Shari'a in Cyberspace : An analysis of Australian and US Internet Sites

With globalisation, Muslims increasingly live their lives as minority communities, often in secular and sometimes hostile environments that are indifferent to their religious needs. What it is to be a‘good Muslim’ turns increasingly on the question of good practice as negotiated and formulated through an emergent community consensus. This consensus can sometimes evolve out of debates on websites where the details of correct behaviour in new secular environments are contested (e.g. Abdel-Fadil (2011), Bunt(2003), Linjakumpu, A. (2010)).

The internet provides a place for (young) Muslims to discuss the most appropriate method of practice, assisting men and women to access specific codes of conduct and a set of beliefs for making sense of life in a complex urban environment. Islamic codes provide a normative map for guidance through these urban settings–a map of piety that primarily defines how a ‘good Muslim’ would behave in a variety of puzzling, often contradictory, new situations. In particular, reform Islam offers a set of norms for training Muslim children in a social environment where there are distinctive threats that are significant in the urban environment–drug abuse, juvenile delinquency, apostasy, marriage and family breakdown, or alienation of one generation from another. Muslims can now readily access fatwas on the internet which offer guidance on a wide range practices related to daily life including Islamic banking, appropriate holiday destinations, diet, veiling, schooling and clothing to name a few.

© 2019 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston