Monday, January 27, 2014

Turkey publishes Islamic Encyclopedia on the internet

World Bulletin, Turkey publishes Islamic Encyclopedia on the internet "The Turkish Religious Affairs Foundation’s Islamic Encyclopedia, arguably one of the most important collections of Islamic knowledge published in contemporary times, is now available on the internet."

Arab cyberactivism

AFP, Arab cyberactivism faces 'unprecedented attack', 24 Jan 2014 "Today there is an unprecedented attack against activists in general and cyberactivists in particular," said Hisham al-Miraat, advocacy director at the Global Voices, an international network of bloggers, translators and citizen journalists.

'The second death of Khaled Saeed'

madamasr.com, The second death of Khaled Saeed: The martyr dies again, in cyberspace and the courthouse " The page, made iconic in 2011, has over 3.6 million followers, who now plead with the page’s administrators to break their silence.

 “How long are you going to keep silent?” one asked, while another angrily shouted into the cyber world, “You betrayed the revolution, you betrayed Khaled.”

ماذا_نجح_التويتر_في_السعودية#

BBC News, #BBCtrending: Why Twitter is so big in Saudi Arabia "Since it started on Tuesday, there have been more than 10,000 tweets using the hashtag #Why_did_Twitter_succeed_in_Saudi_Arabia (ماذا_نجح_التويتر_في_السعودية#). Saudis are among the world's heaviest Twitter users, so it's a valid question. But the answers supplied by Saudis on Twitter have nothing to do with technical things like internet penetration rates or mobile phone access."

Wednesday, January 22, 2014

Center for Strategic Counterterrorism Communications

Times of India, US's new war in cyber world "Formally started in 2011, the Center for Strategic Counterterrorism Communications (CSCC) has used YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and the internet to counter their propaganda in languages like Arabic, Somali, Urdu and Punjabi. A pilot project in English was also started recently." More information on CSCC

Il jihad è anche online: al Qaida e Internet

repubblica.it, Il jihad è anche online: al Qaida e Internet "Il web è un'immensa risorsa in termini di propaganda, reclutamento e proselitismo. Ha accompagnato la trasformazione dell'organizzazione di bin Laden da realtà monolitica e verticale a network decentralizzato e pragmatico."

French teen 'jihad'

AP, Minister: French teens go to Syria for jihad "The minister suggested the young men were converted to the jihadi cause on the Internet, not in mosques. He said the pair is likely now in Turkey." Also see Mail Online, Schoolboys aged just 15 'have become France's youngest ever Jihadists after flying to Syria to fight for Al Qaeda'

E-radicalisation and Islamophobia

The Nation, E-radicalisation and Islamophobia:


Russia Searches for ‘Black Widow’ Suicide Bomber in Sochi

VOA, Russia Searches for ‘Black Widow’ Suicide Bomber in Sochi:


"Russian police are on the hunt for a potential female suicide bomber in the Black Sea resort city of Sochi, where the Winter Olympics are set to begin next month."

China to Help Iran Implement Its Closed National Internet

China to Help Iran Implement Its Closed National Internet : International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran "The Islamic Republic of Iran and China have reportedly reached an agreement to begin cooperating on Internet operations, aiming to implement Iran’s “National Information Network,” according to a report on the website of Iran’s Ministry of Communications and Information Technology. Nasrollah Jahangard, head of Iran’s Information Technology Organization, is quoted in the report saying that the agreements were reached in negotiations with the Deputy for Internet Information, of the Information Council."

KSA Outperforms Emerging Economies in Internet Access and Use

CPI Financial | CPI Financial News | Banking and Financial News,Islamic Business and Finance, Commercial Banking | KSA Outperforms Emerging Economies in Internet Access and Use:




Jihadists Of Reddit

Jihadists Of Reddit: Swedish Redditor Travels To Syria To Become Fighter Against Assad, How Many Others Are There?  - International Digital Times:

Arab Bloggers Forum

Middle East Online, Arab bloggers to boost cyberactivism after Internet-fuelled revolts, 21 Jan 2014 "Arab bloggers on Monday discussed ways to boost cyberactivism at a meeting in the Jordanian capital, faced with new challenges three years after the start of Internet-fuelled revolts in their region." Full details of the meeting are here: Arab Bloggers Forum

Prof uses mobile media to study effect of religions

Prof uses mobile media to study effect of religions - DailyHerald.com "University of Connecticut Professor Bradley Wright has all types of questions for his research: Did you pray in the last 24 hours? To what extent are you feeling nurtured or angry with God? Do you feel a sense of purpose right now?"

Lebanese Blogger Spoofs Study on Middle Eastern Women’s Clothing

Lebanese Blogger Spoofs Study on Middle Eastern Women’s Clothing · Global Voices, 18 Jan 2014 "The question “How Should Middle Eastern Women Dress in Public” posed by the University of Michigan is attracting hilarious spoofs online. The content is so rich that an additional post to our first one was necessary."

