Religious Communication and Internet Usage: How Do Muslims Fare on The Web?

Abstract

This study investigated the use of the Internet as a medium for communicating Islamic propagations by Muslims. The main unit of analysis was the front-page frame layouts of each Muslim Websites containing links, which lead to either “informative” articles, "educative" articles and “other” information. The findings in this study reveal that the level of "education" and “informative” articles on Islamic propagation displayed on Muslim home pages was still very low. These homepages were found to contain more “informative” type of articles, a type that concentrated on news about Muslims affairs around the world rather than on propagating Islam. The outcome of the study reveals that 48% of information on Muslim homepages was “informative” and just 37% of the sites were on Islamic doctrinal issues. And “other” information amounts to 15%. In accession to this, a considerable amount of misinformation about Islam was found to be present in some Christian sites. This study concludes that a concerted effort is needed to ensure that Muslims contribute in disseminating information about Islam on the Internet. Muslim individuals, both in private organisations and governmental institutions should be encouraged to utilise the Internet for the promulgation of Islam. Likewise, scholars in various Islamic institutions, government or private, should spend valuable time in establishing homepages that are dedicated to Islam.