Islam and the internet

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ColoradoGuy

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I've been reading reviews about what sounds to be a book with a fascinating concept. I haven't tracked down the book yet, but I will. It's called iMuslims: Rewiring the House of Islam by Gary Bunt.

The basic premise is that the internet age has had a far more profound effect on Islam than on any other religion. There are several reasons for this. Chief among them is that the internet is a sort of natural home for Muslims because they are spread across the globe and have no central authority -- no Pope or governing synods or the like. The entire corpus of Islam is available online for all to read and comment about. And the commenting community is enormous and vociferous.

This has intriguing possibilities theologically. It also has real political impact, which is why theocratic Islamic regimes have tried to snuff it out. Islamic extremists and terrorists, of course, are well known to use the web. There is also the emergence of what one reviewer (Dominic Casciani in the January 22 TLS -- sorry, they won't allow links) calls "virtual belief," a situation in which someone can convert online without ever attending a Mosque. The online community thereby may become the only faith community for some believers.

" . . . the Islamic "brotherhood" is evolving online into parallel brotherhoods. The net is a marketplace, an "Islamic Internet Souq," in which there are many traders. And none has the monopoly on God's message to mankind."

It's a fascinating notion -- that the diffuse theological underpinnings of Islam are uniquely suited to the diffuseness of the Internet. Here's the author's blog.
 

Ruv Draba

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This is interesting, CG. Historically, information infrastructure like writing, printing-presses and the Internet have done two things: increased access to information, and standardised thought (Wikipedia is a good example of both).

But Islam doesn't seem to have much further capacity for dogmatic standardisation -- the texts are the texts and not subject to translation or reinterpretation; there's just some dispute over which texts are dogma and which are not. So it's easy to imagine that the Internet will simply increase information availability and interconnection between Muslim groups. I'm a member of several Muslim forums and they're certainly vigorous and active.

One area of thought it may help standardise though is the application of Islam to a modern urban world -- so not the core dogma, but the social practices and standards. It's arguable that Islam itself has been having difficulty finding its way here; if so that difficulty will continue Islam's population grows increasingly urbanised and affluent.

Even so, I find it hard to imagine that Islam will settle on just one standard for urban life. I wonder if it will do as Judaism has, and settle on several quite different standards, and whether they'll be compatible, as those of Judaism are, or incompatible?
 
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semilargeintestine

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Your description of Islam as being spread out over the globe with no central authority figure just as easily describes Judaism as well. Orthodox Judaism has used the internet in an amazing way to bring people back to their faith as well as provide free education for Jews on all sorts of Jewish topics from learning Hebrew to studying Talmud/Torah to conversion processes. The Chabad and Aish websites are probably the two most widely used, and they are huge resources for everyone from the new Jew to the seasoned frumster from birth.

The internet is great when it's used right.
 

Ruv Draba

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Your description of Islam as being spread out over the globe with no central authority figure just as easily describes Judaism as well.
... or Buddhism, Taoism, paganism, humanism, and some forms of Christianity... Many kinds of spirituality don't require a regimented hierarchy to maintain themselves. Some might have an informal hierarchy -- like rabbis or imams or monks. Some beliefs hold institutional authority in their texts alone, some in their hierarchies alone, and some in both. Some have no institutional authority at all -- humanism for instance, is just a bunch of ideas kicked around by people with similar broad sentiments.

Really, I think that any of these structures can adapt to the Internet and benefit from it. The RC Church for instance, is one of the larger hierarchical faiths, but still has a lot of activity on the Internet.
 

benbradley

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In the 1980's I worked for a company that made "voice response" systems - computers that someone could call into, and get information or place orders using a touch-tone telephone (sometimes as simple information numbers such as what movies a theater was showing, or a pay-per-view system for a cable company). They've of course become ubiquitous as the first and often last phone contact for many large corporations which want to make it hard for the general public to talk to a live person.

Someone came to the company wanting to put the Koran (Quran, however you spell it) onto a voice response system so a caller could enter the chapter and verse of a passage and the system would speak the verse to the caller. Nothing ever came of it that I heard (maybe the potential customer went to another company), but I thought it was an interesting use of the technology.
... or Buddhism, Taoism, paganism, humanism, and some forms of Christianity... Many kinds of spirituality don't require a regimented hierarchy to maintain themselves. Some might have an informal hierarchy -- like rabbis or imams or monks. Some beliefs hold institutional authority in their texts alone, some in their hierarchies alone, and some in both. Some have no institutional authority at all -- humanism for instance, is just a bunch of ideas kicked around by people with similar broad sentiments.

