Shap Journal 2001/2002

Living Community

The Islamic Internet Souq

Gary R. Bunt

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 if 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-cafe 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 ofMohammad
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.

Web sites

URLs correct at the time of research for this article. Any
future updates can be found on the Virtually Islamic web site.

Ahmed Deedat
http://home.swipnet.se/~w-20479/Audio.htm

Alta Vista
http://www.altavista.com

Answering Islam, Deedat Rebuttal Page
http://www.answering-islam.org/Responses/Deedat/

Al-Azhar
http://www.alazhar.org

Google
http://www.google.com

Hamas - Palestinian Information Center
http://www.palestine-info.net/

Harf Information Technology
http://www.harf.com/

IANA, Islamic Assembly of North America, Fatwa
and Research Centre
http://www.iananet.org/fatwa/fatwa.html

Image of Sunshine
http://www.irna.com/occasion/ertehal/index-e.htm

Islamic Republic of Pakistan
http://www.pak.gov.pk/

IslamiCity
http://www.islam.org

JAKIM
http://www.islam.gov.my/profail/BI/profile.html

Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan
http://www.jamaat.org

Khutbah Online
http://dar-us-salam.com/khutba

MDNet (Death of Mohammad al-Durrah)
http://www.mdnet.co.uk/hr postcards/hr.shtml

Musulman
http://www.musalman.com/

PAS, Parti Islam SeMalaysia
http://www.jaring.my/pas

SuraLikeIt UK
http://dspace.dial.pipex.com/suralikeit

Taliban Online
http://www.ummah.net/dharb/

Tanzeem-e-Islami Pakistan
http://www.tanzeem.org.pk

Gary Bunt's on-line guide to Islam on the Internet,
listing one hundred sites, is available at:
Islamic Studies Pathways
http://www.lamp.ac.uk/cis/pathways

This article originally appeared in Q News November
2000. We are grateful to the author and to Q News for
their permission to use it here.

Further information about Q News can be found on their
website: http//www.q-news.com

Dr. Gary R. Bunt is the author of Virtually Islamic:
Computer Mediated Communication and Cyber Islamic
Environments, (Cardiff, University Of Wales Press, 2000
ISBN 0-7083-1611-5. £14.99), and The Good Web Guide
to World Religions (London: Good Web Guide, 2001)
E-mail garybunt@virtuallyislamic.com
http://www.virtuallyislamic.com