Rather unusually, this is the second story relating to Islam, the internet and Wales in the past couple of days. It relates to the appearance of Dr Zakir Naik (pictured below), scheduled for an event called 'Educating the Educators', in Cardiff on Saturday: Western Mail, Storm over Islamic preacher's visit, 16 August 2006.



According to the Mail "Dr Zakir Naik's publicly-expressed views include calling for the execution of Muslims who reject their faith and portraying Americans as people who eat and behave like pigs." In a related article, " ... Zakir Naik was headlining the event because he was a controversial figure who could "put bums on seats"." [Western Mail, Controversial figure was invited in order to get 'bums on seats' at event, 16 August 2006].

There are references in this article to Naik's organization and its website, the Islamic Research Foundation, which is based in Mumbai. This contains publications by Dr Naik, transcripts of speeches, and also some of the work of Ahmed Deedat.

In his article, FAQ on Religion, Naik states: "I personally prefer asking the non-Muslim upfront, what he feels is wrong in Islam. I prefer asking directly, what they feel is wrong in Islam with their limited knowledge, whether right or wrong and from whichever source it may be. I encourage them to be very frank and open and convince them that I can take criticism about Islam." I haven't had a chance to explore this site fully - the materials I have seen relate in detail to the Indian sub-continent context, in particular comparing Muslim practices to Sikh and Hindu practices. The site also has some video materials of discussions between Naik and Dr William Campbell (amongst others) - but these require log-in (and several hours free time!).

All very interesting, but unfortunately I cannot attend the event in Cardiff. Details can be found, however, at Educating the Educators Tour 2006: the poster (taken from the Al Khair School website) is here:



In other news:

The Register, Open source guru advocates ideological shift, 17th August 2006 The guru in question being Eric Raymond: "Raymond is concerned the window of opportunity is closing for Linux on the desktop. He calculates the end of the transition to 64-bit computing by the close of 2008. According to his studies, the best opportunity to displace the dominant operating system (in this case Windows on the desktop) takes place with a major architectural shift like this." Clearly this has implications for those contexts seeking to enhance accessibility to the net.

Scotsman, Every airport traveller 'will be fingerprinted', 17 August 2006, "Other measures agreed include a commitment to stamping out radicalism by stricter policing of the internet, replacing extremism with a "European" model of Islam, a 250 million research project into liquid explosives and a meeting of security services across Europe this month." Curious about the methodology for some of these elements on the EU wish list. Also see The Guardian, Europe-wide security net to counter terrorism, 17 August 2006 which states: "John Reid, the home secretary, said yesterday they wanted to make the internet a hostile environment for terrorists and those who seek to radicalise young people. A new legal framework is to be developed by June next year to ensure that illegal material such as manuals or instructions for homemade explosives or bombs are removed from the internet. Websites that incite others to commit terrorist actions will be blocked." I am curious as to what resources will be utilized (or are available) in order to do this. Many sites in these categories are out of the the EU's range of influence, and shift URLs on the daily basis.



Back to Ahmadinejad and his blog. Commentary in The Slate c&p from various sources: The Slate, Mahmoud's MySpace, 16 August 2006

Profile of one of the arrested alleged conspirators in the air bombing plot: The Guardian, My friend: the football fan who dreamed of being a doctor, 15 August 2006 "After 9/11 and 7/7 Waheed was sceptical about whether Muslims could have been responsible. He watched conspiracy videos on the internet. He believed them and thought they made sense. Like most people in the world, he was anti-war. But his solution was: fight the enemies of Islam by showing them the real Islam, a religion of peace."

Counter Terrorism Blog, The LeT/Jamaat-ud-Dawa Presence in the United Kingdom, 16 August 2006 being a profile by Evan Kohlmann of Jamaat-ud-Dawa (a.k.a. Lashkar-e-Taiba). He suggests: "While it remains to be seen exactly how Jamaat-ud-Dawa funds played into the latest UK terror plot, there is ample and undeniable evidence that the group has been actively raising funds and recruiting in Western Europe and North America." It refers to the Global Jihad Fund's website (now offline).

Father Jonathan Morris presents his interview with an imam in Walthamstow, in Fox News, My Conversation with Imam Shoeb. It includes video clips (Father Jonathan interview in the barber shop + on the streets of Walthamstow] and associated photos. I know this area of east London well, and the clips make for interesting viewing..

smh.com.au, Hezbollah holds 'banner of victory, 16 August 2006', ""Both Syria and Iran have achieved a political victory," said Dawood al-Shirian, a Saudi hosts a talk show on Dubai TV. "Lebanon once again has paid a heavy price and Syria and Iran have once again taken credit."" Non-tech, but obviously a subject that has blogs and message boards buzzing. I haven't been able to log all the chatter here, but - as with the airline 'bomb plot' - will be discussing it in a future project.

arabnews.com, Dawa Exhibition Reaches Out to 80,000 People, 16 August 2006, "While opening the exhibition, Minister of Islamic Affairs Saleh Al-Sheikh urged Muslims to utilize modern dawa resources, such as computer programs and Internet sites, to propagate the message of Islam." [refers to a dawa conference in Taif]

Guardian, Brother says detainee went to camp run by Islamic sect, 16 August 2006 "Mr Sarwar spoke as anti-terrorist officers prepared today to ask a judge for more time to question the 23 suspects after working intensively to gather exhibits from the suspects' homes, internet cafes and woodland."

The New Nation, From Foreign Press: Once again, Britain looks at reasons why, 15 Aug 2006 "The power of the Internet to inflame emotions is a major factor in recruiting suicide bombers, who now no longer need Al Qaeda or fiery imams to motivate them. The danger is that young Europeans are beginning to see Islam as the defender of the downtrodden, and Osama bin Laden as the new Che Guevara."

icWales, Welsh muslims say aircraft bomb plot 'a fake', 13 August 2006 "... there are theories that anti-West propaganda videos for sale in the UK, on the street and over the internet, fill the gap left by 'out-of-touch' mosques. Indeed, on-line Muslim messageboards in Wales show youngsters accusing mosques of being "depressing and backward".

"The videos are said to capitalise on the British and American Governments, who play down the effect of military force on foreign soil, and breed a sense of injustice and frustration among the young."

Der Spiegel, Terror Returns to London, 14 August 2006

PakTribune, Afghanistan, a crackdown on imported pleasures, 9 August 2006 "Today, Afghan officials are eager to please their foreign benefactors and guests, yet also face pressure from local religious leaders to stem the accompanying flow of imported pleasures -- from French wines to Internet pornography -- that can now easily reach young Afghans. "Some of the foreign aid groups help us, but others have another agenda to influence us in the wrong direction. They are unwanted guests," said Enayatullah Balegh, a Muslim cleric who teaches Islamic law at Kabul University ...

" ... Indian movies featuring sensual dancing women are usually sold out, and online pornography sites are constantly perused at local Internet cafes."

Toronto Star (+AP), Suspects led 'fish and chip' lives, 12 August 2006 " ... for the better part of a year, police here have been shadowing the suspects as they went about their seemingly normal "fish and chip" lives, tracking their cellphone conversations, email and Internet access, bank accounts and even using GPS tracking devices on at least 12 cars belonging to suspects."

latimes.com, Britain Looks for Links to Transit Blasts, 15 August 2006

asharq alawsat, Dr. Najih Ibrahim of the Egyptian Islamic Group Talks to Asharq Al-Awsat, 14 August 2006 "Dr. Najih Ibrahim, the Egyptian Al-Jama'ah al-Islamiyah (Egyptian Islamic Group, EIG) chief theorist has stressed that there is a wide disagreement between the Al-Qaeda Organization and the EIG in both the ideology and the methods."

AP, asharq alawsat, Iranian Censors Clamp Down on Bloggers except for this one, perhaps: ctv, Iran's president tells of humble origins in weblog The blog can be found at www.ahmadinejad.ir. Alas, ctv's article shows Ahmadinejad writing rather than typing. I have yet to blogroll this page.

Daily Record, The Liquidators: Bombers plot to mix deadly cocktail on board jet, 11 August 2006 discusses the ease of finding bomb-making information on the internet.

zdnet.com.au, Notebooks, iPods banned on UK flights, 11 August 2006

Profile of the War of Freedom game, which has a Kashmiri emphasis kashmirnewz.com, A virtual War of Freedom in Kashmir, 5 August 2006 "While Afaaq Ahmad Shah the first Kashmiri Fidayeen embraced death, warriors of War of Freedom can emerge victorious without getting hurt.

""It gives me a rush in the adrenalin and everything ends over there. No injuries no risks. " says Mohammad Rafiq, a youth who has spends hours together playing War of Freedom since he bought it in june."

Reuters/Yahoo, Lebanese use blogs to vent frustration at war, 10 August 2006 "Postings on Web logs or online journals range from daily rants at Israeli aggression against Lebanon to reminiscent memories about Beirut's once vibrant night life or to personal poems documenting the horror felt during Israeli air strikes."

