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR10\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2022\u003c/span\u003e; Baldassar et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR4\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2016\u003c/span\u003e). In Muslim-majority contexts, emerging research highlights how digital technologies reinforce kin-based obligations and religiously infused moral expectations, particularly in settings where migration and dispersed households are common (Al-Sharmani, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR2\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2018\u003c/span\u003e; Madianou, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR15\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2016\u003c/span\u003e). WhatsApp, video calls, and telemedicine platforms enable forms of “virtual co-presence” that expand traditional boundaries of care (Baldassar \u0026amp; Wilding, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR5\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2020\u003c/span\u003e), while studies from the Gulf, North Africa, and South Asia show that digitally mediated caregiving often intertwines with Islamic notions of duty, compassion, and accountability (Haque, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR8\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2019\u003c/span\u003e; Khan \u0026amp; Kirmani, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR13\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2022\u003c/span\u003e). Despite these developments, research has only begun to explore how mediated practices intersect with Islamic moral expectations around filial responsibility, particularly in societies where religious norms strongly shape the meaning and enactment of elder care.\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e Synthesizing these strands, this study advances the concept of Islamic Filial Responsibility (IFR) as an analytic lens that bridges Islamic ethical imperatives with the diverse realities of contemporary caregiving across the Global South. Beyond its grounding in classical Islamic virtues—duty (\u003cem\u003efarḍ\u003c/em\u003e), compassion (\u003cem\u003eraḥmah\u003c/em\u003e), gratitude (\u003cem\u003eshukr\u003c/em\u003e), respect (\u003cem\u003eiḥtirām\u003c/em\u003e), and obedience (\u003cem\u003eṭāʿah\u003c/em\u003e)—IFR resonates with broader moral ecologies documented in African, Middle Eastern, and South Asian caregiving traditions. Studies across Sub‑Saharan Africa show how Islamic ethics blend with \u003cem\u003eubuntu\u003c/em\u003e philosophies to shape intergenerational care as a communal and moral responsibility (Nwoye, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR16\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2017\u003c/span\u003e; Kasongo, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR12\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2020\u003c/span\u003e), while contemporary Middle Eastern scholarship highlights the intertwining of kinship, Islamic duty, and social honor in sustaining elder care (Joseph, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR11\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2020\u003c/span\u003e; Barakat, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR3\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2021\u003c/span\u003e). In South Asia, research demonstrates how Islamic moral reasoning interacts with extended family structures and migration-driven separations to produce hybrid models of obligation, negotiation, and distributed care (Haque, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR8\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2019\u003c/span\u003e; Zaidi \u0026amp; Sattar, 2020).\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIFR also encompasses practical caregiving dimensions, including emotional companionship, material support, and digitally coordinated care shaped by gendered roles, mobility, and shifting household structures (Teo et al., 2019; Utomo et al., 2022). Emerging work from the Gulf, North Africa, and African Muslim diasporas underscores how digital mediation is increasingly interpreted as a legitimate extension of religiously grounded attentiveness and moral presence (Al‑Sharmani, 2018; Madianou, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR15\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2016\u003c/span\u003e; Khan \u0026amp; Kirmani, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR13\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2022\u003c/span\u003e). As such, IFR provides a culturally grounded framework that situates elder care within intertwined domains of Islamic ethics, digital transformation, gendered labor, and global ageing processes—offering an expanded, comparative foundation for understanding intergenerational care in Muslim-majority and Muslim-minority societies worldwide.