Really, I think that any of these structures can adapt to the Internet and benefit from it. The RC Church for instance, is one of the larger hierarchical faiths, but still has a lot of activity on the Internet.
Here's my observation - I'm not sure what "a lot of activity" is, or how exactly to measure a religion's presence on or use of the Internet (perhaps, as a first approximation, the number of webpages per adherent?), but it seems the Internet has become so ubiquitous that it's yet another essential medium for any group of, say, a dozen people or more can adopt to keep in touch with one another and/or make their message available to a wider audience. In the past there's been snail-mail newsletters to members and friends, an office with a telephone, classified ads in the local newspapers, etc., and now the Internet is just another tool in the mix (which perhaps males some of the older tools obsolete - many groups send newsletters by email instead of snail-mail thesedays).
 

ColoradoGuy

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I'm interested in the premise -- apparently validated by the author of the book I mentioned -- that these days someone can actually convert to a particular religion (Islam, in this case) simply by reading on the internet. For such a person, the religious community is entirely a virtual one. That is some sort of milestone -- of what, I'm not sure.
 

semilargeintestine

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I don't know of any branches of Judaism that would allow for a conversion totally on the internet, and orthodox Judaism would certainly not recognize even one that was mostly internet-based. But, there are programs where you can do most of it using online programs, etc. and then attending a couple of sessions in person (plus the conversion ceremony where the convert dips into the mikvah and comes out Jewish).

But yeah, Ruv. There are many religions and such that could use the internet in a very beneficial way.
 

Ruv Draba

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I'm interested in the premise -- apparently validated by the author of the book I mentioned -- that these days someone can actually convert to a particular religion (Islam, in this case) simply by reading on the internet.
That too is more general. For example extremism (Islamic and other kinds) is now recognisable as a self-radicalising phenomenon. So potentially any faith could work the same way if the parent rite itself permits. One would hope then that more benign beliefs delivered over the Internet would outweigh the cynical, desperate and malign thought.

I've been involved in on-line communities of many kinds since the early 80s -- a decade before the Internet became a commercial phenomenon. I've done cooperative drama, poetry, storytelling, philosophy, joined humanist groups, even attended an on-line memorial service... there are some fascinating discussions to be had and sometimes a great deal of intimacy and shared understanding, but I've never seen the same sense of shared emotion and purpose one can find in a choir say, or at some religious services or other real-life community events. I wonder whether those faiths delivered over the Internet will become more like philosophies -- intellectualised and abstract; whether they'll lose some sense of community, tradition and heritage. If so, I think that a some of the good things about religion might be lost.
 

ChristineR

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You can't convert by reading on the Internet. You convert by saying "There is no God but God and Mohammad is his prophet," (in Arabic) three times, in front of witnesses. If you have no appropriate witnesses handy, but have an Internet phone program, you can do it that way. Besides living somewhere where there's no Muslim community, the main reason you'd do it this way is that your chosen spiritual leader was a long way away from you.

I don't know how widely accepted this would be. Islam has no central authorities to decide whether or not it's acceptable. But I gather that part of the point is that it's easy to convert, and the majority of Muslims accept that even the offbeat sects are "real" Muslims.
 

Ruv Draba

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The testimony of faith is called shahada. There are seven criteria for it to be a legitimate recitation, but reciting in front of witnesses is explicitly not one of them, and may simply be community preference or a legal requirement in some jurisdictions for status recognition. Many Muslims believe that everyone is born Muslim and 'revert' to Islam rather than 'convert'. Here are the criteria for earnest recitation:

Al-`Ilm: Knowledge of the meaning of the Shahadah, its negation and affirmation.
Al-Yaqeen: Certainty – perfect knowledge of it that counteracts suspicion and doubt.
Al-Ikhlaas: Sincerity which negates shirk.
Al-Sidq: Truthfulness that permits neither falsehood nor hypocrisy.
Al-Mahabbah: Love of the Shahadah and its meaning, and being happy with it.
Al-Inqiad: Submission to its rightful requirements, which are the duties that must be performed with sincerity to God (alone) seeking His pleasure.
Al-Qubool: Acceptance that contradicts rejection.
 

bigb

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I'm interested in the premise -- apparently validated by the author of the book I mentioned -- that these days someone can actually convert to a particular religion (Islam, in this case) simply by reading on the internet. For such a person, the religious community is entirely a virtual one. That is some sort of milestone -- of what, I'm not sure.

Reminds me of the thread I'm working on starting which will mention scientist who study Darwinism/Evolution becoming athiest.
 

AMCrenshaw

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Speaking of submission and the internet

...Does God have the most friends on facebook? I am asking earnestly if anyone knows this figure, as I do not have facebook personally, and my google fu has produced nothing but love thy neighbor pages. (Can't fault 'em or put 'em down)

I would also be interested in a comparison of God's celebrity status to Michael Jackson and (US) President Barack Obama. Measurable in terms of facebook fans. Note: This is a world-representative social networking tool.


:D
 
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