The author is head of the Department of Communication,
International Islamic University, Malaysia. (Editor)
Introduction
The Internet phenomenon is a historical
‘synthesis’ of the different media: print, audio and visual communication.
This technology, which comes at the edge of the third information-communication
revolution, brings back the pertinence of a substantial component almost
peculiar to Islamic civilisation: the text. As such, the Internet, unlike
radio and television, is to be viewed from the start as a positive development
as far as Muslims are concerned. Needles to say, perhaps, that the content
of the Internet comprises both good and evil. The morality of the medium
is certainly the centre of concern for Muslims. This legitimate concern
is to be addressed at different levels: individual, social, and political.
The Islamic principle of moral struggle is very discrete in this context.
This principle invites man to make the truth prevail when encountered with
evil ways. In the Qur’a#n, we
read:
By the soul, and the proportion and order given to it;
and its enlightenment as to its wrong and its right: truly he succeeds
that purifies it, and he fails that corrupts it (91:7-10).
This requires enormous efforts to produce
virtually a new ethical culture and transform the existing cultural heritage
into a new form of cyberspace reality. The process is to be strengthened
by a degree of moral supervision that can infuse the notion of moral and
social responsibility and thus limit the negative dimensions of this medium.
The Muslim data entry in cyberspace needs to be enhanced and re-examined
as well. The Islamic input on the Internet is still in its infancy and
much awaits to be done to convey the authentic message of Islam in the
different areas of knowledge and interest. Certainly the materials that
favour the existing dominant institutions at the global level overwhelm
the content of the Internet. Still, the inherent qualities of the medium
extend the space for other competing alternatives. As such, the Muslims
need to seize this opportunity and provide a coherent, high quality and
structured content whose nature can only be the right path for human beings
in this new world of communication. Furthermore, definite strategies are
required to deal with the contents that pretend to represent or intentionally
misrepresent and distort the truth about Islam and Muslims.
The current communication technologies
offer a broad spectrum of opportunities that outweigh any previous technology
since the invention of writing. The new media of electronics, computing
and telecommunication infrastructure are distinct from the traditional
media in that the content is interactive, instantly delivered and integrative:
texts, sounds and images. This technology, however, is to be used with
the perspective that can channel visions and worldviews in addition to
other practical functions of communication and economic transactions. The
Islamic input on the Internet is scanty and originates mostly from cultural
associations and private individuals who strive to disseminate the message
of Islam and restructure the image of the Muslims in the Western media
and literature.
The credit for what can be called
Muslim’s Internet goes to independent Muslim technicians and scholars based
in many Western societies where such medium emerged and where the public
sphere is not very much restricted. The governments’ contribution in different
parts of the Muslim world is overshadowed by the tendency to favour a form
of PR content which enhances the image of a given institution or country.
This new online world of computer networks has generated a new Muslim cyber
community that can now interact in ways that transcend political divisions,
national boundaries and other traditional barriers of communication. Even
though the Internet is still an elite medium in the Muslim context, the
speed by which the medium was introduced and the enthusiasm that it has
generated have certainly opened new ways of communication that were until
recently beyond imagination. The effects of this new media may generate
a new Muslim consciousness that is shaped not only by national considerations
but also by a consciousness that can be effective and instrumental in this
new world of global Gemenshaft. The main ethical and cultural concern remains
as to whether such medium would shake the moral foundations and basic social
institutions of the Muslims society.
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 states and Malaysia are 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 Algeria which 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
Arabia and 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 Paris which 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 Tunis of 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.
Duplication vs Originality
The Islamic input on the Internet
is not by any means meagre. The efforts by a number of cultural associations
need to be appreciated. Nonetheless, the initial impression about Islamic
Internet is the aspect of repetition and lack of contemporary material
on the different fields of knowledge. The Internet cannot be expected to
produce knowledge as such. It can provide the space through which knowledge
can be disseminated. Thus, the Internet can only reflect what a given society
or civilisation can produce and has produced. The Muslim intellectuals
and government institutions of research and higher learning bear responsibility
of the shortage of Islamic input. Clearly, thus technology offers more
space than what Muslims can deliver and use at the moment.
The Islamic content on the Internet
tends to reflect the existing socio-political arrangement in the Muslim
world with slight edge for the independent, highly reputed cultural associations.
As known, not everything which carries the connotation of Islam is Islamic.
In fact, much of the content produced by individuals and institutions in
the Muslim world is secular material and is not much different from the
Western model. Needless to say, such material can create immediate positive
reaction from the online consumers who happen to come across such sites.
The Internet seems to have this ability to make illusions look like a reality.
In any case, the Internet is a reality and has to be recognised as such.
The Muslims can celebrate the fact
that many original Islamic resources are online now. The most important
of these are the Holy Qur’a#n and
the Sunnah of the Prophet (sws). The Holy Qur’a#n
is now accessible in many different languages. The text is indexed and
classified for easy access. Islam, however, is to be disseminated through
virtually unlimited number of ways including intellectual production, da‘wah
and other diverse processes that can translate Islamic values into
a living reality.
The Emerging Cyber Muslim Community
The Internet audience research is
not yet available in the Muslim context. Nonetheless, a sizeable Muslim
audience both in the Muslim and Western world is already a part of this
global cyber community. The cyber community in the Muslim world is an elite
audience composed of engineers, academicians, students and officials. This
technology requires PC availability, electronic data and telecommunication
infrastructure. The PC penetration in most parts of the Muslim world is
quite low. The rates of illiteracy, not to mention computer illiteracy,
vary from high to moderate. This has adversely affected access to such
technology. The cost factor is another variable that makes computers the
instruments of the rich. Further, telecommunication technology is not well
developed, a fact which hinders the development of both intra and international
computer networks.
This elite cyberspace community may
grow and set the basis for a much important civil society in the Muslim
world. However, neither the Internet users are close to a ‘critical mass’
stage nor is the Internet treated as a valuable market platform in many
parts of the Muslim world. While the Internet market is saturated in America
and AT & T expects electronic commerce via the Internet to reach $20
billion by the turn of the century in Asia alone, the Muslim region still
suffers from inaccessibility.
Old Concerns and New Challenge
The fact the many Muslims are interacting
with each other as never before is bound to have major culture, political
and commercial ramifications. So far, the Internet seems to mainly affect
the elite segment in the Muslim world. The Muslim intellectual community
in the Western world has the advantage to be the first to use and introduce
Islamic inputs in this new medium of communication. Soon, the medium gained
grounds among educational institutions, intellectuals, business entrepreneurs
and government agencies in many parts of the Muslim world. Today, the new
communication technology is already affecting the Muslim environment and
it is increasingly becoming a new reality that is not only shaping the
way the Muslims communicate with each other but the way they think and
perceive the local and global worlds.
The apparent positive outcome of this
instant two-way communication is that many Muslim can have communication
and share knowledge and experience with no apparent restriction. This may
lead later to the emergence of a new Muslim cyber community that is not
only shaped by national considerations, but by the universal values of
Islam. The Muslims can also have access to knowledge and information that
were until recently beyond reach. The commercial Internet also may change
the way the Muslim do business and may improve their economic efficiency.
This communication technology produces
drawbacks that raise solemn cultural concerns in the Muslim context. The
most important component of this is the presence of pornography, violence
and other meaningless content which adversely affect the new vulnerable
generation of Muslims. This concern is not actually new since the media
of television and video have previously generated criticism and resistance
by the Muslims and the non-Muslim alike on the same score. The new element
of such new technology is the inability to exercise any form of supervision
and control. On the societal level, it is not quite clear whether this
medium will weaken the family and erode the role played so far by interpersonal
communication and social network in the transmission of knowledge, culture
and heritage. There seem to be various political implications too. This
technology can improve access to government. Contrarily, the medium can
be used to spread rumours and engage in ‘dis-information campaign’ against
governments and institutions.
Recently a number of software and
technical devices have been introduced to block incoming and outgoing unwanted
material and guard against security breaches on the Internet. The basic
function of this "firewall" is to intelligently isolate unwanted material.
All traffic coming from the ‘outside’ of a firewall is constrained to pass
through a single choke-point. Because it does so, the firewall has the
opportunity to check that the data passage is acceptable – that is, it
conforms to the criteria of the site. Similarly, a firewall ensures that
outbound traffic is also non-threatening or that people within your organisation
are not communicating with outside entities that you have chosen to disallow.
Other blocking software such as Cyber Patrol, Cyber Sitter and Cyber Watch
are developed to keep certain segment of end users, such as children, away
from inappropriate sites on the Web.