LA Times/twincities.com, Love In The Time of Holy War: More Than Distance And Prison Separate A Muslim Extremist And His Jewish Girlfriend, 9 August 2006 "Myriam Cherif is a petite woman with flowing dark hair who has struggled with illness as well as her son's ordeal. She did not raise Cherif as a practicing Muslim, and he did not speak Arabic as a child. His interests were typical: sports, MP3s, the Internet. He grew up in a household that cherished French values of democracy, secularism and tolerance, his mother said."

DNAIndia, Move over MySpace, MuslimSpace is here, August 5, 2006, "At 15,000 subscribers, MuslimSpace.com is sub-atomic in size compared with MySpace, but its strict adherence to Islamic values and tradition has made it the de facto social networking website for several devout Muslims since its inception in February this year." I am writing about this in my next book, which is getting closer to completion.

AFP/asharq alawsat, Homes Turned to Dust, but Faith in Hezbollah Untouched, 8 August 2006

txt 0=: New Straits Times, Warning on using Net, SMS to spread rumours, 2 August 2006 "Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said such activities could affect peace and harmony in the country.

"The Prime Minister said they could also make the people, including investors, lose faith in the economy and development programmes."

Ah, yes, but don't forget this from the same newspaper: New Straits Times, Text messaging still cash cow, n.d. "According to research firm Frost & Sullivan, revenues from messaging contributed as much as 81 per cent or RM1.84 billion to the total mobile data revenue market in 2005 which stood at RM2.27 billion.

"Its industry manager Janice Chong said messaging revenue in Malaysia is driven by the simplicity of the short message service (SMS)-based applications, which do not require a lot of browsing over the Internet portal or incur very high data traffic charges."

berkeleydaily.com, Lebanon Is the New Damascus, 1 Aug 06 op-ed, "Military analysts interviewed by the New York Times credit Hezbollah’s surprising success against one of the most disciplined and well-equipped armies in the world to its practice of 'net war'— "small, agile, units... operating with flattened command structures that are ... computer literate, propaganda and Internet savvy, and capable of firing complicated weapons to great effect."

In Australia, the trial of alleged Melbourne 'terror cell' members continues, with an internet element: theage.com.au, Group 'had explosives information', August 2, 2006, "One of the accused, Abdullah Merhi, was detected by a police listening device directing the group's alleged spiritual leader, Abdul Nacer Benbrika, to a bomb-making chapter of the Vortex Cookbook on the internet, said Security Intelligence Group Senior Constable Paul Madden.

"During the conversation on December 2, 2004, Merhi was heard telling Benbrika to open chapter 53 — Explosive Tutorial One — which he said might help." The trial continues.

Weekly Standard/Yahoo, Bin Laden's "Brothers", 1 Aug 06, "... Bernard Haykel, an associate professor of Islamic Studies at New York University, summarized the academic view in the New York Times. "Al Qaeda's Sunni ideology regards Shiites as heretics and profoundly distrusts Shiite groups like Hezbollah," the author of Revival and Reform in Islam tells us. He goes on to argue that jihadist internet chat rooms frequented by al Qaeda are fretting over Hezbollah's success and wondering how to respond. "For al Qaeda," he writes, "it is a time of panic." The group is "unlikely to take a loss of status," caused by Hezbollah's stealing of the headlines, "lying down.""

The above should be read in conjunction with: AKI, Saudi al-Qaeda not inclined to support Hezbollah, 31 July 2006 "Al-Qaeda representatives in Saudi Arabia are refusing to toe the line with the group's leadership in supporting the Lebanese Shiite group, Hezbollah, judging by the views expressed by an on-line publication purportedly expressing the views of Saudi Sunni jihadists. "Support for Hezbollah, and its eventual victory would cause enormous problems for our relationship with the people," according to the latest issue of "The Voice of Jihad"."

al-Ahram Weekly, 700,000 displaced, 27 July 2006

BBC News, Press sorrow and anger over Qana, 31 July 2006 "There is worldwide press condemnation of the Israeli bombing of Qana, with one Lebanese daily writing that the village witnessed the opening of the gates of hell."

dw-world.de, Mosque on Wheels Takes Islam to the German Streets, 30 July 2006, "A stage had been built on top of the trailer. A cupola and two minarets soared above the roof. Pillars and arches decorated the sides. Alongside was written "Islamobil," a word made up from the German words for Islam and automobile.

"The Islamobil is a sort of travelling mosque, one that aims to inform Germans about Islam. A group of young Muslims from the small city of Brühl near Cologne came up with the idea in 2001 and will travel around Germany with it this summer."

tradearabia.com, Awalnet launches drive to help Lebanon, 31 July 2006 "Under this initiative, AwalNet will donate 3 per cent of its EasyNet Service income during the period from July 29 to August 4 to the Lebanese cause."

thestar.com.my, Zam: Controls will enhance Internet media's credibility, July 31, 2006 Statement fom Information Minister Datuk Zainuddin Maidin: "He said some websites and blogs had touched on Islam and Malay rights, which threatened harmony in multi- racial Malaysia.

"If left uncontrolled, the medium could be used as a tool to disturb the peace and stability in the country."

Newsfactor Magazine, The Man Who Put Al-Qaeda on the Web, 29 July 2006 extensive article on 'Irhabi007'

AKI, al-Qaeda launches web TV, 28 July 2006, "The new channel - called al-Firdaws TV - aims to publish the most important video and audio documents in the recent history of the terror network."

uruknet.info, Iraqi Resistance Report for events of Saturday, 29 July 2006 "Information from occupied Iraq"

American Muslim, Hudna: Those Who Live by the Sword Shall Die by It, "Ayatollah Saanei yesterday was quoted around the internet world also as making the point that gender has nothing to do with who may lead the salah." Article by Robert Crane.

This just cropped up on al-Jazeera: CNN, Al Qaeda: War with Israel is 'jihad', 27 July 2006, "Al Qaeda's media production wing, Al-Sahab, announced the al-Zawahiri tape would be ready soon in a message Thursday on and Islamic Web site."

Reuters/The Star, Witness - Walls and veils hide Saudi women from the world, 27 July 2006

AFP/Khaleej Times, Al Qaeda organised deadly attack on US consulate: suspect, 26 July 2006 "An Uzbek national arrested in Pakistan has told interrogators that Al-Qaeda organised this year’s deadly suicide attack on the US consulate in Karachi, a security official said Wednesday."

ABC Victoria, Terrorism accused made Al Qaeda propaganda film, court told, 24 July 2006 "Commonwealth prosecutor Mark Dean SC has told the court Ayhmed Joud, 21, and Shane Kent, 29, made a jihad film with messages from Osama bin Laden and Abu Musab al-Zarqawi." Includes links to video clips associated with the trial.

washingtonpost.com, How to Watch the War on the Web useful listing relating to the present crisis on the Lebanon-Israel border (and beyond), including urls for LinkTV - Mosaic +. In this connection, also see ABC News, The War on the Web, 26 July 2006. There's also the short piece in Wired, Blogging From the Belly of Beirut, 21 July 2006. I am writing about this issue for my next book. Looks like there will have to be another chapter ...

If you are fortunate enough to have the opportunity to escape the headlines for a while, here is an interesting diversion: arabnews.com Splendid Islamic Art Treasures Are Just a Mouse Click Away, 25 July 2006. This refers to the V&A London's new Jameel Gallery of Islamic Art, which can be accessed online. It includes an interactive map. This gallery has links with the Museum with No Frontiers, whose work I have discussed elsewhere on these pages.

Islam Online, IOL Trains Arab Science Journalists "IslamOnline.net will be playing a major role in training science journalists in the Middle East as part of a two-year mentoring program organized by the World Federation of Science Journalists."

Whilst at Islam Online, I also saw this question (sent from South Korea): Is there any rule of beheading in Qur'an? Is that a teaching which can justify beheading of foreign civilians? Read the response from Jasser Auda (director of al-Maqasid Research Centre in the Philosophy of the Islamic Law) in Ask about Islam.

A couple of extremely relevant articles by Lawrence Pintak: commondreams.org, Lebanon: Black & White and Dead All Over, 23 July 2006 and CJR Daily. The Fog of Cable, 21 July 2006

Reuters, Bangladesh's GP launches online marketplace, 25 July 2006, "Bangladesh's top mobile phone operator GrameenPhone Ltd., majority-owned by Norway's Telenor, and USA-based CellBazaar have introduced a service connecting buyers and sellers in an electronic marketplace over the mobile phone."

ashaq alawsat, Q & A with Robert Fisk, 25 July 2006 Robert Fisk talks on a wide range of subjects, including the internet: "I think the internet steals the journalist’s time and deprives him of working with people and books that give clear information that is easily archived. Many times, they call me from the newspaper’s library to ask me about information that might be available in my archive. The internet lacks this precision and the person searching can be submerged with detrimental information that might result in mistakes. This is why I tell those gathering information about me in the internet: it’s not me. This is an internet man who bears no relation to the real me. Instead of searching the internet for information or references, I prefer to go to the field and speak to people and obtain my information from them."