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c/p\u003e"},{"header":"METHODS","content":"\u003cp\u003eThis study employed a qualitative interpretive design to examine how Muslim families in Indonesia conceptualize and enact filial responsibility within the shifting socio-economic and technological landscape of contemporary elder care. The interpretive approach allows for an in-depth understanding of how individuals make sense of their moral obligations toward ageing parents, how religious teachings inform caregiving practices, and how digital technologies mediate intergenerational relationships. The study also incorporates elements of digital ethnography to capture the role of communication technologies in sustaining care across distance.\u003c/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eResearch Design\u003c/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eA qualitative interpretive methodology was selected to explore the lived experiences and moral reasoning that shape elder care practices. This approach aligns with the study’s goal of understanding how Islamic ethical imperatives interact with social realities to produce diverse caregiving arrangements. The design integrates:\u003c/p\u003e\u003col\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cli\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn-depth semi-structured interviews, suitable for capturing narratives of obligation, negotiation, and emotional labor;\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/li\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cli\u003e\u003cp\u003eSituation-based case exploration, focusing on specific family arrangements (co-residential, trans-local, and fully digitally mediated care); and\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/li\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cli\u003e\u003cp\u003eDigital ethnography, observing communication patterns through WhatsApp groups, video calls, and teleconsultation interactions.\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/li\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cli\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis multi-layered design provides a comprehensive understanding of how filial responsibility is conceptualized, justified, and practiced.\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/li\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/ol\u003e\u003ch3\u003eSetting and Participants\u003c/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe research was conducted in three major urban centers (Jakarta, Yogyakarta, and Surabaya) and two semi-rural regions (Central Java and West Nusa Tenggara), which represent diverse socio-economic and religious environments in Indonesia. Participants were recruited using purposive sampling to ensure inclusion of families with varying caregiving arrangements. Eligibility criteria were as follows:\u003c/p\u003e\u003col\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cli\u003e\u003cp\u003eadult Muslim children (ages 25–60) actively involved in caring for at least one ageing parent;\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/li\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cli\u003e\u003cp\u003eolder adults (ages 60+) receiving care; and\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/li\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cli\u003e\u003cp\u003efamily caregivers or siblings participating in coordinated caregiving tasks.\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/li\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cli\u003e\u003cp\u003eA total of 36 participants were included: 20 adult children, 10 elderly parents, and 6 additional caregivers (siblings or in-laws). This sampling strategy enabled exploration of multi-perspective caregiving dynamics.\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/li\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/ol\u003e\u003ch3\u003eData Collection\u003c/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eData were collected over six months using multiple qualitative techniques:\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\u003col\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cli\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn-depth semi-structured interviews (60–90 minutes each), conducted in person or via video call, depending on participant location. Interviews explored perceptions of filial responsibility, motivations for care, challenges in fulfilling obligations, and the role of Islamic teachings.\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/li\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cli\u003e\u003cp\u003eParticipant observation, performed during home visits and family care activities (e.g., medication management, meal preparation, religious rituals). Field notes documented caregiving interactions and decision-making processes.\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/li\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cli\u003e\u003cp\u003eDigital ethnography, focusing on WhatsApp family groups, archived voice notes, and video call routines used to maintain emotional presence and coordinate care. Screenshots and interaction logs (with consent) provided insight into mediated care practices.\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/li\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/ol\u003e\u003cp\u003eAll interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed verbatim, and translated into English when necessary.