Sources of Islamic Input

Sources of Islamic Input

    There are hundreds of institutions, associations, private individuals and a number of government and religious agencies that seek to enhance the Muslim presence on the Internet. Let us examine the most important ones in the field.  

1. Independent Cultural Nets  

    The pioneers of these associations include:  

    i) Muslim Scientists, Mathematicians and Astronomers: The site of this association provides extensive material about Islam and Muslim contribution in different fields of knowledge. The site introduces early Muslim scholars from Al-Khawarizmi# to Ibn Khaldu#n. It includes glimpses of Islamic civilisation, Andalusia, the Holy Qur’a#n, the Prophet’s Si#rah and a variety of links to related materials.  

    ii) Dunya, Cyber Muslim Information Collective: A huge site for Muslims and others interested in Islam. It contains a large amount of information as ‘Digital Activism’ and ‘The Whole Dunya Bookstore and News Stand’. The latter includes links to online newspapers and magazines. The ‘Hyper Qur’a#n Prophet’, a hypertext version of the Holy Qur’a#n, is also located here along with ‘Islamware Mart’, where Muslims can look for share wares and commercial softwares specific to Islam.1  

    iii) Muslim Students Associations in America: This well-established institution provides the most comprehensive online link to the Muslim world. The institution adheres to the principles of neutrality and does not judge the content or the source of the material in question. The institution acts as a facilitator and organizer of online communication about the Muslim world. The MSA Home Page includes a number of directories such as the World of Islam Resource Guides, World of Islam Directory, Scholars Base, Translatus, Shuhuf, etc. these directories, however, are not well developed and tend to be very selective. This apparent shortcoming needs to be weighed against the fact that the institution is not a content provider but a gateway to different content providers in the Muslim world. The institution’s launch pad is the most extensive web site in the Muslim world. This particular site, apparently preferred by many Muslim educators, permits easy navigation through the site and the ability to call up information on demand.2  

    iv) International Institute of Islamic Thought: This intellectual and cultural foundation is committed to a critical examination of issues underlying the state of the Muslim world. The Institute advocates a particular endeavour that stresses the Islamisation of knowledge which includes attempts to integrate contemporary sciences and revealed knowledge. The Institute makes available on its website valuable Islamic resources such as the Holy Qur’a#n, periodicals and publications, etc.3  

    The list of such associations is quite exhaustive indeed. There is a lot of redundancy that may create a sense of deja vu to the extent that every institution seems to act independently from other related entities and duplicates more or less the same content in different styles. Needless to say, this diversity is to be encouraged, provided that there is some form of centralised co-ordination which, to one’s regret, is currently missing. This has led a number of Muslim scholars to criticise this chaos in what is called Islamic Internet.    

2. Governments  

    Until recently, much of the Muslim world was an ‘empty quarter’ in terms of the Internet access and other communication technologies. Now, many Muslim countries such as Saudi Arabia and the Gulf statesand Malaysiaare fully wired. This process has also affected even the least developed regions in the Muslim world. Yemen, for example, has its websites. Micro-sized satellite dishes are found everywhere in North Africa and the Gulf. Cairo has its cyber-café, and the World Wide Web has its Café Arabia. This communication explosion is left with little control. The Muslim countries do not have the same appreciation of these recent communication technologies. There are countries like Algeriawhich have no restriction on Direct Broadcasting System whereby individuals or groups can have direct access to foreign TV channels through satellite dishes, but seem to restrict access to the Internet. There are also other countries, such as Malaysia, which supervise access to foreign channels through local cable TV, but encourage access to the Internet and other information technologies. Still, the Middle Eastern countries seem to be selective in introducing many forms of communication technologies including the Internet. Needless to say that the Internet ‘invasion’ seems to override genuine efforts to control or transform the medium into a positive factor in the world of interactive communication. The Islamic input of governments’ sites varies from country to country. However, most of these sites are about governments’ agencies, business, advertisements, tourists’ materials and PR products, and not about Islam as such.  

    The highly present countries on the Web are: Egypt, Iran, Lebanon, Morocco, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabiaand Malaysia. Egypt’s WWW sites includes companies, personal Home Pages, colour tours, institutes such as the Museum of Egyptian Collection, Egypt TV stations and Home Pages of consulates like the Consulate of Egypt in Chicago.4 Saudi Arabian sites offer news, radio, TV and collections of Arabic entertainment. News and analyses include articles written by leading journalists and editors in the region such as Kha#lid Al-Ma‘i#na, Abdulla#h Al-Rafa#‘i#, and Mus@tafa# Ami#n whose columns appear in such  journals as al-Sharq al-Aawsat and al-Muslimu#n. These sites also offer programme listings of many radio and TV stations through Orbit Satellite and Television Network.5  

    There are many sites that are being fuelled by commercial drives. The most overwhelming examples are Arabia On Line from Jordan and Arab Net for the Gulf. The US-Arab Chamber of Commerce has its ‘1001 Sites’ on the Web. The Internet is gradually becoming a medium of transactions and may soon become as essential carrier of business life in many parts of the Muslim world.  