Fisk's recent articles on the Lebanon crisis can be found on The Independent's website, but require subscription to access.

Jerusalem Post, Bint Jbeil Web site still going strong, 25 July 2006, "The southern Lebanese village of Bint Jbeil may be crippled by the current strife, but its Web site - complete with message board and guestbook - is still accessible." Site is available here. Just checked on Whois - the site is registered in Dearborn, MI, USA

I enjoyed reading this in the Independent yesterday (again, payment required to read online - although you could probably hunt it down). Yasmin Alibhai-Brown: Hounded by assaults from cyberspace, 24 July 2006. She makes some pertinent comments about the quality of blogs.

Guardian, Iraq uploaded, 24 July 2006 "There are more than 5,000 video clips with footage from Iraq on YouTube, and a significant proportion feature US troops speaking candidly about their experiences." Refers to Time, YouTube Wars

Also just saw Guardian, Watching, blogging ... bombing, 18 July 2006 which I missed first time around.

Systems-restore time on this blog, as I slowly catch up with a couple of weeks' (in-)activities in an enforced break from the blog. Before I proceed, a commercial break. Pluto Press are currently selling my book Islam in the Digital Age at a cut-price rate until the end of August: £5.00/$9.25/€7.50.

moneycontrol.com, Blogs bring news from Lebanon, July 24th 2006, "Lebanese and Israeli civilians caught in the crossfire are now using the Internet to talk about their experiences, fears and apprehensions via blogs. The ongoing violence in Lebanon between the Israeli army and the Hezbollah guerillas which has killed more than 350 civilians in the last 11 days has become a major topic of discussion among online journalists, victims and concerned citizens. The Internet is now being used as a tool for communication between the war torn countries about everything from conditions in the shelters for refugees, to a forum for voicing innocent people’s angst against the violence."

itnews.com.au, Bloggers worldwide blast India's ban, 24 July 2006 "India banned thousands of blogs last week while trying to block 17 blogs and Web sites that India's telecommunications department claimed spread religious hatred. After a government order issued July 13, Internet service providers cut off access to domain names instead of targeting specific sites. The order came after bombings that killed at least 182 people on Mumbai's commuter trains on July 11." Also see NYT/IHT, India admits 'technological error' in blog blockade, 20 July 2006

NYT/IHT, Jihadists split on Islam's true enemy, 21 July 2006 "The question has popped up all over Internet sites frequented by Islamic militants: Should your average God-fearing jihadist support Hezbollah in its battle against the Zionist aggressors and their American lapdogs?"

GG2.net, US indicts two on terror charges, 20 July 2006 "Authorities said the two, one born in 1984 and the other in 1986, did not pose imminent threats, but still tried to evade authorities through encrypted Internet messages and by lying about their activities to federal agents."

This theme has been previously blogged on these pages: Middle East Online, Misyar opens happiness door to Saudis, 20 July 2006, "[But] Saudi television presenter Rima al-Shamikh said misyar is the result of frustration among Saudi Arabia's largely youthful population, bound by a strict religious code but exposed to Western lifestyles through the media and Internet.

""Our young people watch the satellite television channels. There is dissatisfaction," she explained. "Misyar is a way of getting around the obstacles of marriage in Gulf societies.""

Newsbusters, Washington Post Perpetuates the Myth of Retribution, July 16, 2006 discussion/allegations etc. with ref. to albasrah.net

NYT/taipeitimes.com, `Shamed' girls told to kill themselves in rural Turkey, July 17 2006 "Young women like Derya, who have previously led protected lives under the rigid moral strictures of their families and Islam, are suddenly finding themselves in the modern Turkey of Internet dating and MTV. The shift can create dangerous tensions, sometimes lethal ones, between their families and the secular values of the republic."

IFEX, Website editor arrested, held in prison, for re-publishing Prophet cartoons, 20 July 2006 "AJI is calling for an international appeal to respond to the detention of Teguh Santosa, chief editor of "Rakyat Merdeka Online" (RMOL), on 19 July 2006, at 6:00 p.m. (local time). He is being held at Cipinang Prison in Jakarta."

WDEF, Quran Vandalism Prompts Shock from Local Muslims, 11 July 2006, "Federal officials say they're looking into whether an on-line video posted by a Chattanooga man involves a hate crime.

""The video, called "kill the koran," was posted last month on myspace.com, an on-line community."

Sufi Muslim Council, The Spirit Magazine (PDF), July 2006

Regular readers will have noted that - despite all the things going on in the world relating directly to Islam, Muslims and the net - there has been an unscheduled pause in this blog. Normal service will be resumed as soon as possible. GRB

zeenews.com, Britain eavesdropping on 8,000 Qaeda `sympathizers`: Report, 3 July 2006 "Britain`s internal intelligence agency M15 is conducting investigations on almost 8,000 suspected Al-Qaeda sympathisers, a report said today."

onenews.nz, Al Qaeda internet warning over Somalia, 2 July 2006 "The 19-minute recording called on all Somalis to back the Council of Islamic Courts movement in its bid to build an Islamic state in Somalia.

""We will fight [US] soldiers on the land of Somalia ... and we reserve the right to punish it on its land and anywhere possible," the speaker says.

"We warn all of the countries in the world not to respond to America by sending international troops to Somalia."

The above tape elicited the following reaction (Gulf Times, Somalis cool to bin Laden tape, 3 July 2006)_: ""The comments made by Osama bin Laden are like any other statement made by politicians or any other person who is expressing his views on the change of political landscape in Somalia," said Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, the former leader of the Islamic courts."

Daily Mail, Muslim cleric who condoned suicide bombers to speak on eve of 7/7 anniversary, 3 July 2006 "Palestinian-born Azzam Tamimi, 51, will be one of the main speakers at IslamExpo, which starts the day before the first anniversary of the July 7 suicide attacks on the capital."

icWales, Bin Laden video praises Al-Zarqawi, June 30 2006

"Osama bin Laden praised al Qaida in Iraq leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi as the 'lion of holy war' in a new video posted on the internet today.

"The 19-minute message shows an old still photo of bin Laden in a split-screen next to images of al-Zarqawi taken from a previous video. A voice resembling bin Laden's narrates a tribute to the Jordanian-born militant, who was killed in a June 7 air strike north east of Baghdad."

Newsfactor/yahoo, Unlocking the Promise of Web 2.0, 30 June 2006, "The Internet is evolving. Whereas once it served mostly as a conduit for data, today the World Wide Web is turning into something more akin to a giant operating system, an immense interactive platform on which full-blown applications run in your browser and collaboration occurs in real time."

Guardian, G-had and suicide bombers: the rapper who likens Bin Laden to Che Guevara, 28 June 2006

Reuters, Qaeda group says Russian hostages killed, 26 July 2006

channelnewsasia.com, MUIS reaching out to young Muslims about misinterpretations of Islam, 26 June 2006:

"Alami Musa, MUIS president, said: "Our young are discerning, educated. Nevertheless, they are an e-generation. They are open to the outside world and the Internet. And there can be many bad influences.

""So we must continuously reach out and engage the young so that any concepts of ideas which may appear and are distortions, we like them to open up so that we can correct those misperceptions or misunderstanding.""

This is an interesting piece on Majlis Ugama Islam Singapura. Some years ago, I undertook fieldwork in Singapore, and interviewed several people there. I was struck by the IT element within MUIS then, and their awareness of the potential impact of the net on the community there, so it is interesting to read this. I also wrote about MUIS in Virtually Islamic.

USA Today, Young Muslim women in Europe go to extremes to be virgins — again, 25 June 2006

"The procedures are legal but shrouded in silence — "something that passes through non-official channels," via friends or the Internet, said Dr. Nathan Wrobel. "There are circuits that lead women to me.""

TCSMedia, Open Sesamedia, 23 June 2006

Newsweek/MSNBC, In the Footsteps of Zarqawi: The Taliban's bloodthirsty top commander in southern Afghanistan scares almost everyone—even his allies and underlings. A profile in brutality, July 3-10 Issue refers to Mullah Dadullah Akhund

Informed Comment, CAIR: Miami Cult not Muslims, 23 June 2006

A number of claims in today's Guardian, which will be interesting to follow through. The articles also raises numerous questions. I would be interested in finding out more, and capturing the hard evidence. Anyway, here are some of the significant links. First, the interview with Martin Gilbertson, the IT person who apparently put together various materials for members of a Leeds group with (subsequent) links to the London bombers:

The Guardian, 'When I heard where the bombers were from I felt sick', 24 June 2006 This discusses his activities, incuding DVD editing, computer repair, firewall maintenance, email encryption, etc. He started in 2001 - it was only in 2003 he began to get concerned regarding the content. It seems that the group's IT knowledge was limited: "They also wanted me to access the videos of the beheadings of hostages in Iraq - I do actually have a sneaky way of getting to them, but said the government was blocking those sites, and that would be impossible." This is surprising: they are easy to find via several chat-rooms and sites.

