The era of the technological age is upon us. We communicate in seconds with e-mails and fax's. Information of every type is accessible to anyone with a modem from what was originally intended to be a government network for research projects, now called the Internet. The average person is able to create, advertise and publish easily for an audience of millions on the World Wide Web. Thoughts and ideas are exchanged, discussed and argued across thousands of chat channels, muds and newsgroups for every possible topic ever imagined.
Muslim chat rooms and muds are especially the hang outs for high school and college age Muslims. They are places for them to talk to other Muslims like themselves from all over the world. For many, it may have the benefit of being an alternative to other non-Islamic activities, but it is also highly addictive and highly unregulated.Also, among some of the Internet chat channels such as channel islam is a very anti-Kuffar sentiment, with scripts such as "Muslim pulls out a baseball bat, Muslim smashes Jew over the head, Muslim wipes off the blood. The reputation of being narrow-minded and hypocritical has increased clashes and hacking between even the different Muslim channels
No scholars or Sheikhs are present on any of these mediums. There are no authorities or any kind of collaborative effort on the part of Muslims. Advice and Fatwas to non-Muslims and Muslims are given out by basically anyone and dangerously lacking in references or scholarly wisdom and knowledge.
Despite everything, there are many positives to Muslims being on the Internet. In fact it has influenced many in good ways, from just increasing their Iman and knowledge to eventually leading people to Shahadah. This new technology has been a breakthrough in communication among Muslims. Conferences and events are well publicized and organizational logistics have been enhanced significantly and economically. Muslim activism is spread on- line. Even the announcements...