    The most active universities on the web are those of Pakistan and Turkey. The International Islamic University Malaysia seems to have the best university site in the Muslim world. The site of this university includes a network of Islamic resources as well as literature of different departments and faculties. Educators and intellectuals are challenged to be acquainted with the university’s vision of integration of revealed knowledge and social sciences. The site in question incorporates the University’s Research Centre’s databases on different cultural and scientific endeavours in the Muslim world.6  

    The data classification on the Internet including those provided by search engines seem to favour the actual socio-political divisions in the Muslim world. The Arab world, for example, is treated independently from the Muslim world. The same phenomenon is reproduced when such terms as Middle East, South Asia, and North Africa are used. This categorisation limits the ability to search data and material about the Muslim world. This can be seen in such sites as Arab Net,7 Arab World Online, Model League of Arab States, Middle East Network, Regional Arab Information, Arab resources, Arabia, etc. The same trend characterises individual Muslim states that are portrayed as independent entities. This includes such sites as Oman Net, Qatar Online, Iran Net, Djazair-Online,8 etc.    

3. Private Individuals  

    There are many scholars and private individuals who are using cyberspace to provide Islamic resources and particular experiences pertinent to different regions in the Muslim world. The most apparent example is the Home Page of one of the most eminent Muslim scholar Shaykh Yu#suf al-Qarad@a#wi#. This Home Page virtually includes Qarad@a#wi#’s Library which contains a large number of references about a wide variety of Islamic topics including shari#‘ah, da‘wah, Islamic economy, the Holy Qur’a#n, the Sunnah, ‘Aqi#dah, education, Islamic awakening, literature, etc. These highly valuable English language materials, originally sponsored by the General Institute of Islamic Culture of al-Azhar University in Egypt, address the contemporary concerns of Muslims abroad. The site also includes Fata#wa#, research articles, comments, etc. and provides the opportunity for interactivity.9 The new generation of Muslim students is also busy trying to make their presence on cyberspace, a fact of modern cyber world. The example is a Home Page constructed by a student at the Department of Communication, International Islamic University Malaysia. The Home Page in question introduces the home region of the students of Kashmir and offers a large number of Islamic resources and links.10 This writer’s Personal Home Page also provides resources in the filed of Islamic communication for students and scholars.11    

4. Muslim Minorities  

    There are Muslim minorities in many parts of the world which seek to reaffirm their attachment to Islam and provide the basic Islamic resources for both Muslims and non-Muslims. The most active Muslim minorities in cyberspace are those of India, South Africa, Singapore and Hong Kong. The web site of a Muslim association in Singapore, for example, provides valuable Islamic resources.12 These Muslim minorities seem to operate in an environment that is advanced in terms of use of online and multimedia. Furthermore, the ability to communicate in English has given these Muslim minorities the opportunity to register their effective presence on the Internet to a greater extent than in most of the Muslim majority countries.    

5. Political Parties  

    There are many political parties in the Muslim world which use cyberspace to propagate views of different political orientations. These parties include Islamic parties and movements, both those that are generally recognised as such and those that are not so recognised. The most active Islamic parties and movements are those of Lebanon, Algeria, Iran, Libya, Pakistan, Palestine and Turkey. This controversial development is sensitive and complex indeed. The main issue that the Muslims will soon face is whether they are ready to carry on their local disputes and conflicts at this global level and bear the consequences of making such internal structures vulnerable to influential global powers. The cyberspace is an open space indeed. Nonetheless, the questions of moral and social responsibility have not been very much discussed in the context of the Muslim society.    

6. Islamic Centres in the Western World  

    There are many Islamic centres in U.K and USA in particular, which seem to introduce the basic principles of Islam to the cyber community in these societies and abroad. These sites provide texts as well as audio material. The latter includes, for example, recitation of the Holy Qur’a#n, ie Huthayfi recitation, etc. The example of such sites is the Islamic Centre in Blacksburg Virginia that has developed an Islamic Audio Studio among other things.13    

7. Specialised Western Centres and Agencies  

    There are many centres and institutions in England, the Unites States, etc. which specialise in Islam and Muslim affairs. A number of these represent a continuation of Orientialism that sought to examine Islamic heritage from the perspective of an outsider. This enterprise is envisioned for many practical purposes. There are other institutions that specialise in certain regions of the Muslim World: Middle East affairs, Iranian affairs, North African affairs, South-eastern Asian affairs, etc. As such, the Muslim world is not treated as a single coherent entity. Rather, this specialisation reflects the state of division that characterises the Muslim Ummah today. The common example of such institutions is the Institute of the Arab World in Pariswhich specialises in different aspects of Arab culture: literature, education, politics, etc. Generally, these institutions provide more extensive material on Muslim than those found in many specialised institutions in the Muslim world. Needless to say that the content provided needs to be viewed critically and in the right perspective.  