Saudi rights group identifies father in child abuse video

Saudi rights group identifies father in child abuse video - Al Arabiya News "The nearly 3-minute-long clip shows a man, who appears to be in his 30s, violently flogging five children without any concern for their cries. A woman can be heard in the background pleading with the man to stop beating the children."



Arab tweeps ‘hijack’ online Selfie Olympics

Arab tweeps ‘hijack’ online Selfie Olympics - Al Arabiya News:


"Arabs have “hijacked” the Selfie Olympics, several tweets read this week, after the online competition to post the most risky poses continues to heat up."

Friday, January 17, 2014

'Obama to curb NSA spying on phone data'

C4, Obama to curb NSA spying on phone data "President Barack Obama says he will put a stop to the US intelligence agency's mass storage of Americans' phone records, and orders an end to indiscriminate spying on friendly foreign allies."

New & noted: The Arab Uprisings of 2011

Taylor & Francis Online :: Middle East Critique - Volume 22, Issue 3: Special Issue: The Arab Uprisings of 2011 Includes free access to 'A Digital Humanities Approach: Text, the Internet, and the Egyptian Uprising' by Laila Shereen Sakr, pages 247-263

How Jihadists Use the Internet

How Jihadists Use the Internet | VICE United States: article by Joseph Cox. "Jihadists have been on the internet a long time, and they probably know how to use it better than you do. Since the early years of the world wide web, radical Islamist groups used it for a number of different jihad-y means, from recruitment and financing to propaganda and communication. But how has this changed over the past decade, and in the wake of Edward Snowden's revelations of NSA spying, what does the future hold for jihadists and the internet?"

Thursday, January 16, 2014

op-ed on social media and 'radical Islamism'

Nadim Mansouri, aawsat.net, Debate: Social media allows radical Islamism to spread, 14 Jan 2014 "New media tools have evolved into diverse online forms, contributing to a stronger feeling of unity across the Muslim world. Islamist movements have diversified into various orders, such as the Salafists, the Muslim Brotherhood, Al-Qaeda and Hizb ut-Tahrir, which all work to improve their methods of disseminating ideas, expand their programs, and acquire assets." opinion piece

'Leader Underscores Islamic Lifestyle in Urban Development'

tasnimnews.com, Leader Underscores Islamic Lifestyle in Urban Development, 13 Jan 2014 "Speaking in a gathering of Iranian cultural officials at the time, Ayatollah Khamenei urged caution in dealing with the cultural onslaught launched against Iran by the enemies, and emphasized the need for vigilance in the face of “activity of at least hundreds of audio, video, printed and Internet media in the world with the certain aim of affecting the Iranian nation’s mind and behavior.”"

Opinion: 'Polygyny: What Was I Thinking?'

Aishah Schwartz, onislam.net, Polygyny: What Was I Thinking?

Syria 'jihadi' recruitment

NYT, Flow of Westerners to Syria Prompts Security Concerns, 15 Jan 2014, "American and European intelligence officials estimate that 1,200 young people have left to join Syria’s rebel groups, some of which have ties to Al Qaeda. On Tuesday, President François Hollande of France, in a news conference, said that French intelligence had counted 700 French citizens and foreigners who had headed to Syria from his country. “We must prevent them,” he said."

Eleven-Year-Old Iranian Boy Suspected of Electronically Stealing Money from Bank Account

The Blaze, Eleven-Year-Old Iranian Boy Suspected of Electronically Stealing Money from Bank Account, 15 Jan 2014, "An 11-year-old Iranian boy has been detained by police on suspicion he obtained the password to a bank account and used it to transfer money to himself."

'Saudi penguin dance'

alarabiya.net, Will the Saudi penguin dance become the new Harlem Shake "Videos of the dance being performed have been spread extensively on various social networks including Twitter, Facebook, Snapchat and Instagram." Albanian/Saudi/Finnish/Antarctic fusion

Wednesday, January 15, 2014

New and noted: 'Muslim punk' music online

Salhi, Kamal (Ed.). Music, Culture and Identity in the Muslim World: Performance, Politics and Piety. Routledge, 2013. ISBN: 978-0-415-66562-9 contains a chapter by Dhiraj Murthy on "'Muslim punk' music online: Piety and protest in the digital age" (which happens to cite 'iMuslims'. The chapter looks interesting - I've been looking at it on Google Books. I plan to get the volume for a closer look. It would be worth building a soundtrack playlist to go with it. I may do that if I ever get any down time!

