Pakistan Floods - Islamic Relief lauches major appeal for Floods in Pakistan

Pakistan Floods - Islamic Relief lauches major appeal for Floods in Pakistan

Donate online to UNICEF's Pakistan Children's Flood Appeal

UNICEF, Donate online to UNICEF's Pakistan Children's Flood Appeal "Severe flooding in Pakistan has left over four million people in need of urgent help including one and a half million children. UNICEF is already on the ground with our partners providing emergency healthcare and safe drinking water to affected families."

Algeria BlackBerry ban?

alarabiya.net, Canada, US in talks with UAE, Saudi officials, 6 Aug 2010 "In addition to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, India is in talks with the company over gaining access, and both Lebanon and Algeria, according to a newspaper report, are reviewing the situation and might soon also might join the list." Research In Motion under pressure ...

Adnan Shukrijumah

The Jakarta Post, New al-Qaida leader knows US well | 6 Aug 2010"A suspected al-Qaida operative who lived for more than 15 years in the US has become chief of the terror network's global operations, the FBI says, marking the first time a leader so intimately familiar with American society has been placed in charge of planning attacks."

Op-ed commentary

Hicham Ben Abdallah El Alaoui, Le Monde Diplomatiquie/Middle East Online, The Arab World’s Cultural Challenge "This dynamic of Salafisation occurs even as people continue to consume a proliferation of profane and secular cultural products via television, videos, the internet and popular literature. It is easy to identify the “western” and global forces driving secular culture, and denounce it as “foreign”; but this would be to ignore the creativity with which Arabs have appropriated and transformed the contemporary means of cultural production."

Anwar Al-Awlaki

NPR, Father Of Internet Imam Plans To Sue CIA , 3 Aug 2010 "The father of the Internet's most famous radical cleric, Anwar al-Awlaki, is planning to sue the U.S. government for including his son on a CIA target list."

Allegations 'leaked'

Daily Telegraph, Mainstream Islamic organisations "share al-Qaeda ideology", 5 Aug 2010 "The report, sent to the government’s Office for Security and Counter Terrorism (OSCT), was not intended for publication but has now been leaked on the internet.

"Entitled "Preventing terrorism, where next for Britain?" it says the ideology of non-violent Islamists is “broadly the same as that of violent Islamists” adding “they disagree only on tactics.”

Indictments

CSMonitor.com, Terrorism charges against 14 Somalis in US reflect 'disturbing trend', 5 Aug 2010 "The indictments involve what the government described as a “deadly pipeline” of money and militants to the organization Al Shabab, a Somali insurgent group whose leaders have pledged allegiance to Al Qaeda."

Indonesian net use

AFP: Indonesian Internet use booming, 4 Aug 2010 "The rapidly developing, mainly Muslim country of 240 million people is emerging not just as an Asian economic power, but as a global Internet power as well, analysts and insiders said."

BlackBerry jammed

AFP, Saudi Arabia to halt BlackBerry services, 6 Aug 2010 "Saudi Arabia is set to suspend BlackBerry services on Friday as concerns spread across the Middle East and parts of Asia over security issues with the popular smartphones.

"Telecommunications authorities have not said exactly when the ban will kick in, and BlackBerry users in the ultra-conservative Muslim kingdom were able to access messaging services on Friday morning."

Virtually Islamic Re-design Part 97

I have now re-worked the design of this blog. After toying with some industrial designs, I've stuck with the old colour scheme, as readers seem to prefer it. Most of the material is in the usual place, but the coding should be more efficient(!?), and searchabilty is improved. The blogosphere/podosphere features are now at the bottom of the page. If you can't find anything that was here before, let me know...

Virtually Islamic re-design

The main hub of my site is being re-configured. This means that all listings can now be located via www.virtuallyislamic.com. This includes Islamic Studies Pathways, running since 1996, which will no longer be available on its old URL from September. The bibliographies for my books can all now be found on my central hub:

iMuslims Bibliography

Islam in the Digital Age: Bibliography

Virtually Islamic Bibliography

Islamic Blogosphere

This blog continues in its usual location. 

Floods in Pakistan

Saeed Shah, Guardian, Pakistan floods: Islamic fundamentalists fill state aid void, 3 Aug 2010 "Jamaat-ud-Dawa, a hardline Islamist organisation thought to be a front for Lashkar-e-Taiba, the group blamed for the 2008 assault on Mumbai, said it had 2,000 members working for flood relief across the north-west of the country and down into Punjab province."

'Surfing the App Souq: Islamic Applications for Mobile Devices'

Here's my new article for 'CyberOrient'. Gary R. Bunt, 'Surfing the App Souq: Islamic Applications for Mobile Devices'

Virtually Islamic re-designed

I've re-designed the main Virtually Islamic site. There are still a few adjustments, but it should be easier to navigate. I've gone back to the colour scheme of ten years ago ...

Imam Muda - a global brand?

Dawn.com, Reality show judging young Muslim leaders eyes expansion, 2 Aug 2010 "Producers of a Islamic reality TV show which set out to find the best young Muslim leader are hoping other Muslim countries will adopt the program's format after a successful first series in Malaysia.

"Religious scholar Muhammad Asyraf Ridzuan, 26, from Penang, was named the winner of Malaysia's “Imam Muda” or “Young Imam” show during Friday's live finale, beating 27-year-old religious teacher Hizbur Rahman to the top slot."

Plenty of coverage of this (previously blogged) series elsewhere. See the Imam Muda Facebook page. YouTube has plenty of clips too, such as:

Ramadan guidance

Rahla Khan, Saudi Gazette, Hungry for the Ramadan spirit, 2 Aug 2010

"The good news is that today, there are numerous means besides the traditional Halaqahs organized in Masjids and Islamic centers by which we can acquire authentic information: audio and video lectures, radio and TV discourses, and the internet by the scholars of Ahl-Al-Sunnah. It’s a good idea to utilize our time before the start of Ramadan in learning more about the importance of the month, the acts of worship that are considered most meritorious within it, and the best way to perform them by consulting people of knowledge."

Algeria and the net

Ennahar Online, Internet and terrorist propaganda, 2 Aug, 2010 "Internet is a double-edged sword and the role of parents is to know how to deal with their children so that they do not become victims of predators in the network."

BlackBerry suspension

Mashable, UAE to Ban BlackBerry E-mail, Web Browsing and Messaging, 1 Aug 2010 - er, that doesn't leave much "“In the public interest, we have today informed the providers of telecommunications services in the country of our decision to suspend the Blackberry services of messenger, email and electronic browsing,” stated Mohammed al-Ghanem, the chief of the UAE’s Telecommunications Regulatory Authority."

UK Islamic Studies Network

The UK Islamic Studies Network is now on Facebook.