Kyoto III

I'm currently in Amsterdam airport, hoping to connect to Cardiff *soon* having managed (unexpectedly) to get back earlier than planned from Japan. It was a useful trip to Kyoto: there's a lot of interesting research going on, including in relation to Islam and the net, and I made some good contacts which I hope to build on. I'll be posting some related links in due course. Some of the work I heard going on in Japan would benefit from a wider audience. I'm hoping to prepare a paper for publication in Japan, based on my presentation. We'll see whether a Japanese version of iMuslims comes together as well ...

'Burka Woman'

Telegraph, Comedian under fire for Burka Woman version of Pretty Woman, 21 Dec 2010 "Saad Haroon has been accused of mocking Islamic values prompting bloggers to call for him to be stoned to death.

"The video follows his tongue-in-cheek efforts at serenading a "sexy ninja" or "mystery prize" hidden beneath a black niqab, with only her dark eyes visible through a narrow slit.""

Saad Haroon's website has more background (and videos (including stand-up clips)) on his work. There's also a blog. 'Burka Woman' is on YouTube.

Shumukh-al-Islam

thestar.com, Al Qaeda-affiliated website targets Arab Christians in Canada - 21 Dec 2010: "More than 100 Canadian-Arab Christians are listed on an Al Qaeda affiliated website, apparently targeted because of their alleged role in attempting to convert Muslims."

Indonesian Islam

The Jakarta Globe, The True Heart of Indonesia's Islam, 13 Dec 2010: "Four episodes will be shown during the exhibition, and Indonesian Muslim leaders and intellectuals have been invited to lead discussions of the episodes and how they apply to people’s lives.

“For decades, Islamist radicals have been propagating their virulent ideology of hatred, supremacy and violence throughout the Muslim world — fueled by a potent combination of petrodollars and missionary zeal,” [Holland] Taylor said.

“This flow of radical ideas includes a massive effort to translate and disseminate extremist texts and to produce extremist programming for television and the Internet.

"'This type of programming has started taking up a more and more significant chunk of the public discourse in many Islamic countries, as well as among Muslim communities in the West.”""

Kyoto II

Gave my paper today on e-Jihad. It was very introductory in nature, and compressed (30 minutes including a video), so could have done with more time to unpack the detail (I guess that's what the book is for) or could have spoken quicker (not so good). Some useful questions, on defining iMuslims, defining e-jihad (and historical precedents), and on comparative approaches between different forms of activism online. There's plenty of scope in all these issues, but - as many readers of this blog will know - also the need for more researchers. There's some very interesting work going on in Japan in relation to studies of the net - as well as Islamic Studies in general - which I may link into in a future post. The conference itself is very well organised, and has a good range of speakers on its programme.

alyaban.net

As I'm presently in Japan, I've been finding out a little more about resources useful to readers to this blog. One in particular is alyaban.net. This is a project promoting news from a Japanese perspective. It is linked to the Sasakawa Middle East Islam Fund. The news and commentaries are regularly updated, and can be obtained via RSS.

Kyai Gaul

Arlina Arshad, AFP, Indonesians embrace new media for old debates, 18 Dec 2010 "To most Indonesians, Ahmad Mustofa Bisri is an influential Muslim cleric and a respected figure from the country's biggest Islamic organisation, the moderate Nahdlatul Ulama.

"But to his 7,000-odd followers on Twitter, the 66-year-old is "Kyai Gaul", or the Trendy Cleric, who thumbs daily Islamic greetings on his iPad and Blackberry."

Kyoto

Today's blog comes to you live from Kyoto, where I am participating in a conference.

New Horizons in Islamic Area Studies.

My paper tomorrow is part of the Islamist Discourse in Media: Papers, Computers, and Satellites session. I'm providing a version of my E-jihad: a Brief History presentation. Every time I give this, I end up re-writing it, and this time is no exception. There's no shortage of material. I'm presently wondering how to fit hundreds of screen shots into a short amount of time ...

If any material relating to the central theme of this blog emerges, I'll post it. I'm not sure if others are posting or tweeting from here.

'Fighting bad guys with good tech'

Jessi Hempel, CNN, Fighting bad guys with good tech - Fortune Tech, 16 Dec 2010 saw this today, some useful points made

Jaish al-Hacker al-Islami

Nigel Stanley, it-director.com, Cybercrime, Cyberwars, Cyberterrorism and Hacktivism - Part 2: "One member of the forum called for the creation of an Islamist organisation, which he dubbed "Jaish al-Hacker al-Islami," or the Islamic Hacker's Army." Some of this is covered in my writing, particularly 'Islam in the Digital Age' (on hacking).

Sudan arrests

Reuters, Sudan police arrest women protesting at flogging video, 14 Dec 2010: "Sudanese police arrested dozens of women protesting on Tuesday against laws they say humiliate women after a video of a woman being flogged in public appeared on the Internet."