Ed Vulliamy's piece, which took up several columns of the Guardian, looks at the story in more detail: The Guardian, IT expert: I worked with 7/7 bombers and warned police, 24 June 2006

It was followed by this from the Press Association, Police silent on terror bombs claim, 24 June 2006

There was a clip on BBC Newsnight about this last night, which can be seen/heard via BBC, Claim over London bombers warning, 24 June 2006

Gilbertson seems to have had a varied career path: he is presently working on a thesis on radical Islam in Leeds - which might make for an interesting read. He also once worked for Motorhead as a roadie, and was a Hell's Angel.

Watch this blog for any further updates on these claims, and responses. The DVD production element can be compared with yesterday's AP article (linked below).

Meanwhile:

Here's another review of Terror On The Internet. The New Arena, the New Challenges by Gabriel Weimann. This one is in NYT (via IHT), Review: Terror On The Internet. I have just bought a copy of this book, which comes just as I am putting the final touches to my next volume.

This was on TV last night - just in case you missed it: Khaleej Times, Al Jazeera airs Zawahiri video vowing to avenge Zarqawi, 23 June 2006, "Al Qaeda number two Ayman al-Zawahiri vowed in a videotape on Al Jazeera television Friday to avenge the death of the terror network’s Iraq frontman Abu Musab Al Zarqawi, killed in a US air raid June 7."

I have been watching quite a bit of al-Jazeera recently. There was something in the Guardian today by Simon Hoggart about David Frost getting ready for his new show on the channel, which I think will be around the Autumn.

This is an effective article on the As-Sahab media operation. Writer Kathy Gannon has interviewed one of the cameramen used by aQ, who explains the production processes (in part) AP/The Standard, A date with the emir of al-Qaeda, 22 June 2006. I was particularly interested in the following comment:

"The distribution network appears to have no chain of command. Distribution falls to a variety of hands, including members of Pakistan's best- organized religious party, Jamaat-e- Islami, which once had close links with Afghanistan's outlawed Hezb-e-Islami party and its leader, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar. Also involved are loyalists of a second Hezb-e-Islami faction, led by Yunus Khalis, who welcomed bin Laden to Afghanistan from Sudan in 1996."

MTV, The Death Of Al Qaeda Leader Al-Zarqawi — A Game Coming To Your PC This Week, 22 June 2006 "The result of harried breaking-news development by a handful of game creators in New York, "Kuma\ War Episode 75: The Death of Zarqawi" will put players in the position of a U.S. soldier just outside the house in Hibhib, Iraq, where al-Zarqawi was killed." There is further information o Kuma Reality Games on their website. I haven't played these myself.

SITE Institute, As-Sahab Video within the Series of the “Pyre for Americans in Afghanistan” Showing the Bombing of a Vehicle in Konar, 22 June 2006

State News, Modern day romance breaks barriers, 22 June 2006, "Cultural differences can carry a large weight in relationships, but this one wouldn't have even been possible without the Internet, which connected two people from across the world living completely different lives. Maybe it took a younger generation to overlook cultural prejudice and stigmatization, but we can all learn from this extreme case." commentary on the various implications of this case of long-distance online romance.

mosnews, Iraqi Al-Qaeda Group Says Kidnapped Russian Diplomats Killed, 22 June 2006 "A group loyal to al-Qaeda in Iraq said it killed four kidnapped Russian diplomats, the Bloomberg web-site reported on Wednesday quoting an Internet posting found by the Washington-based Search for International Terrorist Entities Institute."

CNN, Afghan president calls for arrest of al Qaeda No. 2: Al-Zawahiri video urges young Afghans to oust Americans, 22 June 2006, "Unlike recent messages from al-Zawahiri, which appeared to have been directed at the American people, the latest video does not have English subtitles. Al-Zawahiri spoke in Arabic, and Web sites carried transcripts of his message in Arabic, Pashtu and Farsi, two other languages widely spoken in Afghanistan."

bernama.com, Bank Islam Projecting 200,000 Credit Card Customers By June 2007, 22 June 2006, "BIMB's offers the zakat payment scheme through its Visa and Mastercard syariah credit cards, complete with security features and special chips to prevent any cloning."

AKI, 9/11: al-Qaeda video identifies 20th hijaacker, 21 June 2006, "A new al-Qaeda video confirms a statement posted to the internet earlier this month, which said that the 20th hijacker of the September 11 attacks on the United States was not Zacarias Moussaoui but a Saudi national, Fawaz al-Nashimi, also known by the name of Turki Bin Fheid al-Muteiri."

Reuters, Iraq Qaeda says to kill Russian hostages: Web, 21 June 2006

Reuters, Iraq Qaeda leader killed two US soldiers: Web, 20 June 2006, "The new leader of al Qaeda in Iraq "slit the throats" of two U.S. soldiers whose bodies were found in Baghdad, according to a statement posted on the Internet on Tuesday."

Reuters, Egypt to release award-winning blogger from jail, 20 June 2006, "Egyptian authorities on Tuesday ordered the release of an award-winning blogger arrested last month during protests in support of judges demanding greater judicial independence, relatives and friends said."

Trade Arabia, Al Bawaba launches web-based music player, June 20, 2006 Main page to try this out is here.

CSM/Yahoo News, Saudi women unveil opinions online, 19 June 2006 "As Internet usage continues to climb here, so do the numbers of women who have started Web logs, or blogs, to express themselves in ways they might never do in public."

monstersandcritics.com, First UK hacking course to produce more 'white hats', 190 June 2006


Toronto Star, Terrorist 007 Off-line, 17 June 2006. Summary of Younis Tsouli's alleged activities

Iran Democracy Monitor No. 13, June 9, 2006, "If you can't beat the blogs, join them":
"In tandem with its efforts to control access to online content, the Iranian government appears to be building an Internet discourse of its own. In recent weeks, the regime has officially established an 'Office of Religious Blogs' designed to provide research, training, and support to clerical bloggers operating inside the Islamic Republic. Based in Qom, the center claims to have already trained some 500 novice bloggers in the use of the Internet as part of an effort to craft a pro-regime message aimed at the growing number of web-savvy Iranians." (Tehran RASA, May 29, 2006) via SFGate

AP/The Plain Dealer, Insurgents show 3 beheadings of Shiites on Internet, 11 June 2006, "Insurgents signaled the fight is still on after Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's death, posting an Internet video Saturday showing the beheading of three alleged Shiite death squad members in revenge for the deaths of Sunnis."

VOA, Al-Qaida in Iraq Threatens Large Scale Attacks, 11 June 2006, "The terror group Al-Qaida in Iraq has vowed to carry out large scale attacks following the killing of its leader, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, in a U.S. airstrike last week.

"The group says in an Internet statement that its future attacks will "shake the enemy like an earthquake and rattle them out of sleep.""

Arab Herald, Syrian online journalist to serve six months in prison, 10 June 2006, ""The Committee to Protect Journalists said Wednesday that a Syrian online journalist was sentenced by a military court for articles advocating rights for Syria's Kurdish minority, and criticizing the ruling Baath Party.

"Muhammad Ghanem, editor of the news Web site Surion, was found guilty Tuesday of insulting the president, undermining the state's dignity, and inciting sectarian divisions, according to an e-mail sent by Ammar Qurabi, head of the National Organization for Human Rights in Syria, to The Associated Press."

AP/USA Today, Successor to Zarqawi still unknown, but names emerge, 9 June 2006, "Several militant Web forums were flooded with messages of well-wishers pledging to "hear and obey" the man they claimed was the new "emir," or leader, of al-Qaeda in Iraq: Abu Abdul-Rahman al-Iraqi."

andnetwork.com, Nigeria dominates west Africa’s IT market, 9 June 2006, "The International Data Corporation, the premier global provider of market intelligence for the information and communications technology industry, has revealed that Nigeria controls over 55% of the west African personal computer market."

CNN, U.S. military: Al-Zarqawi alive when troops arrived, 9 June 2006, "Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was alive on a stretcher and tried to move off it when U.S. troops reached the wounded terrorist leader after his safe house had been bombed, a U.S. general said at a news conference Friday."

SITE Institute, A Statement about the Martyrdom of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi from the Echo of Jihad Magazine [Sada al-Jihad], June 8 2006. Also see A Eulogy for Abu Musab al-Zarqawi by Lewis Attiya Allah. There is plenty of associated material in chat rooms today, should you wish to delve further ...