\u003c/p\u003e\u003ch2\u003eData Analysis\u003c/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003eThematic analysis following Braun and Clarke’s six-phase framework was used to identify core themes across interview transcripts, observational notes, and digital communication data. Coding was conducted iteratively using NVivo 14 to enhance analytic rigor. Patterns were examined across three domains: (1) normative articulations of filial responsibility; (2) practical caregiving strategies; and (3) digital mediation processes. The analysis also incorporated constant comparative techniques derived from grounded theory to refine emerging conceptual categories and ensure coherence between empirical data and the proposed model of Islamic Filial Responsibility.\u003c/p\u003e\u003ch2\u003eEthical Considerations\u003c/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003e The Institutional Review Board of the affiliated university granted ethical approval for this study. All participants provided informed consent before data collection, including consent for audio recording and the optional use of anonymized digital communication excerpts. Pseudonyms were used in all transcripts and publications to protect confidentiality. Participants were informed of their right to withdraw from the study at any time without consequence. Special care was taken when interviewing older adults to ensure clarity, comfort, and emotional safety during the research process.\u003c/p\u003e"},{"header":"RESULTS","content":"\u003cp\u003eThe findings of this study reveal how Muslim families in Indonesia interpret, negotiate, and enact filial responsibility amid dynamic socio-economic changes and expanding digital infrastructures. Analysis generated five major themes that illuminate the moral foundations, practical tensions, and mediated forms of elder care embedded in Islamic ethical teachings.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eThe Moral Architecture of Islamic Filial Responsibility\u003c/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eParticipants consistently framed elder care as a religiously grounded duty, drawing on Qur\u0026rsquo;anic injunctions and prophetic teachings. Across interviews, adult children invoked \u003cem\u003ebirr al-wālidayn\u003c/em\u003e as a moral compass shaping their decisions, even when external constraints limited their capacity to provide direct care. One participant explained, \u0026ldquo;Caring for one\u0026rsquo;s parents is not a choice but an obligation. God has commanded us to honor them, so in any situation, we must be present\u0026rdquo; (AD1). Another daughter emphasized the emotional-spiritual dimension of caregiving, stating, \u0026ldquo;Whenever I feel tired or confused about what to do, I remind myself that honoring my parents is a path toward drawing closer to God. That is what strengthens me\u0026rdquo; (AD5). A son who lived overseas added, \u0026ldquo;Even though I am far away, I intend every video call as an act of worship. I want my parents to know that I am still present for them\u0026rdquo; (AS1).\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis sense of divine accountability fostered an ethic of compassion and respect, extending beyond material support to include emotional presence, moral deference, and attentiveness to parents\u0026rsquo; wishes. One mother noted, \u0026ldquo;My children always ask for my opinion before making any decision. That makes me feel respected\u0026rdquo; (EP1). A caregiver assisting her older sister reflected, \u0026ldquo;We consider caring for her not a burden, but a trust. That is why we try to speak gently and accompany her with care\u0026rdquo; (CG1). The moral architecture of Islamic filial responsibility thus integrates duty (\u003cem\u003efarḍ\u003c/em\u003e), compassion (\u003cem\u003eraḥmah\u003c/em\u003e), gratitude (\u003cem\u003eshukr\u003c/em\u003e), and reverence (\u003cem\u003eiḥtirām\u003c/em\u003e), forming a normative framework that guides caregiving practices.\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFor many participants, religious teachings provided both moral clarity and emotional motivation. Acts of caregiving were viewed not only as social obligations but also as forms of worship (\u003cem\u003eʿibādah\u003c/em\u003e) and pathways to spiritual reward. This religio-moral grounding distinguished Islamic filial responsibility from secular models of intergenerational support, emphasizing that elder care is both relational and theological.\u003c/p\u003e\u003cdiv id=\"Sec11\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e\u003ch2\u003eTensions Between Normative Teachings and Real-Life Constraints\u003c/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003eDespite strong moral commitments, families often faced significant tensions in fulfilling caregiving obligations. Participants frequently cited economic pressures, demanding work schedules, and geographical separation as barriers to fulfilling idealized models of direct caregiving. Migration to urban centers or overseas created physical distance that complicated co-residence, long considered the normative arrangement for elder care.\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e These constraints were especially pronounced for the sandwich generation, who were simultaneously responsible for raising children and caring for ageing parents. One participant stated, \u0026ldquo;I want to care for my mother every day, but my job in Jakarta makes it impossible. Sometimes I feel guilty for not always being by her side\u0026rdquo; (AD2). Another participant echoed this struggle, explaining, \u0026ldquo;My child is still young, but my father also needs attention. It feels like being pulled in two directions\u0026rdquo; (AD10). Gendered care patterns also emerged, with daughters disproportionately performing caregiving tasks, even when sons expressed comparable moral commitments. One daughter shared, \u0026ldquo;I am the one who has to manage everything\u0026mdash;children, work, and my parents. Sometimes I have no time for myself\u0026rdquo; (AD11). Women described balancing employment, childcare, and elder care, often at the expense of personal well-being.\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThese tensions illustrate the complex interplay between moral ideals and socio-economic realities. Families navigated structural limitations by redistributing responsibilities among siblings, hiring paid caregivers when financially feasible, or relying on extended kin networks. Nevertheless, emotional guilt and moral ambivalence persisted, showing how strongly Islamic filial ethics continue to shape expectations.\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003cdiv id=\"Sec12\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e\u003ch2\u003eDigital Mediation as a New Form of Filial Care\u003c/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003eDigital technologies played a crucial role in enabling adult children to fulfill caregiving obligations across distance. Families relied heavily on WhatsApp groups to coordinate medication schedules, monitor daily routines, and share updates. One daughter explained, \u0026ldquo;Every morning we check on our father through the family WhatsApp group. If something needs to be bought or checked, we immediately divide the tasks\u0026rdquo; (AD3). Another participant described a similar routine: \u0026ldquo;We create a schedule in the group\u0026mdash;who reminds him to take his medicine, who sends money, who checks his blood pressure. Everything is done through WhatsApp, so nothing is missed\u0026rdquo; (AD6). WhatsApp voice notes and video calls functioned as substitutes for physical presence, creating a sense of emotional proximity despite geographical separation. A son working in Kalimantan shared, \u0026ldquo;Every night I video call with my mother. She says it feels as if I\u0026rsquo;m sitting in the living room with her\u0026rdquo; (AS2). Another elderly parent expressed how digital communication eased loneliness: \u0026ldquo;When my children call or send a voice note, my heart immediately feels calm. It feels like someone is accompanying me\u0026rdquo; (EP2).\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eVideo calls were particularly valued for maintaining emotional bonds. Participants described using regular video calls to provide companionship, reduce loneliness, and reinforce a sense of attentiveness. One participant shared, \u0026ldquo;When I video call at night, my mother keeps smiling. She says she feels accompanied even though I am far away\u0026rdquo; (AS3). Another parent expressed how meaningful such interactions were: \u0026ldquo;When I see my children\u0026rsquo;s faces on the screen, my heart feels warm. I no longer feel alone\u0026rdquo; (EP3). Telemedicine platforms were also used for remote health consultations, allowing adult children to accompany parents virtually during appointments. As one daughter described, \u0026ldquo;During every doctor\u0026rsquo;s check-up, I join through video call. I want to make sure all of her questions are answered\u0026rdquo; (AD7). Digital money transfers via mobile banking further enabled timely financial support, with a participant noting, \u0026ldquo;If there is an urgent need, I can immediately transfer money. There is no need to wait until I return home\u0026rdquo; (AS4).\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThese practices demonstrate how digital mediation allows families to enact filial responsibility through technologically facilitated forms of presence. While not a full replacement for in-person care, digital tools significantly expanded families\u0026rsquo; ability to maintain moral and emotional commitments.\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003cdiv id=\"Sec13\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e\u003ch2\u003eReconfiguring Islamic Filial Responsibility\u003c/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe interaction between religious norms, socio-economic pressures, and digital infrastructures produced new interpretations of what it means to be a filial Muslim child. Participants increasingly emphasized intentionality over physical co-residence, suggesting that filial responsibility is not solely measured by proximity but by sincerity, coordination, and consistency of care.\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFamilies reconfigured caregiving roles by sharing responsibilities among siblings, both locally and internationally. Some siblings took turns visiting parents, while others contributed financially or managed digital coordination. One adult daughter explained, \u0026ldquo;We divide roles. My younger sibling, who lives near my mother, is the one who visits her often, while I, who lives out of town, take care of the finances and coordinate everything through WhatsApp\u0026rdquo; (AD8). Another participant described, \u0026ldquo;Every month we have a schedule\u0026mdash;who will visit, and who will ensure that her medication needs are fulfilled. This is how we maintain balance\u0026rdquo; (AS5). These arrangements were seen as aligning with Islamic teachings, as long as parents\u0026rsquo; needs were met. One participant noted, \u0026ldquo;What matters most is that parents feel cared for. The forms of care may vary, but the intention remains the same: to honor them\u0026rdquo; (AD4).\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe negotiation of autonomy also emerged as a significant theme. Adult children balanced respect for parental authority with the need to make practical decisions regarding health, finances, and daily care. This balancing act reflected a shift from unilateral obedience toward collaborative decision-making.\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003cdiv id=\"Sec14\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e\u003ch2\u003eCommunity and Religious Institutions as Supplementary Care Spaces\u003c/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003eFinally, community-based and religious institutions played important roles in supporting elder care. Mosques, pengajian groups, and Aisyiyah-run programs provided socialization, spiritual enrichment, and basic health monitoring for older adults. These networks filled gaps in familial care, especially for parents whose children lived far away.\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSome communities organized regular visits, delivered food packages, or facilitated day‑care‑like activities for senior citizens. One participant noted, \u0026ldquo;Every week, volunteers from the mosque come to visit my mother. They check her blood pressure and keep her company. It helps us tremendously\u0026rdquo; (CG2). Another elderly parent shared, \u0026ldquo;I enjoy joining the elderly programs at the study group. There is exercise, there are lessons. I don\u0026rsquo;t feel lonely\u0026rdquo; (EP4). Volunteers, often motivated by Islamic values of service (\u003cem\u003ekhidmah\u003c/em\u003e), complemented family efforts. As one daughter explained, \u0026ldquo;I feel supported because Aisyiyah volunteers often bring food and accompany my mother. It feels like an extension of our own hands\u0026rdquo; (AD9). Participants consistently expressed gratitude for these community supports, viewing them as extensions of their own filial obligations and as part of a broader moral ecosystem that upholds the dignity and well‑being of older adults.\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThese findings highlight that elder care in Muslim Indonesia is not limited to the private household but operates within a broader moral and social ecosystem informed by Islamic teachings, community solidarity, and emerging technological infrastructures.\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/div\u003e"},{"header":"DISCUSSION","content":"\u003cp\u003eThe findings of this study reveal that filial responsibility in contemporary Muslim Indonesia is a dynamic, adaptive, and multifaceted construct shaped simultaneously by Islamic moral teachings, socio-economic pressures, shifting household structures, and the rapid expansion of digital infrastructures. Rather than adhering to a single normative model, families continuously negotiate what it means to honor, support, and remain emotionally present for ageing parents. This negotiation reflects a convergence of longstanding religious imperatives and the lived realities of mobility, labor precarity, and technological mediation (Hashim \u0026amp; Hussin, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR9\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2020\u003c/span\u003e; Lum et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR14\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2022\u003c/span\u003e; Utomo et al., 2022).\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAcross interviews, participants consistently anchored their understanding of elder care in the Islamic ethic of \u003cem\u003ebirr al-wālidayn\u003c/em\u003e, which framed caregiving as divinely mandated, spiritually meritorious, and emotionally fulfilling. This moral foundation parallels, yet also diverges from, global models of filial piety. While Confucian \u003cem\u003exiao\u003c/em\u003e emphasizes hierarchical obedience and ritual continuity (Bedford \u0026amp; Yeh, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR6\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2019\u003c/span\u003e; Park \u0026amp; Chesla, 2020), Islamic filial ethics situate care within a theocentric moral framework rooted in compassion, reciprocity, and accountability before God (Padela \u0026amp; Mohapatra, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR17\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2019\u003c/span\u003e; Hashim \u0026amp; Hussin, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR9\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2020\u003c/span\u003e). These findings show that religious motivation\u0026mdash;not merely cultural expectation\u0026mdash;remains a powerful driver of caregiving commitments, even for highly mobile and digitally connected generations.\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAt the same time, the Indonesian context exhibits meaningful overlap with Western gerontological concepts such as intergenerational solidarity and relational care ethics (Teo et al., 2019; Lum et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR14\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2022\u003c/span\u003e). Participants described caregiving in terms of emotional closeness, shared decision‑making, and reciprocal assistance, indicating that Islamic Filial Responsibility (IFR) encompasses both normative and affective dimensions. This hybridity positions IFR as a culturally grounded but globally relevant framework that extends beyond East Asian or secular Western models, illustrating how filial norms evolve within diverse moral ecosystems.\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eA major contribution of this study lies in demonstrating how digital technologies reshape\u0026mdash;not diminish\u0026mdash;the enactment of filial duty. Digital mediation allowed participants to maintain emotional resonance, coordinate caregiving tasks, and monitor daily well-being through WhatsApp groups, video calls, telemedicine, and digital financial transfers. These practices align with global scholarship on \u003cem\u003evirtual co-presence\u003c/em\u003e and \u003cem\u003eambient connection\u003c/em\u003e (Baldassar et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR4\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2016\u003c/span\u003e; Hjorth \u0026amp; Lim, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR10\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2022\u003c/span\u003e; Baldassar \u0026amp; Wilding, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR5\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2020\u003c/span\u003e), but the Indonesian case adds a new dimension by showing how digital presence becomes sacralized as an extension of \u003cem\u003ebirr al-wālidayn\u003c/em\u003e. Participants described video calls as acts of moral attentiveness and even worship, reframing technology as a medium through which religious obligation is fulfilled. Digital care, therefore, is not a secondary or inferior substitute; rather, it becomes an ethically meaningful modality embedded within the fabric of Islamic moral practice (Peng \u0026amp; Wong, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR18\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2020\u003c/span\u003e; Khan \u0026amp; Kirmani, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR13\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2022\u003c/span\u003e).\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe study also highlights how families negotiate caregiving responsibilities within complex socio-economic and gendered constraints. Economic pressures, demanding work schedules, long‑distance migration, and the absence of formal long‑term care systems create structural tensions that complicate traditional co‑residential expectations. Gendered care patterns remain pronounced, with daughters disproportionately the emotional and logistical burden of care, mirroring broader Asian trends (Teo et al., 2019). Yet digital coordination enabled greater participation from sons\u0026mdash;especially those living far away-who used technology to manage finances, medical consultations, and emotional support. These findings contribute to global debates on the redistribution of care responsibilities and the adaptive strategies families employ when idealized models clash with structural realities.\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFurthermore, the findings illuminate the crucial but often overlooked contributions of community and religious institutions. Mosques, pengajian groups, and Aisyiyah-run initiatives provided social engagement, health monitoring, and emotional support for older adults, functioning as supplementary care spaces that extend family networks. These communal forms of support exemplify how Islamic moral economies operate in practice, reinforcing the idea that elder care is not solely a private obligation but part of a broader ecosystem of religiously infused social solidarity (Joseph, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR11\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2020\u003c/span\u003e; Nwoye, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR16\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2017\u003c/span\u003e). This communal dimension complicates Western assumptions that elder care is primarily a family or state responsibility, showing instead how religious communities serve as active nodes of care provision.