Effects of New Media on Islam

How would you like to get an e-card with a Hamas suicide bomber's biography and final video on it?

Yeah. They make those.

I'm currently at the "International Islam and the Media Conference" at the University of Colorado-Boulder. Some interesting papers were presented today on the subject of how new media affects Islam. I think it would be hard to argue, in our digital age, that new media does NOT affect religion; but the way in which it occurs is particularly fascinating.

(1) New Media allows for Islamic discourse. In a study presented by Daniela Schlicht, she examined the German Facebook equivalent "StudiVZ" for it's discussion boards on Islam. On most, she found that participants generally came from two different groups: the "hyphen" Muslims and religious Muslims.

The "hyphen" Muslims she described as secular in terms of most practices. Islam is simply how they were raised and the customs they follow. They would identify themselves with a hyphen i.e. "I'm a German-Muslim." Then of course on the other side are the religious Muslims (don't misread automatically as "conservative" Muslims--although many are).

She noted that on the discussion boards, the debates have come out for centuries in Islamic thought, are at the for front. "Is Islam compatible with secular citizenship?" and visa versa, "Is secular citizenship compatible with Islam?" Debates about Muslim education also take place here. Typically, the religious Muslims will demand that the debate take place using religious texts and religious scholars while secular Muslims will demand that the debate take place using secular texts (Freud, Kafka, etc.) This dichotomy is problematic to actually providing resolve, but what is more interesting is that this debate is perhaps less likely to have occurred without new media.

People generally fall into groups with people of matching worldviews, but StudiVZ's discussion boards allow for Muslims of different worldviews to have genuine conversation.

(2) New Media perpetuates extremism. Hamas has a website which also looks similar to Facebook. But instead of other members of society, the networking site is filled with martyrs (suicide bombers). On each martyr's page, there are: pictures of him/her usually in the typical iconic stance--in front of a Hamas flag, holding gun, staring off at the paradise that awaits them; the final video in which the martyr reasons why he/she will perform the bombing; and a praise-filled biography. And yes, you can send the pages as e-cards to friends.

What makes the site so disturbing is the degree to which it proliferates. More and more martyrs continue to be added. One in particular is a mom (totting an AK-47) holding her child (holding a grenade). The argument noted that by placing the martyr on this website he becomes immortal. The deed is always imminent.

And the story perpetuates itself. Each Hamas martyr now films the same kind of video with the same iconic pictures (flag, gun, distant gaze).

But it should also be noted that the examples mentioned here are from the Arabic site. And there is a difference between the Arabic and English site. The Arabic site shows just what was mentioned above. On the English site, the martyrs are defined as those killed by Israeli soldiers.