New York Times, Zarqawi pioneered, perfected use of Internet for terrorist propaganda, 9 June 2006 "Zarqawi's Web propaganda created and probably embellished his own reputation in the Iraqi insurgency. But it also helped secure the Internet as a center of terrorist recruitment and instruction, partially supplanting the role of now-destroyed al-Qaida training camps in Afghanistan, according to counterterrorism officials and analysts." [also updated here]

Reuters, Zarqawi more powerful as a myth than as a man, 8 June 2006 "The video at least gave U.S. forces hunting Zarqawi a better idea of what he looked like. When he began his campaign of high-profile suicide bombings in 2003, with bloody attacks on the Jordanian embassy, the United Nations and a revered Shi'ite leader, Washington had only the haziest information on him."

zaman, Bin Laden and Zarqawi Connection Still a Mystery, 9 June 2006

Independent, Robert Fisk: Zarqawi's end is not a famous victory, nor will it bring Iraq any nearer to peace, 9 June 2006 [non-tech, but significant opinion piece ... unfortunately requires subscription or newspaper purchase]

Wired, Baghdad USA, 14.06 "Roadside bombs. Hostile insurgents. 1,200 extras in Arab dress. Welcome to Louisiana and the Army camp known as the Box, where the violence is fake but the fear is for real." Interesting piece that I just picked up from the print edition, which is now live on the Wired site.

Times Online, British computer whizz-kid exports terror via internet, 7 June 2006, "An internet trail left by a British computer expert has led investigators to an intricate terror network spreading from the backstreets of Baghdad through cells of young militants living in European capitals to Islamic extremists plotting car-bomb attacks in North America."

cbc.ca, Internet may have played role in bomb plot, 7 June 2006, "Police believe the suspects in the alleged bomb plot in Toronto may have been part of a growing trend of cyber-jihadism.

"Canadian authorities estimate there are as many as 4,500 jihadist websites, and they've become the main networking tool for radicals." I am not sure how they calculate these figures... I am still bemused (in this and other cases) that this is merely a suspicion, given the phenomenon has been active for several years.

Atlantic Monthly, Jihad 2.0., July/August 2006 subscription only for this, so I have only seen the opening paragraph. It's about 'Irhabi 007', who has featured on these pages before.

ctv.ca, The Internet a major tool in spreading extremism, 5 June 2006, "There's no firm evidence of involvement by the al Qaeda network.

"But at any given moment, there are an estimated 4,500 terrorist-related Web sites accessible on the Internet. And the Internet, in recent years, has become "the major hotspot" for the radicalization of homegrown Islamic terrorists." Not exactly 'headlines' for regular readers of this blog...

Some speculation from Jawa Report, Canadian Jihadi Linked to Cyberterrorist Irhabi 007, 5 June 2006

arabnews.com, Mini Muezzin Confuses Locals, 6 June 2006 (non-tech!)

Afkar produced Under Ash a couple of years ago. Here's an update of their latest product in this interesting piece by Rhonda Roumani of Christian Science Monitor: CSM, Muslims craft their own video games, 5 June 2006 "Set to be released in September, "Al-Quraysh" is a strategy game that tells the story of the first 100 years of Islam's history from the viewpoint of four different nations - Bedouins, Arabs, Persians, and Romans." . Afkar Media are based in Syria. Content on their central site is limited at present (in Arabic and English). If you want to find out more, there is an interview from May 2005 (with screenshots) available with Afkar Media at oman3D.com.

AP/iol.co.za, Al-Zarqawi urges Sunnis to fight, 3 June 2006, "The leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq railed against Shi'as in a four-hour-long audiotape harangue posted on the Internet, saying militias are raping women and killing Sunnis and the community must fight back."

Article on Shannen Rossmiller, 'cyber-sleuth', who has previously been featured on these pages: Washington Post, In Montana, Casting A Web for Terrorists, Online Sleuth Hunts Down Suspects Worldwide, June 4, 2006 "One of Rossmiller's strategies is to warn jihadists that they are risking the lives of their Islamic brothers by speaking too candidly online.

"She calls her Arabic skills "workable." In 2002, she took an eight-week, online Arabic course. Later that year, she went to Buffalo for a two-week course that focused on grammar. But when it comes to online deception, perfect Arabic does not matter much, Astley said. "A lot of the people that are being dealt with are not the cream of educated society," he said."

More on Sawafi: Bahrain Tribune, Sawafi business model will be close to Google's, 3 June 2006 "Current search algorithms in the usual Internet search engines are hardly capable of observing even the simplest morphological conditions required to process Arabic-language contents in a meaningful way for users. That is why search engines have so far been under-used in Arabic."

ameinfo.com, Chinese electronics giant enters Mid-East market with huge portfolio, June 04 - 2006 the 'giant' being TLC: "The Arab world is a major trading partner for China, with over US$10.78 billion in trade reported for 2005,' explained Mr. Liang Yaowen. 'This favorable environment is encouraging leading Chinese business groups such as TCL to explore the opportunities in this discerning market and build their profile outside of the Far East.'"

ameinfo.com, Oman set for cyber law, 5 June 2006 "Oman is set to introduce a cyber law before the end of the year, reported the Times of Oman. The head of the Information Technology Authority, Dr Salim bin Sultan Al Ruzaiqi, said that the law has been drafted and is being looked at by the working group, which includes the Central Bank of Oman and Omantel. The law covers e-transactions, e-commerce and all aspects of e-law."

ameinfo.com, Google has today introduced a Gmail interface in Arabic, 5 June 2006

arabtimes.com Arab Mobile Telecom Operators Growing, 30 May 2006, "Arab telecom operators served 85 million cellular subscribers and 30 million mainlines in 2005. A new report from Arab Advisors Group, “A Scorecard of Key Performance Indicators of Arab Telecom Operators,” analyzes and ranks 18 fixed voice operators and 39 cellular operators in 18 Arab countries."

ft.com, Islamic transactions have much in common with west, 1 June 2006 non-tech (at least directly), but interesting - part of a series, some of which require subscription.

Asharq Al-Awasat. Saudi Arabia and US Host Largest Number of Visitors of Arabic Online News Sites, 28 May 2006, "Most viewers of Arabic-language news portals in the region are in Saudi Arabia, while the majority of Arabic-speaking users from outside the Arab world live in the United States. Moreover, the gender gap persists with all portals reporting that most of their viewers are males, according to a report by the Arab Advisors Group." This report appears to require a subscription, like much of the Group's output.

Wasington Post/Chron.com, Egypt arrests bloggers rocking Mubarak's boat, 1 June 2006 update on imprisoned blogger Alaa Seif al-Islam: "The legal status of the jailed bloggers and other detainees distresses their relatives and friends: Under Egypt's emergency laws, which have been in place for 25 years, the bloggers can be jailed indefinitely. A special court reviews such detentions only every 15 days. Some prisoners have been jailed for more than a decade."

Scoop Independent Media, U.S. Psy-Ops Countered By Islamic Digital Propaganda, 1 June 2006, "The United States dominion over 'psy-ops' and propaganda is no longer unchallenged. Islamic insurgents throughout the Muslim world are producing digital video clips with ever-increasing sophistication. The products of this technological revolution carry a double-edged message of 'glory' for youthful 'martyrs' and vengeance against the West." [contains links to video clip - which I haven't had time to view yet]

infoworld.com, Pentagon mistakes EA game for terrorist agitprop?, 31 May 2006, "There are reports that the Pentagon and defense contractor SAIC in early May showed footage from a standard add-on package to the Electronic Arts popular Battlefield 2 video game, claiming it was a clever al Qaeda manipulation of that game that was being used for propaganda." As discussed below [together with the clip]. It also refers to an interesting interview with the designer of the game, Samir, which featured on gamepolitics, Was Congress Misled by "Terrorist" Game Video? We Talk to Gamer Who Created the Footage, 11 May 2006 - which also has some useful feedback from readers. Samir discusses the relationship between the 'game' and Team America, and clarifies one issue: I thought I knew the background music from somewhere, turns out it comes from 'Lion of the Desert'. This also links to reaction from Trey Parker (Team America/South Park). Personal note: I am not a game player, outside of occasional forays into Star Wars games, but feel this would be a good area for future academic research - if only I could get some funding for a PS3.

arabnews.com, Islamic Art Museum With No Frontiers, 30 May 2006, "Discover Islamic Art (www.discoverislamicart.org) is the pilot project of the MWNF Virtual Museum program. For the first time, physical exhibition venues located all over Europe and the Mediterranean come together to create a joint virtual museum, thus establishing an authentic museum with no frontiers of Islamic art in the Mediterranean where visitors will be able to discover objects, monuments and archaeological sites from 14 countries and relate them to each other." I commend the work of the MWNF, and also their publications series, which includes a first-class book on Tunisia which I used when travelling there some time back.