MENA Ad Spending

arabcrunch.com, Google: MENA Ad Spending is Between 110-130 Million USD in 2010, 100 Million Arab Users will be Online in 2015 - ArabCrunch, 12 Dec, 2010 "During his speech at google’s first organized event in Egypt coined G Days Ari Kesisoglu – Regional Manager, Middle East North Africa said that online ad spending in the MENA region is between 110 to 130 Million USD annually. Although there is no real projections of online ad spending, last year it was estimated below 100 million USD, thus annual growth rate is estimated between 20-40 %."

"Reform in Saudi Arabia: A Battle of the Fatwas"

James M Dorsey, mideastposts.com, Reform in Saudi Arabia: A Battle of the Fatwas, 11 Dec 2010 [posted retrospectively]

Stockholm blasts

BBC News - Stockholm blasts: Sweden probes 'terrorist attack', 12 Dec 2010: "The e-mails, with MP3 audio files in Swedish and Arabic, were sent to the Swedish security service and the TT news agency.

"They called for 'mujahideen' - or Islamist fighters - to rise up in Sweden and Europe, promising Swedes would 'die like our brothers and sisters'."

'The Jihadist Social Network Underworld'

The Investigative Project on Terrorism, The Jihadist Social Network Underworld, 10 Dec 2011 ""When are these crusaders gonna realize they can't win?," Baltimore bomb plotter Antonio Martinez boasted on his Facebook page on August 4th. "How many more lives are they willing to sacrifice. ALLAHUAKBAR." As details emerge about the plot to bomb a military recruitment center in Baltimore, MD, one thing is clear—Facebook is having a coming out party as the new go-to place for Jihadi recruitment, radicalization, and planning."

'Living in the hands of God. English Sunni e-fatwas on (non-)voluntary euthanasia and assisted suicide'

Stef Van den Branden and Bert Broeckaert, Living in the hands of God. English Sunni e-fatwas on (non-)voluntary euthanasia and assisted suicide, Medicine, Health Care and Philosophy, 10.1007/s11019-010-9280-1

I'm always interested to see how my research is used:

"This study analyses Islamic views on (non-)voluntary euthanasia and assisted suicide as expressed in English Sunni fatwas published on independent—i.e. not created by established organisations—Islamic websites. We use Tyan’s definition of a fatwa to distinguish between fatwas and other types of texts offering Islamic guidance through the Internet. The study of e-fatwas is framed in the context of Bunt’s typology of Cyber Islamic Environments (Bunt 2009) and in the framework of Roy’s view on the virtual umma (Roy 2002)."

I haven't read this study yet (subscription is required), but it looks very interesting. The MA Islamic Studies I run has a section on medical ethics.

Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani update

Robin Pomeroy, Reuters/montrealgazette.com, Iran says stoning woman still in jail, quashes rumour, 10 Dec 2010

"Talk of Ashtiani's release appears to have been sparked by photographs of her at home released to the international media on Thursday by state-run Press TV ahead of an interview with her to be broadcast later on Friday.

"Rumours spread quickly on the Internet, with thousands of joyful messages appearing on the Twitter website after the International Committee Against Stoning, based in Germany, said "sources in Iran" had word of her freedom."

Hossein Derakhshan gets 'temporary bail'

oneindia.in, Iran blogger Hossein Derakhshan released on temporarily bail "The International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran (ICHRI) said that Derakhshan had requested a prison furlough, or temporary release."

cultureclashdaily.com, The Man Who Opened Iran To The World, The Blogfather, Released On Bail

"The man known as the Blogfather of Iran, Hossein Derakhsah, has been released from an Iranian prison on bail of $1.5 million.

"The 35 year old former journalist rose to fame around the world for beginning an internet revolution that challenged the tightly controlled theocracy, under President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad."

Bowe Bergdahl

mtexpress.com, Bergdahl shown in new Taliban video: Reports conflict as to who is holding soldier captive, 10 Dec 2010 "A new video that has not been widely distributed on the Internet has been reported by international news media to include four seconds of footage of Hailey-area native Bowe Bergdahl, a missing U.S. Army soldier captured in June 2009."

"Terrorist Use of Social Networking Sites: Facebook Case Study"

Jana Winter, Fox News, Al Qaeda Looks to Make New 'Friends' -- on Facebook, 9 Dec 2010 "The DHS report, "Terrorist Use of Social Networking Sites: Facebook Case Study," notes while terrorists have been using social networking sites for quite some time, their strategies for exploiting Facebook have evolved and that they have learned "the inherent value in exploiting a non-ideological medium.""

This report has been widely covered elsewhere (sometimes more sensationally than others), for example:

David Gardner, Daily Mail, Facebook used by Al Qaeda to recruit terrorists and swap bomb recipes, says U.S. homeland security report, 10 Dec 2010

Also see The Australian, 'Al-Qaeda seeking friends on Facebook' says US Department of Homeland Security study, 10 Dec 2010