Still censorship is becoming an important
issue in the Muslim context. The old North South debate between advocates
of free flow of information and promoters of balanced and guided system
of communication has recently resurfaced. The political authorities find
some kind of information objectionable. There is concern over the possible
threat to moral values and traditions posed by the new medium of the Internet.
The Internet provider in the United Arab Emirate, for example, is taking
steps to censor Web sites that are deemed to violate moral standards. The
perceptions about Islam and Muslims can now be restructured in such a way
that a balanced and genuine representation may emerge in such a way that
the Muslim master and extend their presence in this cyber world of communication.
Islamic Internet in the Age of Globalization
The Internet has generated a lot of
enthusiasm combined seemingly with certain fear that such a medium may
challenge the foundation of basic social institutions which have so far
ensured some level of socialisation: educational, and socio-political.
This enthusiasm-fear complex is historically associated with almost every
new medium of communication. The invention of writing (6,000 BC), the printing
press (15th Century), film and radio (1920s) and Television (1959s) have
all engendered a psychological and cultural shock whereby people are prompted
to make various adjustments in their life ways including the ways of communication.
McLuhah, an advocate of technological determinism, has echoed this state
of mind when he proclaimed his famous statement that ‘the medium is the
message’. To him, every new medium alters perceptions and ways of thinking
and thus generates certain resistance among the end users. The author maintains
that such a process disturbs old habits and forces people to adopt new
conventions through a tedious process of refitting and reconciliation.
This view, however, is mostly technical, emphasising ways rather than contents
of communication. As such, little is said about whether a new medium transfigures
or deforms the nature of existing cultures and values. It is my considered
opinion that the Internet is both a medium and a message. The content of
such medium mainly reflects the already existing arrangements at the economic
and socio-political levels both locally and globally. However, it seems
in the fitness of things that the Muslims should use cyberspace in the
most meaningful way to disseminate the true values of Islam. As for the
dichotomy of good and evil, it seems to be inherent in every medium.
Muslim civilisation thrived when the message of Islam
was conveyed through many channels, including oral and written communication.
The Muslims used the written material effectively when the Holy Qur’a#n,
the Sunnah (first) and the major works of the Muslim scholars were
preserved and documented. In recent times, the Muslims have also to utilise
the modern media of newspapers to promote the cause of national independence
from the control of the colonial powers. The audio-visual communication
of radio and television has, however, shrunk Muslim participation in this
content. The Muslims produced little content in the form of video materials.
As such, they consumed a form of mass culture produced by others. The introduction
of the Internet has brought back the importance of written material of
which the Muslims have produced great works in literature, art, science,
jurisprudence, etc.
The Muslim input on the Internet is
currently modest. Certainly, the dissemination of the Holy Qur’a#n
and H~adi#th
outweighs any other content. This presence must be celebrated as the
greatest event this medium has produced as far as Muslims and human beings
in general are concerned. Nonetheless, much remains to be done on how to
reproduce Islamic knowledge and ethics in different aspects of contemporary
cultural, socio-political and economic life of society in general.
The negative aspect of the new medium
of the Internet is the presence of the unauthentic content that pretends
to represent Islam. There are sects, alien or deviant from the mainstream
of Islam, which seek to spread certain ideologies in the name of Islam.
This is the case of some important sects in India. There are many Websites
that intentionally seek to distort the main thrust of Islam and paint the
Muslims with certain classical biased stereotypes. Thus, there is an urgent
need to develop constant awareness and start a vigorous campaign to expose
and rebuke such provocative and demeaning material. The authentic Islamic
input on the Internet could ensure that the message of Islam is universalised.
Suggested Readings
1. Featherstone, Mike and Burrows,
Roger, Cyberspace,Cyberbodies, Cyberpunik: Cultures of Technological Embodiment
(London: Sage Publications, 1995).
2. Steve Jones, Cybersociety:
Computer-mediated Communication and Cultural (Thousand Oaks, Califs: Sage
Publications, 1995)
3. Kahin, Brain and Nesson Charles,
Borders in Cyberspace: Information Policy and the Global Information Infrastructure
(Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press, 1977).
4. Brain Loader, The Governance
of Cyberspace: Politics, Technology and Global Restructuring (London: Routledge,
1997).
(Courtesy: The ‘Islamic Studies, Quarterly’, Islamabad)
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