AP/Mail & Guardian Online, Moroccan fatwa declares women cannot lead prayers, 1 June 2006, "The fatwa came weeks after Morocco's first 50 female "morchidat," religious guides, completed training by the Ministry of Islamic Affairs, which oversees Morocco's mosques."

AKI, Germany: Women May Have Planned Suicide Mission To Iraq, 31 May 2006 "The women - one of whom is a Muslim convert - apparently have close contacts with Islamist organisations in Germany, the report said, adding that one of them announced on an Internet site that she intended to blow herself and her child up in Iraq."

tmcnet, British documentary on Lone Star Islam has new life on Web, 31 May 2006 interesting piece with links to TurnToIslam.com

Middle East Times, Terrorists continue Internet exchanges despite shutdown, 30 May 2006 "Since the Al Qaeda linked Website Al Ansar was shut down earlier this month, and its British-based operator imprisoned for his role in a bomb plot, terrorists have switched to a site called Al Hesbah, a US magazine has reported." Not exactly 'news', but refers to an article on Rita Katz in the New Yorker, Private Jihad, 21 May 2006. I can sympathise with Ms Katz's statement: ""It is completely addicting," [sic] she says. "You wake up thinking, I’ve been offline for seven hours, but the terrorists have been making plans.""

AP/canada.com, Iraqis turn to Internet blogs to share views on change in their country, 30 May 2006

This is an interesting case: AMEInfo, Laptop imam to be punished, 29 May 2006, "A number of Saudi Arabians have questioned a decision by the Ministry of Islamic Affairs to take action against an imam who delivered his Friday sermon using his laptop, reported Arab News. The imam brought his laptop to the mosque in Sarat Abidah in Asir province, much to the consternation of the congregation. Some Saudis feel that punishing the imam is unfair as it implies a break with modern technology."

More info at Arab News, Many Saudis Question Action Against Imam for Laptop Sermon, 29 May 2006. This took place in Asir Province. Arab News notes:

"The congregation was reportedly stunned when the imam used his laptop to read out the sermon instead of the more traditional hand-written notes ...

" ... Dr. Abdullah Al-Humaid, director of the ministry’s social affairs department in Asir, said: "We are not punishing him for bringing new technology into the mosque but for the strange situation he has created in the process of doing so. His decision in favor of ijtihad (exploring a new solution to a situation in the light of Islamic teachings) was taken in his individual capacity and has nothing to do with the ministry.""

I'd be interested to read more on this 'ijtihad'.

playfuls.com, Malaysia Detains 12 Suspected Terrorists, Probe Al-Qaeda Links, 30 May 2006, "Police sources confirmed the report, which also said that authorities seized several firearms and documents, including bomb-making instructions downloaded from the internet."

Raise the Hammer, Will the Highways on the Internet Become More Few?, May. 26, 2006 "American telecommunications companies and their allies are now engaged in a vigorous battle against network neutrality. Net neutrality "centers on the idea that broadband [Internet] providers must not be permitted to favor some Web sites or Internet services over others". It is one of the Internet's basic principles: data is transmitted over the Internet without preference for one source over another."

AMEInfo, DubaiCityGuide.com is number one site in Google for Dubai related searches, May 28, 2006, "DubaiCityGuide.com, the dedicated portal on Dubai has crossed 1.35 million page views and over 17 million 'hits' in April 2006."

arabtimesonline.com/KUNA, Kuwait’s IT strategy detailed; Dr Wuhaib nominated chief of ITFC, 29 May 2006, "Kuwait’s Communications Minister Ibrahim Al-Shatti presented Monday a working paper outlining the national IT strategy in light of Knowledge Based Economy (KBE). During “Knowledge Economy Awareness Seminar” part of events preceding the 31st annual meeting of the Islamic Development Bank to take place during May 30-31, Al-Shatti outlined Kuwait’s strategy to better utilize Information Technology (IT) and communications through allowing the private sector to provide some services, such as mobile carriers and Internet providers, as well as developing the overall communications infrastructure and establishing a clear set of guidelines that govern services provided by the private sector."

Opinion piece: StrategyPage, The Internet Trap, May 26, 2006 "Often, the small fry are allowed to keep emailing and using their cell phones, just to monitor their "chatter" for useful bits of information. Out of many tiny pieces of data, often comes a picture of what the leaders are up to, and where they are. The Internet gives many terrorists the illusion that they are in touch, without realizing that the people at the other end have arrest warrants, not tickets to paradise."

Extensive coverage on 'Sonic Jihad': The Scotsman, Militant video game film just a bit of fun, says creator, 25 May 2006, "The 11-minute video shows a man in Arab head-dress carrying an automatic weapon into combat with US invaders. It was shown to a US congressional committee as evidence of a militant campaign to recruit Muslim youth on the internet." There is also coverage on this at NPR, Jihad Video May Be Just a Game, 25 May 2006

YouTube has the original clip, with the note: " A gimmick Battlefield 2 video made with jihad in mind that fooled a few real journalists" YouTube, Sonic Jihad - Battlefield 2 - Team America HQ:



Also see digg.com, Fan-made Battlefield 2 video mistaken for terrorist propaganda for related commentary and timeline.

I am writing about online marketing in relation to al-Qaeda, so was interested to see this opinion piece by Kenneth Musante: adotas, Al Qaeda and Online Marketing, 25 May 2006, "Terrorist actions are detestable. But it’s also clear that Al Qaeda uses many of the same tactics used by benign online marketers. If you’re an online marketer, while you shouldn’t be applauding the terrorist group, you might at least be able to learn from them. Like it or not, their methods are your methods. But they are in a war, and you are not. They are forced by the law of survival to push creative online marketing strategies to the edge."

arabherald.com, Bahrain tops in mobile penetration, 26 May 2006, "Bahrain recorded the highest cellular penetration rate in the Arab world last year, according to a report released by the Arab Advisors Group yesterday.

"Bahrain's penetrate rate stood at 105.8 per cent followed by the UAE at 99pc.

UAE and Bahrain also had the highest fixed line penetration rates in 2005, which stood at 27pc and 26.6pc respectively."

arabnews.com, Mobily Unveils Expansion Plan, 26 May 2006 "Mobily, Saudi Arabia’s second mobile service provider, said yesterday that it planned to cover many more populated areas of the Kingdom."

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

Allegations re. Google: WorldNetDaily, Google dumps news sites that criticize radical Islam - Search giant axes another news page, calls terrorism discussion 'hate content', May 23, 2006 It'll be interesting to follow how this story evolves.

Arab Times, Kuwait’s software piracy rate remains high despite 2pc fall; UAE posts lowest figures, 23 May 2006, "The UAE has posted the lowest piracy rate in the region for the 10th consecutive year, and is the only Middle East entry to the list of 20 nations with the lowest piracy rates."

Washington Times, Book review of Gabriel Weimann's Terror on the Internet (which I have yet to get hold of).

It's only rock'n'roll (well, closer to metal) - albeit in Saudi Arabia in this article on Metallica-influenced Saudis: Washington Post/chron.com, Heavy metal needs no translation, 22 May 2006 "Shata said he thought the sound system was bad. The bigger problem, though, was when Islamic conservatives posted his picture, his T-shirt emblazoned with a skull, on the Internet. The conservatives' take: It was a satanic ritual.

""I was afraid my family would see the picture," he said. "I would be kicked out of the house. Really.""

Alas, probably the first (and last) time Metallica get mentioned in this blog...

Some intriguing insights in this feature on Mustafa Setmariam Nasar: Washington Post, Architect of New War on the West, Writings Lay Out Post-9/11 Strategy of Isolated Cells Joined in Jihad, 22 May 2006, "From secret hideouts in South Asia, the Spanish-Syrian al-Qaeda strategist published thousands of pages of Internet tracts on how small teams of Islamic extremists could wage a decentralized global war against the United States and its allies."

UPI/Political Gateway, Old phone data help NSA terror-tracking, 23 May 2006, "Telephone calling records from before the U.S. terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, helped the National Security Agency develop a template to highlight terrorists."

Madeline Albright plugs her book: Al-Jazeera, Albright: Bush is alienating Muslims, 22 May 2006, "George Bush's religious absolutism is alienating Muslims worldwide and making US foreign policy difficult for many countries to accept, according to a former secretary of state." (non-tech, but relevant)

FT.com/sal@am, Banks seek Islamic scholars versed in finance, 19 May 2006 " ... there are very few Islamic scholars who command enough religious respect to issue fatwas, understand the complexities of global structured financial products – and speak good enough English to read the necessary market documentation."

Combating Terrorism Center, United States Military Academy, Visual Motifs in Jihadi Internet Propaganda. The Islamic Imagery Project has collected together a number of 'jihadi' images and provides a summary of their symbolic significance. Their findings are available as a PDF. I have only just been alerted to this (diolch MI), but anticipate that I will be referring to it in my next book. There is scope for plenty of research in this area - I have been writing on related themes.

