This is Gary Bunt’s second monograph on the Muslims’ use of the Internet,the first being Virtually Islamic (Cardiff, UK: The University of Wales Press:2000). It is a good contribution to the growing literature, and will appeal tostudents of contemporary Muslim societies and the sociocultural and religiousinfluence of new communication technologies. The book provides auseful list of websites containing information on Islam and Muslims.Bunt suggests that a substantial number of Muslims use the Internet asa propagation and networking tool, to dialogue with each other, and to conductresearch. For some, it is an important way to bypass state censorshipand access other media, and it acts as a means of local and global contact.The Internet is used to disseminate and obtain decisions and points of interpretationon current events, and, for some individuals who are relativelyunknown or treated as pariahs locally, to achieve fame in the larger ummah.Since September 2001, Muslims’ activities and activism on the Internethave proliferated; meanwhile, those in power have increased attempts torestrict them. There has been an increase in websites, chat rooms, and e-maillists. The author justifies linking Muslims’ uses of the Internet with jihad andfatwas by stating that these two areas have seen the most significant integrationof electronic activity with religion. However, he shuns alarmism aboutthe Internet and Islam by presenting a rational analysis and discussion.Bunt admits that a small, albeit growing, minority in Muslim-majoritycountries uses information and communication technologies. Muslim onlinediscourses are part of the contemporary discussion about Islamic identities.The Internet “has not superseded traditional forms of political expression, butis a means through which conventional boundaries and barriers can be transcended”(p. 11).
The websites of Portuguese trade unions: surfing for rights?