\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e Taken together, the findings demonstrate that ageing in Muslim Indonesia must be understood not only through demographic or economic indicators but through the interplay of religious ethics, digital transformation, gendered labor, and community-based support. Islamic Filial Responsibility emerges as a powerful analytic framework for capturing this interplay, offering gerontology scholars a more culturally situated understanding of elder care. By illustrating how moral obligation adapts to contemporary pressures without losing its theological grounding, this study challenges dominant narratives of declining filial piety and instead highlights pathways through which intergenerational care continues to thrive amid modernization and mobility.\u003c/p\u003e"},{"header":"CONCLUSION","content":"\u003cp\u003eThis study examined how Muslim families in contemporary Indonesia conceptualize and enact filial responsibility within the moral framework of Islamic teachings, particularly the ethic of \u003cem\u003ebirr al-wālidayn\u003c/em\u003e, while navigating the structural and technological realities of modern life. The findings show that filial responsibility is neither static nor diminishing; rather, it is being actively reinterpreted and reconfigured in ways that allow families to uphold religious obligations under new socio-economic and spatial conditions. Participants consistently framed elder care as a divinely grounded duty, yet their caregiving practices reflected adaptive strategies shaped by migration, labor demands, gendered expectations, and digital infrastructures.\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eTheoretically, this study introduces Islamic Filial Responsibility (IFR) as a conceptual contribution to global filial piety research. IFR integrates Islamic normative ethics\u0026mdash;duty, compassion, gratitude, and reverence\u0026mdash;with the lived practices of caregiving in contemporary Muslim contexts. By articulating this model, the study expands the comparative landscape of filial piety beyond its Confucian and Western formulations. IFR highlights the importance of religious moral architectures in shaping how families understand and fulfill intergenerational obligations, offering gerontology scholars a more culturally inclusive framework for analyzing elder care.\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ePractically, the findings underscore the need for policy approaches that recognize the critical role of families in elder care while supporting them through accessible long-term care infrastructures. Digital health innovations, community-based elder programs, and caregiver support initiatives\u0026mdash;particularly within religious organizations\u0026mdash;can complement familial obligations and reduce the burden on single households, especially those experiencing trans-local caregiving pressures. Policymakers in Indonesia and other Muslim-majority countries should consider how religious values and digital technologies intersect to shape care practices, as this intersection offers opportunities for culturally resonant interventions.\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe study also carries implications for Islamic studies, gerontology, and digital sociology. It demonstrates that religious ethics continue to hold significant influence in shaping everyday family practices, even in highly mobile and digitally mediated societies. Furthermore, it highlights how digital platforms become sites of moral action, enabling new forms of presence and connection that align with Islamic teachings on attentiveness and compassion. Several limitations should be acknowledged. The study\u0026rsquo;s qualitative design, while allowing for rich interpretive insights, limits the generalizability of its findings. The sample was also geographically concentrated, and digital ethnography was constrained by ethical boundaries surrounding private family communications. Nevertheless, these limitations open important pathways for future research. Future studies may explore the development of a psychometrically validated scale of Islamic Filial Responsibility, building on the dimensions identified here. Additional research could evaluate digital care interventions, such as telehealth-based elder monitoring or religiously grounded caregiver support programs, to assess their effectiveness in Muslim-majority settings. Comparative studies across Indonesia, Malaysia, Egypt, Pakistan, and other Muslim contexts would further illuminate the diversity of Islamic filial ethics and their adaptation to different socio-cultural environments.\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eOverall, this study contributes to a more nuanced understanding of elder care in Muslim Indonesia, demonstrating that filial responsibility remains a vital, evolving, and morally anchored aspect of family life\u0026mdash;one that continues to adapt alongside social transformation and technological change.\u003c/p\u003e"},{"header":"Declarations","content":"\u003ch2\u003eAuthor Contribution\u003c/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003eAuthor ContributionsStudy conception and design: W, SND, IR, Data collection: W, EKN, FMRData analysis and interpretation: EKN, IRDrafting of the article: W, EKN, ACritical revision of the article: A\u003c/p\u003e\u003ch2\u003eAcknowledgement\u003c/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe authors thank the National Research and Innovation Agency and the Indonesia Endowment Fund for Education Agency Funding Program 2025 (BRIN and LPDP 2025).\u003c/p\u003e"},{"header":"References","content":"\u003col\u003e\u003cli\u003e\u003cspan\u003eAbu-Ras, W., \u0026amp; Abdel-Samad, M. 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Ageing and sociality in Indonesia: Care, support, and vulnerability. \u003cem\u003eAgeing \u0026amp; Society\u003c/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003e40\u003c/em\u003e(12), 2591\u0026ndash;2610. \u003cspan class=\"ExternalRef\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"RefSource\"\u003ehttps://doi.org/10.1017/S0144686X19000520\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan address=\"10.1017/S0144686X19000520\" targettype=\"DOI\" class=\"RefTarget\"\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/li\u003e\u003c/ol\u003e"}],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":true,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":false,"hideJournal":true,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":false,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":false,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"responsibility, muslim indonesia, elder care practices","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-8238153/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-8238153/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003eThis study examines how Muslim families in Indonesia reinterpret and enact filial responsibility amid rapid socio-economic change and expanding digital infrastructures. Despite the centrality of birr al-wālidayn\u0026mdash;the Islamic ethic of honoring and caring for parents\u0026mdash;in shaping family obligations, research has rarely explored how these religious imperatives interact with modern constraints such as migration, urban labor demands, and technological mediation. Drawing on in-depth interviews, participant observation, and digital ethnography involving 36 participants across urban and semi-rural regions, this study develops the concept of Islamic Filial Responsibility (IFR) to capture the interplay between normative religious teachings and lived caregiving practices.\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFindings reveal that elder care is framed as a divinely grounded duty, but its practical enactment is negotiated through distributed caregiving roles, gendered labor expectations, and digitally mediated forms of presence. Digital tools, including WhatsApp, video calls, and telemedicine, enable adult children to sustain emotional closeness, coordinate daily care, and fulfill moral obligations across distance. These practices illustrate a significant shift from proximity-based care toward intentional, coordinated, and technologically supported forms of filial engagement. The study highlights the contributions of community and religious institutions, which complement family-based care and help address care gaps for ageing parents.\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e By articulating IFR, this study extends the global filial piety literature beyond its East Asian and secular paradigms, illustrating the intersection of religious ethics, digital mediation, and socio-economic realities in shaping intergenerational care within Muslim-majority societies. The findings offer implications for gerontology, Islamic studies, and digital sociology, and underscore the need for policy frameworks that integrate cultural, religious, and technological dimensions of elder care, ensuring more comprehensive support for ageing populations.\u003c/p\u003e","manuscriptTitle":"Filial Responsibility in Contemporary Muslim Indonesia: Reconfiguring Religiously-grounded Elder Care Practices","msid":"","msnumber":"","nonDraftVersions":[{"code":1,"date":"2025-12-10 16:40:55","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-8238153/v1","editorialEvents":[{"type":"communityComments","content":0}],"status":"published","journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true}}],"origin":"","ownerIdentity":"61ffc20e-2c84-426e-ab19-61ae6a708aae","owner":[],"postedDate":"December 10th, 2025","published":true,"recentEditorialEvents":[],"rejectedJournal":[],"revision":"","amendment":"","status":"posted","subjectAreas":[],"tags":[],"updatedAt":"2025-12-10T16:40:55+00:00","versionOfRecord":[],"versionCreatedAt":"2025-12-10 16:40:55","video":"","vorDoi":"","vorDoiUrl":"","workflowStages":[]},"version":"v1","identity":"rs-8238153","journalConfig":"researchsquare"},"__N_SSP":true},"page":"/article/[identity]/[[...version]]","query":{"redirect":"/article/rs-8238153","identity":"rs-8238153","version":["v1"]},"buildId":"8U1c8b4HqxoKbykW_rLl7","isFallback":false,"isExperimentalCompile":false,"dynamicIds":[84888],"gssp":true,"scriptLoader":[]}