Technology and the Religious The case study of intelligent Salawat-Counter from the perspective of post-phenomenology and actor-network theory

Information technology has been intertwined with the social. That’s why the number of social actions, including religious practices, mediated by information technology is increasing. "Dhikr" is one of the last actions that has become possible through smart phone applications. However, IT mediation in dhikr is not possible without changing the practical-empirical aspects of it. Intelligent salawat-counters mediate and change the user, the practice and religious experience of dhikr, as well as the way of looking at ‘dhikr’. How IT mediation does change the religious? Exploring some instances of existing salawat-counters, this paper tries to answer the question from the perspectives of post-phenomenology and the actor-network theory.