This article first appeared in Q-News, No. 325, November 2000/Shaban 1421, £2.50. For further information about Q-News, please contact info@q-news.com

Gary R. Bunt

The Islamic Internet Souq

The abundance of Islamic web sites available on-line resembles a bustling marketplace in which diverse 'goods' - in the form of ideas and concepts about Islam and Muslims - are exchanged, bought and sold. Unlike the traditional Souq, this particular market lacks a precise order. Determining the quality and origins of the information available can be difficult, as material often lacks a 'manufacturing label'. Without a reliable guide through the labyrinth of back alleys and diversions on the Internet the surfer could easily be drowned in the sea of information overload, writes Dr Gary R. Bunt.

Knowing where to start when seeking knowledge about Islam on-line in the English language can be challenging. Type 'Islam' into a popular search-engine (like Google or Alta Vista) used to track down data on the Internet, and a web user or surfer might be surprised to discover a polemical 'anti-Islam' site near the top of the listing of results. Also high in the rankings on various search-engines are 'obscure' Muslim groups seeking to represent themselves as the definitive interpreters of the Qur'an, presenting their 'insights' in a manner and language that might alienate or challenge readers from other perspectives. This is particularly significant is a surfer is new to the Internet, or indeed to reading about Islam. Web sites do not always come with labels, commentaries or explanations explicitly indicating the political, social and cultural values of their authors. Determining what makes a site 'Islamic' is perhaps a matter best left to the individual reader. Does the term mean a site with specific symbols on, including images of the Qur'an or Mecca? Or does it mean a site presenting religious authority from a specific spiritual or religious leader? Questions arise as to whether these on-line opinions, and the creation of new forms of on-line Muslim authority, have the potential to transcend and transform understandings of Muslim networks and communities? My book Virtually Islamic, seeks to answer such questions, whilst charting the complex developments and evolution of Cyber Islamic Environments.

Prominent Islamic sites have been produced by individual web-literate Muslims, seeking to promote their own commentaries on Islam to anyone who visits their pages. There are numerous Islamic 'portals', presenting a selection of web sites based on their specific perspectives of Islam. The reader can suffer 'information overload' when visiting an extensive portal such as IslamiCity. It helps if you know exactly what information you are seeking about Islam on the Internet, in which case a dedicated Islamic search-engine such as Musalman can be very helpful.

One indicator of the potential transformational qualities of the Internet on Muslims is the presence of a broad range of 'sermons' on-line. For example, Tanzeem-e-Islami in Pakistan present a selection of recorded sermons for downloading. Other platforms creating on-line sermons for consumption by an international audience include the Taliban, Khutbah Online, and Al-Muhajiroun. Present technological limitations mean that it can take a substantial amount of on-line time to download a sermon. The future potential for such material is enormous, when technology (including bandwidth) improves to allow a surfer to rapidly listen to and view sermons and other information 'on demand', not just through a computer, but by digital television or WAP telephone.

The Internet already facilitates the propagation of Islam, with dawa organisations publishing materials in a variety of languages onto the web. For example, Ahmed Deedat has put his talks on Christianity and Islam on-line (and was rebutted by the Christian web activists Answering Islam). People may now prefer to sit in a cyber-café and - if not distracted by other web content - learn the thoughts of (and be influenced by) a 'scholar' based thousands of miles away, in preference to listening to their local imam down the road. An extension of this networking is the development of the 'on-line fatwa'. Individuals can visit a wide range of sites, representing diverse perspectives, and search archives of questions and answers relating to significant interpretative questions and concerns. IANA allows a surfer to send questions, or read a substantial archive of religious opinions on contemporary issues. Fatwa On-line contains a regularly updated listing of opinions responding to surfers' requests, drawing primarily on scholarship from Saudi Arabia. Family issues comprise a significant portion of this site's content, which has been enthusiastically received by petitioners who have inundated Fatwa On-line with questions.

The Internet is also a means through which Muslims can network between each other, and galvanise debate on issues of shared concern. The French TV news clip showing the shooting in September 2000 of Mohammad al-Durrah was quickly published and publicised on the Internet by diverse web sites, including the Muslim Directory (MDNet) and Hamas. A number of on-line discussions and responses ensued, and readers were encouraged to circulate data and start campaigning against Israel. Muslim dialogue and activism on a broad range of other issues takes place on-line through web sites, e-mail and long-standing chat rooms. New 'communities' of Muslims with shared interests are evolving on the Internet.

'Islamic' issue-centred Internet content should not distract from the fact that many aspects of Islam deemed as 'pillars' or core values are well represented on-line. Numerous versions of the translation of the meaning of the Qur'an can be found, linked into diverse commentaries and other materials, utilising state-of-the-art technology. A good example is the site produced by Harf Information Technology, which draws on the multimedia aspects of the Internet to allow recitations to be played alongside Arabic texts, English translations, and high-quality recitations. Considerable investment is being made by different organisations to establish their worldview on-line, in order to be well placed as use of the Internet continues to expand in the Muslim marketplace.

The issue of accessibility is a key one. Whilst the number of people able to access the web begins to rise globally, Internet Service Providers in several Muslim countries have attempted to apply filtering technology to restrict the type of material their users visit. Technically, there are ways around these controls, but in real terms one result is that Internet users are not able to access the diversity of worldviews relating to Islam. Controls may be introduced for political reasons, and there is also the potential for e-mail to be monitored. It should be noted that these filtering technologies work both ways: there is evidence that they have been programmed in some 'western' contexts to filter out as 'unacceptable' all references to 'Islam' and 'Muslims', thus placing Islam in the same 'dangerous' bracket as pornography.

In reality, the Internet is difficult to censor. This was highlighted in the light of the emergence of the SuraLikeIt web pages in 1998, which contained fabricated 'verses' allegedly in the style of the Qur'an. Their content was clearly not favourable towards Islam or Muslims. This site ignited a censorship debate, particularly in Egypt and North America, with Muslim platforms pressurising the hosting web service provider AOL to close SuraLikeIt down. AOL eventually agreed to do so, but SuraLikeIt manifested itself elsewhere on the Internet. Several Muslim institutions, including Al-Azhar in Cairo, decided to establish their own web sites in order to provide an on-line response to sites they deemed 'un-Islamic'.

It is interesting to consider that heightened awareness of the potential for the Internet has resulted in numerous institutions appearing on-line. Muslim scholars are now learning how to set up web pages, alongside more conventional means of propagating Islam. Governments (and opposition parties) are applying the net in Islamic contexts. The Islamic Republic of Iran promotes its own web sites, including the Image of Sunshine (a multi-media homage to Ayatollah Khomeini), but various forms of religious opposition to the government can also be located on-line. The Government of Pakistan has maintained a substantial selection of religious materials through recent administrative changes, in part to counter the lively web presence of Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan. The Malaysian Prime Minister's Department of Islamic Development (JAKIM) has applied the Internet to represent its own Islamic perspective, in part to counter the on-line opinions of Muslim opposition parties such as PAS.

As technology becomes more accessible for ordinary individuals, the Internet has a capacity to enhance individual knowledge of Islam's diversity. In certain cases, bridges of constructive communication have been created, enhancing (for some) the ideals of the ummah. Those without a voice in certain contexts, including minority groups or Muslim women, have been able to express themselves and interact on-line. With thousands of new 'Islamic' sites emerging every year, including many from within the United Kingdom, there is a need to record and monitor the ways in which individuals and organisations present themselves on-line.

The Islamic Internet Souq presents new opportunities for Muslim inter connectivity, self-expression and information, transcending traditional controls, and should be regularly visited by any reader interested in developments within contemporary Islam. Whilst some sectors of the global Muslim community have yet to discover and utilise its full potential others are fast realising that it is an essential part of developments within contemporary Islam.

© Gary R. Bunt 2000

Gary R. Bunt is Lecturer in Islamic Studies, University of Wales, Lampeter and author of Virtually Islamic: Computer Mediated Communication and Cyber Islamic Environments, (Cardiff, University Of Wales Press, 2000)

ISBN 0-7083-1611-5

E-mail garybunt@virtuallyislamic.com

Web sites

URLs correct at the time of publication for this article. Any future updates can be found on the Virtually Islamic web site. Notification of broken links appreciated.

Gary Bunt's on-line guide to Islam on the Internet, listing one hundred sites, is available at Islamic Studies Pathways

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