    There is a strong sentiment among many Muslim scientists that what we can call Islamic Internet is largely chaotic. Efforts to provide Islamic resources are very often duplicated to the extent that many diverse sites are doing almost exactly the same thing with different techniques. A call has been made to establish a forum of World Islamic Network whereby these efforts could be used in more productive ways. This unification process requires co-operation of Islamic content providers, a task that seems to be unattainable in the conditions presently prevalent in the Muslim world. The medium of the Internet inherently encourages diversity whereby access, inter-activity and cost are no major obstacles to such communication. The gate-keeping function performed by traditional media of newspapers, radio and TV is hardly being performed on the Internet. There exists no institution right now which can filter the proclaimed content, authentic or otherwise. The specificity of the medium should not exempt the providers of Islamic input from co-ordination that would ensure authenticity and desired effect. This co-ordination should not only be of a technical character, but ought to be, above all, a kind of moral supervision.     

8. Unauthentic Sources of Distortion  

    The dark site of this medium is the presence of many sites that intentionally seek to distort the message of Islam and image of Muslims and thus mislead the end users. These sites are mostly motivated by evil purposes, often of a political nature. The striking example is the heretic site called ‘The Queer Masjid for Muslim Homosexuals’ which proposes to publish, among other things, a book on the homosexual jiha#d.14 The content directly insults Muslims and misguides others as to the true nature of Islam and the position of Islam with regard to such immoral forms of behaviour as homosexuality. A number of sects, particularly in India, are also using this cyberspace to propagate uncertified claims in the name of Islam.    

9. Muslim Media on the Internet  

    Many major daily newspapers in the Muslim world are on line. These consist of government-owned papers, independent papers and party papers.  

    The prominent papers such as al-Qabas (Kuwait), al-Sharq al-Aws@at@, (Saudi Arabia), Berita Harian (Malaysia), al-Wat@an (Algeria) were first to go on line. Shortly, the rest of papers followed. Now, we can find Afghanistan Daily News, Albanian Daily News, Maroc Hebdo (Morocco), al-Ayya#m (Bahrain), Dawn (Pakistan), Bangladesh Newsletter, Berserkistan, (Bosnia and Herzegovina), Egyptian Gazette, It@t@ila‘ a#t (Iran), al-Anwar (Lebanon), Kompas (Indonesia), al-Dastur (Jordan), etc. Many of these papers are published in the language of the former colonial powers: French in North Africa and Lebanon, and English in the rest of the Muslim world. Note that the French news agency, Agence France Presse (AFP) puts the French-language papers in North Africa and Lebanon under the umbrella of Francophone papers. This classification suggests that language extends the sphere of influence of certain nations even though the content of such language is fashioned by local considerations. Nonetheless, the different languages used by Muslims such as Arabic, Persian, Urdu and Malay are quite well represented. The most established ones includes al-I‘tidal, al-Jazi#rah, al-Madi#nah (Saudi Arabia) al-Nahr, al-Safi#r (Lebanon), al-Sha‘b (Algeria) and al-Sabi#l (Jordan) in Arabic; It@t@ila#‘a#t (Iran) in Persian; and Urdu# Akhba#r (Pakistan) in Urdu; and Jawa Post (Indonesia) in Malay. Evidently, the prominent papers in the Muslim world are either government or semi-independent papers. The party press is not quite developed for many reasons among which are the underdeveloped political environment and lack of financial support. The exception to this rule is the Egyptian party press whose historical traditions provide the possibility to reflect, to a large extent, the diverse political orientations in Egypt. This party press, however, is quite invisible on the Internet. There are a number of Islamic movements, including the outlawed movements, which use the Internet to disseminate certain materials in the form of newsletters. The contents of these documents tend to be highly opinionated, sporadic and outdated in most cases. The print media institutions include a number of Islamic academic journals, bookstores and electronic news-stands.  

    A number of radio stations are also online. The example of these are Radio Midil of Morocco,15 Radio Tunisof Tunisia,16 etc. The few TV stations provide only print texts about programmes and summary of major reported events. The example of the stations on the Web is Kanal D of Turkey and Iran Sima of Iran,17 the latter is provided on-demand. Awmag (waves) in the MSA Web is probably the most exhaustive site which provides access to online radio and TV emanating from the Muslim world. A number of major news agencies in the Muslim world are using the Internet to provide local news, financial and economic services, etc. The example of these are the Algerian Agence Presse Service18 and the Malaysian News Agency Bernama.19 This seemingly extensive presence does not necessarily reflect Islamic input as much as 

classical material about local politics, official positions and PR discourses

Islam in Cyberspace

Muslim Presence on the Internet

 Abder Rahmane Azzi