bismihi Ta’ala
assalam o alaikum …
this title is by Gary Bunt, the second in the series (and they can be read independently).
it is a modest effort to trace the Islamic (or non Islamic) activisim with respect to e Jihad, fatawas and particularly the response put forth by Islamic Web Sites/organizations in response to the 9-11 tragedy.
e Jihad might take the form of Islamic hacking activities (a misnomer), by varied groups, Islamic and non Islamic, in response to the human right abuses in occupied Palestine, Chechnya, Kashmir.
the question of religious authority, particularly what constitutes Islamic authority that is considered “authoritative” becomes difficult to construe, because of the medium itself, but Gary does a remarkble job of sifthing through them, i.e the neo Salafi, to the Sufi, the Shi’ite, and even traditional (four Islamic schools).
one aspect of the work that strikes a chord, is how relatively non Orthodox or non Majority schools have taken this medium seriously, since otherwise, the repressive nature of minority representation in many Islamic countries does not tarry well when it comes to using the Internet as a medium. these minority groups are relatively at ease to propogate their beliefs, so on and so forth, and the Sufi and the Shi’i draw particular attention in a seperate chapter.
what else? yes, the extent to which the Internet plays a role in dessiminating information, Islamic or other wise, in respect to the middle East. the state of Israel, by and large constitutes a greater offering to this medium, than the entire middle East combined, about 45 % of Israeli citinzenry has access to the Internet. the entire Middle East, only 5-10 % have access to the Internet, which might be due t infrastructure or political reasons. so relatively speaking, the onus of change that is touted with the Internet has little or no bearing on what the Middle Easterners can profit from. from a policy making perspective, this has to be given serious thought, when determining the audience that one tragets.
that is it that i can recall for now. others are welcome to comment, you can get the entire biblio of the book at ww.virtuallyislamic.com
regards
abu Kumayl