Thursday, January 09, 2014

Khamenei: No online chatting between sexes

Latest fatwa from Iran: No online chatting between sexes | Fox News: "Online chatting between men and women on social networks is forbidden under Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's latest fatwa, delivered ironically enough on his website in answer to a question sent by email. The top mullah's reasoning is that such contact could eventually lead to activities prohibited by Islam."

Rock Jihad: Rocking out the Islamic way

Rock Jihad: Rocking out the Islamic way - Yahoo News Malaysia: "When asked about their brand of music, Al-Farabi frontman Nazri said: "Our music is not meant to be relaxing. It is meant to be played at the highest volume to effectively burn into your soul and spirit!"" There's a photo of them preparing to play in front of Tahfiz Quran students in Shah Alam - would have liked to have seen the audience reaction...

Al Shabab Bans Internet In Somalia

Reuters/huffingtonpost.com, Al Shabab Bans Internet In Somalia, 9 Jan 2014: "Somali rebel group al Shabaab has banned the use of the Internet in the Horn of Africa country, giving telecom operators 15 days to comply with the order, the militants said."

'Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen files suit on internet commenter'

hurriyetdaily.com, Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen files suit on internet commenter "Fethullah Gülen has filed a criminal complaint against an internet commenter, who claimed the Islamic scholar was “a CIA agent.”"

Syria: Aleppo executions

More than 50 executed in Aleppo as rebels turn against each other | Mail Online "Horrifying images today emerged from Syria which allegedly show the aftermath of the summary execution of more than 50 rival rebels by an extreme faction fighting to overthrow Bashar al Assad."


Monday, January 06, 2014

New chapter: 'Studying Muslims and Cyberspace'

Gabriele Marranci (editor), Studying Islam in Practice (Paperback) - Routledge contains a chapter by myself on 'Studying Muslims and Cyberspace'. I have yet to see the book...

Description (from Routledge website): "This book presents Islam as a lived religion through observation and discussion of how Muslims from a variety of countries, traditions and views practice their religion. It conveys the experiences of researchers from different disciplinary backgrounds and demonstrates the dynamic and heterogeneous world of Islam. The fascinating case studies range from Turkey, Egypt, Morocco and Lebanon to the UK, USA, Australia and Indonesia, and cover topics such as music, art, education, law, gender and sexuality. Together they will help students understand how research into religious practice is carried out, and what issues and challenges arise."

Syrian Malware Campaigns

Quantum of Surveillance: Familiar Actors and Possible False Flags in Syrian Malware Campaigns | Electronic Frontier Foundation "Citizen Lab security researchers Morgan Marquis-Boire and John Scott-Railton and EFF Global Policy Analyst Eva Galperin today published their latest technical paper, “Quantum of Surveillance: Familiar Actors and Possible False Flags in Syrian Malware Campaigns.” The report outlines how pro-government attackers have targeted the opposition, as well as NGO workers and journalists, with social engineering and “Remote Access Tools” (RAT)."

In Syria's Civil War, Facebook Has Become a Battlefield

In Syria's Civil War, Facebook Has Become a Battlefield | Threat Level | Wired.com: "For the last two years cyberwarriors loyal to Bashar al-Assad have made cyberspace a second front in the Syrian conflict. For nearly as long, Marquis-Boire and his colleagues Eva Galperin and John Scott-­Railton have been tracking and analyzing the arsenal of computer malware used against the Syrian opposition, journalists and NGOs. It’s a very different kind of forensic analysis than researchers usually perform — urgent, chaotic, and with human lives on the line."

Twitter sheikhs of Saudi Arabia

Twitter sheikhs of Saudi Arabia - Al-Monitor: the Pulse of the Middle East:


New and Noted: Magdalena Karolak, The Social Media Wars: Sunni and Shi'a Identity Conflicts in the Age of Web 2.0 and the Arab Spring

Book: The Social Media Wars: Sunni and Shi'a Identity Conflicts in the Age of Web 2.0 and the Arab Spring | Digital Islam  "This monograph evaluates the role of the social media in strengthening and transforming religious identities in the aftermath of the Arab Spring. Focusing specifically on Bahrain, this study assesses how the sectarian interpretation of the protests exacerbated social divisions and reverberated around the Middle East intensifying sectarian loyalties. The social media contribute to negotiation and re-construction of the collective identities of the groups involved in the 2011 uprising, which is visible through their online manifestations."


Gaming Taboos, Part 1

Gaming Taboos, Part 1 - Religion and Spirituality - Video Game Writers:


Al-Qaeda Central and Its Affiliates Workshop Part 1 - YouTube

From A to Z: Al-Qaeda Central and Its Affiliates Workshop Part 1 - YouTube:


Syrian opposition turns on al-Qaida-affiliated Isis jihadists

Syrian opposition turns on al-Qaida-affiliated Isis jihadists near Aleppo | World news | The Guardian:


Thursday, January 02, 2014