The latest output from the Project for the Research of Islamist Movements (PRISM), Israel, is an interesting newsletter on Islam in Africa, written by Moshe Terdman, which is to appear on a monthly basis. Coverage on Somalia, Comoro Islands, Nigeria, and Sudan (no web focused content).

Announcement/Call for Papers: Muslim Media and the ‘War on Terror’, 6-7 July 2006, University of Bristol, Department of Politics

MEMRI, Al-Tajdeed Versus Al-Hesbah: Islamist Websites & the Conflict Between Rival Arab & Muslim Political Forces, 17 May 2006 "With the development of the Internet in the Middle East, websites have become yet another tool in the struggle between rival Arab forces. One prominent example of Internet use as part of this struggle is the campaign by www.tajdeed.org.uk - which belongs to the Saudi Islamist opposition operating in London and is directed by Dr. Sheikh Muhammad Al-Mas'ari, who also heads the Al-Tajdeed Al-Islami organization - against www.alhesbah.org, a leading Islamist site that is a conduit for messages from Al-Qaeda and other jihad organizations."

Global Voices Online, Egypt: Blogging Behind Bars, 10 May 2006, "On May 10, Alaa Ahmed Seif al-Islam, the award-winning blogger detained three days earlier for participating in peaceful protests in Cairo, became one of the first people to blog from prison."

a report from the Muslim Council of Britain entitled Voices from the Minaret is available as a PDF. It seeks to discuss the roles of mosques and imams in the UK. I haven't read it yet, although an initial glance suggests that there is much to comment upon.

Reuters Alertnet, Iraq group says downed 4 "crusader" helicopters-Web, 15 May 2006 "An Iraqi militant group affiliated to al Qaeda said on Monday it had downed four "crusader" helicopters south of the capital Baghdad, according to an Internet statement."

Cellular News, Shia Ringtone Starts Fight in Iraqi Parliament, n.d. "A ringtone started a fight at the Iraqi Parliament last week. A phone belonging to Ms al-Saidi, but being held by one of her bodyguards rang out with a Shia prayer - presumably a RealTone as opposed to a polyphonic tune. At this, the Sunni speaker Mahmoud al-Mashhadani sent security guards over to ask that the phone be switched off in the Parliament building."

Asharq Alawsat, The E-Government and an E-Nation, 15 May 2006"The Saudi government has allocated a sum of 1 billion dollars to a new project to improve the country's technology services. The project aims at linking different institutions in the country and such a huge investment is expected to change government performance within five years."

Reuters/The Peninsular Online, Pair wanted by Saudi killed in Iraq, 15 May 2006 Also see SITE Institute, A Video Interview with Two Mujahideen Wanted by Saudi Intelligence Who Escaped to Iraq, Issued by the Mujahideen Shura Council, 13 May 2006

BBC News, Muslim hardship under spotlight, 14 May 2006 "Many Muslims in England face bleak employment prospects and endure poor standards of housing, a government-backed study has found." I have yet to see this report appear online.

Boston Globe, Cyber attacks could be devastating, expert says, 15 May 2006, "Attacks on US computer networks could escalate from mere inconveniences to disasters that ruin companies or even kill people, according to the head of a cyber-security unit working with the government."

UK Gay News, Sistani Removes ‘Death to Gays’ Fatwa from Website. But anti-lesbian fatwa remains, 15 May 2006, "The removal on May 10 follows protests to Sistani by the London office of the Iraqi gay rights organisation, Iraqi LGBT, which represents a clandestine network of lesbian and gay activists inside Iraq’s major cities, including Baghdad, Najaf, Karbala, Hilla, Duhok and Basra."

Sunday Mirror, Exclusive: MI5 infiltrated by al-Qaeda, 15 May 2006, "Bosses at M15 believe they unwittingly recruited the Muslim extremists after the July 7 suicide bombings in London last year which killed 52 people.

"They were signed up as part of a drive to find more Muslims and Arabic speakers to work as spies to help prevent future attacks by Osama bin Laden fantatics."

CSM, Mining data to nab terrorists: fair?, May 15, 2006 "What can the United States government really glean from the phone-call histories - records of who called whom, when, and for how long - of millions of Americans?"

Borneo Bulletin, E-Islam kiosk promotion at UBD, 12 May 2006, "The roadshow, among others, aims to enhance and disseminate information on the daily lifestyles among the Muslim community in the Sultanate including activities related to mosque affairs, Islamic propagation, Haj and many others using the easy and innovative ICT format.

"Apart from being able disseminate information on Islam quickly and effectively, the kiosks also aim to enhance the Islamic knowledge of the users as well as to expose them to the ICT usage in the dissemination of Islamic knowledge."

BBC News, Gangsta rap, Afghan style, 10 May 2006 DJ Besho raps in Dari. You can see his 2005 video at YouTube, on the streets of Afghanistan, where he namechecks various locations.

Reuters, "Qaeda escapee" urges Europe strikes over cartoons, 12 May 2006 "A Web site often used by militants posted a video from a man identified as Abu Yahya al-Libi in which he called for Muslims to "send rivers of blood" down the streets of Denmark, Norway and France for publishing the cartoons that caused a global furore earlier this year."

CNS, Al Qaeda Uses Web as 'Virtual Sanctuary,' Experts Say, 12 May 2006 "Experts agree that the al Qaeda terrorist network is using cyberspace as a "virtual sanctuary" in order to distribute propaganda, train attackers and gather intelligence on targets. However, those analysts sharply disagree on what -- if anything -- should be done to stop that from happening." not exactly headline news ...

Independent, What we now know about the four men who brought terror to London, 12 May 2006

Technology has entered another area of Islamic ritual: arabnews.com, Automatic Pre-Prayer Washing System, 11 May 2006, "Auto Wudu Washers (AWW) is the world’s first automatic pre-prayer personal washing system introduced to enable an individual to perform 'wudu' (ablution) efficiently and in conformance to Qur’anic teachings. This is achieved by the use of a purpose-built ear, mouth and facial washer unit, a forearm and elbow washing unit and a foot-and-ankle washing unit all of which are incorporated into a single system." I thought I'd better carefully check into this further before posting the information, and it seems that this has been developed by a Malaysian, and approved by scholars in UAE and Australia. See: gulfnews.com, Now, a device for pre-prayer wash, 22 April 2006 which includes an illustration of this contraption. "Shaikh Ahmad Zu Al Nourain, member of the Iftaa Committee, said the device can be used provided it completely washes the body parts. Shaikh Mohammad Al Hakami, a religious scholar, said any technology that helps Muslims perform their religious duties properly is welcome."

Reports on 7/7 (which had an internet linkage) include The Scotsman, Lack of intelligence resources 'paved way for July 7 attacks', 11 May 2006 and Evening Standard, Government rules out July 7 inquiry, 11 May 2006.

AME Info, Apple further expands its Middle Eastern horizons, 11 May 2006

Human Rights Watch/allafrica.com, Egypt: Award-Winning Blogger Among New Arrests, 10 May 2006, "Egyptian security officials arrested 11 more political reform activists, including an award-winning blogger, Alaa Ahmed Seif al-Islam, Human Rights Watch said today. This brings to more than 100 the number of people detained over the past two weeks for exercising their rights to freedom of assembly and expression."

csmonitor.com, The Caliphate: One nation, under Allah, with 1.5 billion Muslims, 10 May 2006 "Hizb ut-Tahrir's modern leader is a Jordanian known as Emir Atta Abu Rashta. He lives in a secret location in the Middle East and communicates mainly through the Internet. The party is illegal in all Arab countries as well as Germany. Britain mooted banning the group after last year's London bombings were carried out by members of a Hizb ut-Tahrir splinter group." Profile by James Brandon.

alarab online, The Hard Truth About Suicide Bombers by Nichole Argo, n.d., "In sum, until 2004 and despite their hate-mongering, religious institutions did not contribute significantly to the rise in global terror. Instead, the empirical data parallel neuroscientific inquiries into how people acquire beliefs: First, emotion and social ties precede acquisition of ideology; second, joining the jihad does not appear to be an explicit decision, but a social and emotional process that happens over time."

Reuters Alertnet, US says captured Qaeda document shows weakness, 9 May 2006, "The U.S. military published on Monday what it said was a captured al Qaeda document showing the Sunni Islamist guerrillas recognised they were weak and unpopular in Baghdad."

Committee to Protect Journalists, Princes, Clerics and Censors - Saudi Arabia loosens press shackles, but religion and politics are still perilous topics, May 9, 2006 interesting profile of Shams

Abu Qatada update: BBC News, Islamic cleric 'risk to security', 9 May 2006

Australian IT, Games hacked for militants' jihad, 5 May 2006, "Tech-savvy militants from al Qaeda and other groups have modified video war games so that US troops play the role of bad guys in running gunfights against heavily armed Islamic radical heroes, US Defence Department official and contractors told the US Congress."

George W Bush: ""Sometimes my own messages send signals that I don't mean to send, but stirs up anxieties in the Muslim world."" quoted in Middle East Online, Bush: I unwittingly stir up anxiety in Muslim world, 9 May 2006 [original interview in Bild]

Daily Pioneer, Emerging coalition of jihad, 10 May 2006 "No longer are these groups solely dependent on madarsas for recruitment and ideological support. In fact, various studies have shown that a significant number of the cadre today comes not from religious seminaries but normal "English medium public schools". The cadre is well versed in communication technology, can effectively use sophisticated equipment like satellite phone, hi-fi wireless radio besides internet and email."

Sunday Times, Part of me died when I saw this cruel killing, May 07, 2006 "Even by the stupefying standards of Iraq’s unspeakable violence, the murder of Atwar Bahjat, one of the country’s top television journalists, was an act of exceptional cruelty." More on this issue at Wikipedia: Atwar Bahjat

Washington Post/indystar, Saudi Arabia using clerics, Internet to fight al-Qaida - Religious re-education program targets youths viewed as potential recruits for terror group, 7 May 2006, "The Internet has become the main battleground against al-Qaida ideology, according to three members of the counseling committee that the Interior Ministry set up to run the re-education program. The body has 22 full-time members, who get help from 100 Islamic clerics and 30 psychiatrists.

"Islamic counselors selected by the committee have succeeded in infiltrating a number of extremist Web sites and chat rooms.

"Islamic Affairs Minister Saleh al-Asheikh told reporters in February that the government had established dialogue with 800 al-Qaida sympathizers this way and succeeded in changing the thinking of 250."

computerworld.com.au, Report: Growing use of Internet to spread terror, hate, 8 May 2006, "Terrorists and extremists more and more are turning to the Internet to spread their views and incite readers to take action, according to a report issued this week by a Jewish human rights group.

"Called "Digital Terrorism and Hate 2006," the report was issued by the Simon Wiesenthal Center and is available as an interactive CD, according to the group's officials. The report focuses on more than 6,000 Web sites that raise money for terrorist groups and teach related skills, such as bomb building."

WatchingAmerica.com present a translation of Liberation.fr, En une semaine, Ben Laden, Zarqaoui et Zawahiri sont apparus sur le Net, 3 mai 2006 as 'The al-Qaeda Brain Trust Mounts Invasion of Media'. "Last week, its main leaders, Osama bin Laden RealVideo, Ayman Zawahiri RealVideo and Abu Musab al-Zarqawi RealVideo simultaneously hustled themselves onto the Web to encourage Jihad. Terrorism experts agree on one thing: this media offensive is unprecedented. Is this simultaneous offensive, which brings to mind a simultaneous attack - another typical signature of al-Qaeda - a well thought out action or a coincidence tied to the third anniversary of the Iraq invasion? For security reasons, the taping of the broadcasts, audio for bin Laden and video for the two others, were several days or even several weeks prior to airing." (note: the original article can be found here.

The Globe and Mail, How one tech-savvy music lover taught the iPod to speak Hebrew, 5 May 2006, [this has implications in relation to other languages too, such as Persian, Urdu and Arabic, hence its inclusion here]: "Up next for the young designer, who is now working for a start-up company in the posh Tel Aviv suburb of Herziliya, is a similar iPod patch for Arabic speakers. The technology to reverse the lettering from right to left is the same, Mr. Yamin says, but the flowing script is somewhat more challenging to work with."

MSNBC, Pentagon surfing 5,000 jihadist Web sites, Sites use propaganda, video games aimed at recruits as young as 7, 4 May 2006, "A Pentagon research team monitors more than 5,000 jihadist Web sites, focusing daily on the 25 to 100 most hostile and active, defense officials said Thursday. And the makers of combat video games have unwittingly become part of a global propaganda campaign by Islamic militants to exhort Muslim youths to take up arms against the United States, officials added."

AP/forbes.com, Update 6: Video Shows Al-Zarqawi Fumbling With Rifle, 5 May 2006, "Abu Musab al-Zarqawi is shown wearing American tennis shoes and unable to operate his automatic rifle in video released Thursday by the U.S. military as part of a propaganda war aimed at undercutting the image of the terror leader." The clip of General Lynch's briefing has been posted at ABC and elsewhere.

Analysis of the Zarqawi video: jamestown.org, al-Zarqawi Releases Unprecedented New Video, Modeling Himself After Bin Laden, 2 May 2006

Summary of a new issue of Sada al-Jihad: SITE Publications, The Echo of Jihad – A Period Magazine Featuring General Mujahideen News, 4 May 2006, "Sada al-Jihad, 'The Echo of Jihad,' a periodic publication electronically distributed via the Internet and featuring articles concerning general mujahideen news from several regions, was recently issued in its April 2006 release."

businesstodayegypt.com, Apple Branches Out: Apple Computer’s strongest marketing tool — its hip retail boutique — lands in Cairo, May 2006 new 'Apple store' (of a type) in Cairo.

arabnews.com KAAL Commissions Study on Knowledge Economy, 2 May 2006, "The study, which will be released in September 2006, combines secondary research data with new primary information on the current and future development and usage of information and communication technologies (ICTs) within the Kingdom’s government, business and social communities."

I've been running my page Islamic Studies Pathways - an Academic Guide to Islamic Studies Resources on the Internet for about ten years now. It's gone through numerous editions and changes. You can check the latest, updated listing here

The Daily Reveille, Site attracts Islamic students, 4 May 2006, "Mohamed El-Fatatry, a Muslim who studied computer science at the American University of Sharjah, created MuslimSpace.com, a social network for Muslims that is similar to MySpace."

Research is growing in the field(s) associated with Islam in cyberspace. There are four papers from Vít Šisler of Charles University in Prague, available for download. I haven't read them thoroughly yet, but they look useful. The topic of video games is particularly interesting (I've referred to it several times, but never had the chance to research into it in detail):

Islamic Jurisprudence in Cyberspace: Construction of Interpretative Authority in Muslim Diaspora (2006)

Digital Intifada (2006)

In Videogames You Shoot Arabs or Aliens (2006)

Videogames and Politics (2005)

Full details and links to download can be found here

Reuters/Yahoo, Outspoken Saudi bloggers wary of "official" group, 3 May 2006. The announcement of the Official Community of the Saudi bloggers (OCSAB) has predictably met with resistance: ""You cannot regulate the Saudi blogosphere. You cannot 'refine' it nor 'filter' it or whatever else I read that you wish to do to it. Now get your filthy hands off blogging," wrote Farooha, a female student who has one of the most popular sites in Arabic and English." OCSAB's hub can be found here, although it is early days for the site at present.

AFP/Yahoo, Asian governments among the worst enemies of Internet freedom, 3 May 2006, "Of a list of 15 "Enemies of the Internet" named by Paris-based rights group Reporters Without Borders in a report late last year, seven are in Asia ..." This listing from Reporters Without Borders included Malaysia.

More on al Misyar marriages (see below - April 27, 2006), this time in a story with a web angle: Asharq Alawsat, Saudi Arabia: "No Strings Attached" Islamic Marriage Websites Experiencing Boom, 2 May 2006, "The number of websites specializing in arranging al Misyar marriages is on the rise, especially in Saudi Arabia . An al Misyar marriage is one where the couple does not live together and the husband is not financially responsible for his wife. The phenomenon has also spread to western countries where internet sites usually run by Arab individuals have been recently set up to help with, Misyar and regular marriages. With names such as Zawaji, Zwajokum, Tazawuj, Al Moyasser, Al Hob, Al Habib and Inta Omri, these sites help users find a partner."

Report from Mohammed Omer of RafahToday.org: Washington Report, Armed With a Mouse, Boycott-Savvy Cyber-Activists Make Their Presence Felt, April 2006, "... There in cyberspace, instead of noisy street demonstrations, burning flags, and stones hurled through embassy windows, the weapon of choice is the keyboard, the mouse and the economic boycott for 'the Islamic world's' new activists."

Middle East Times, Somali teen executes father's killer under Islamic law, May 3, 2006, "Tuesday's spectacle, photographs of which were quickly posted to Somali Internet sites, came amid rising fears of all out war between militia loyal to the courts and an alliance of warlords devoted to curbing their influence."

Indo Asian News Service/DailyIndia.com, Al Qaeda sends third message in a week, 3 May 2006, "In a video posted on the Internet, Zawahiri Friday called on Pakistanis to topple their president and praised insurgents in Iraq, according to CNN."

Christian Science Monitor/EgyptElection.com, The new Muslim TV: media-savvy, modern, and moderate, 02 May 2006, "The Egyptian actress Sabreen was at the peak of her fame when, in 2001, she underwent a religious "awakening," retired from acting, and donned the veil.

"Now she's back on television, hosting a talk show on a new Islamic satellite channel called Al Risala ("The Message")."