IF YOU DO NOT READ THE WHOLE THING, PLEASE READ THE THE LAST PARAGRAPH OR SO,
ESPECIALLY THE LAST TWO SENTENCES - THE IMPLICATIONS SHOULD BE OBVIOUS.
 

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ISLAM & THE WORLD WIDE WEB

A search of the World Wide Web (WWW), even if not very exhaustive, leads to about 1,500 sites of Islamic
organizations. Most of them have the benign objective of helping in a better understanding of Islam among
Muslims and non-Muslims alike. They contain interpretations of the holy Koran, explanations of Islamic religious
traditions and practices and articles on the contribution of Islam to science and fine arts etc. They also provide a
useful database of the Muslim scientists, thinkers and women engineers of the world, the Muslim media and so on.

The following conclusions emerge from their study:

*  A large majority of them are Sunni and Wahabi sites, with very few Shia or Iran-based ones. Some are
anti-Ahmadiya.

*  The preponderance of sites run by members of the Muslim community of the US. The next in number are those
of Western Europe, Malaysia, Indonesia and Pakistan.

*  There is a large network of Muslim Students' Associations in US universities. All of them have their sites.

*  The US also has some sites meant for Muslim members of the US armed forces. There is one site, called Muslim
Military Members (MMM), which enrolls adherents from the Muslims serving in the armed forces of other
countries all over the world. It describes its aim as follows: " The MMM is an information source for brothers and
sisters serving in the armed forces. We are a gathering point. A place where information is disseminated. A
means to keep people informed. Through MMM, you will stay informed of different events, resources and news
items to help you survive as a Muslim in the armed forces. The MMM is not an official organization, but rather a
loose association of military personnel and those in the service of military personnel. The cost of the website is
provided freely as a service by the Islamic Information Office, paid by Muntadanet.Inc."

*  The comparatively fewer sites from West Asia and North Africa could be explained by the restrictions there on
non-government organizations (NGOs) and also possibly by local curbs on access to the Internet.

*  Surprisingly, while there are about 50 sites focussing on the problems and history of the Muslims of Jammu &
Kashmir, one noticed only three sites relating to the Muslims in the rest of India-- those of the Aligarh Muslim
University Alumni, the Indian Muslim Relief Committee and the "Islamic Voice", a journal published from
Bangalore. It is possible there are many more sites, but these were not picked up by the search engines.

*  While there are many sites to discuss the relations of Islam with Christianity and Judaism, one did not come
across any on relations with Hinduism.

There are about 150 sites relating to the so-called jihad. The majority of them is run by Muslim extremist
organizations in different parts of the world which have taken to violence to achieve their political and/ or religious objectives. Some are also kept by individual Muslims with assumed names such as Abu Mansoor, Abu Mujahid, Abu Jindal etc.

An organization called the Jihad Webring seeks to bring together all international jihadi organizations to provide
a common reference and  navigation point. These jihadi sites undertake the following services:

*  Dissemination of information regarding the jihad in different countries.

*  Instructions on how to become a Mujahideen, how to manufacture explosives etc.

*  Database on the availability of arms and ammunition for purchase, including the prices. The sites providing this
information are apparently run by Muslims in the US, because the arms sellers recommended by them are all based in the US.

*  A bibliography of articles on urban warfare and low-intensity conflicts, which had appeared in the military and
strategic journals of the US. A list of 266 such articles is available. Many of them have been collated from the US
Marine Corps Doctrine Publications, the Marine Corps War fighting Publications, the Marine Corps Reference
Publications and the US Army Field Manuals. One can directly access many of these articles at the Army Doctrine
and Training Digital Library sites, by just clicking on the relevant titles.

*  Examples of articles collated: Operations in a Low Intensity Conflict; Physical Security; Intelligence
Preparation of the Battlefield; Intelligence Officers' Handbook; Military Operations in Built-up Areas; Urban
Warfare Communications; Air Operations in Low Intensity Conflicts; Bomb Protection Handbook;
Chemical/Biological/Radiological Incident Handbook, purported to have been prepared by the CIA; Chemical
Warfare Handbook of the Marine Corps Institute; Chemical Warfare Agents; Military Intelligence--Using
Organic Assets; Psychological Operations in Guerilla Warfare, purported to have been prepared by the CIA's
Psywar Division for use in Nicaragua; Dealing With Vehicle Hijacking Situations; Emergency Response to Terrorism; Media Facilitation; Public Affairs Operations; Media Relations; Building a Newspaper--Tactics, Techniques and Procedures; Combat Neurosis etc 
Nearly one-third of the jihadi websites relate to Kashmir. These are run by indigenous Kashmiri organizations
such as the Jammu & Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF), Pakistan-based terrorist organizations such as the
Markaz Dawa Al Irshad and its militant wing, the Lashkar-e-Taiba, the Harkat-ul-Mujahideen (HUM--still under
construction) etc, Western-based Kashmiri organizations such as the Kashmir American Council, the Kashmir
Canadian Council etc, Kashmiri activists based abroad such as Ajaz Siraj, moderator of the Kashnet, Dr.Ayub
Thakur of the World Kashmir Freedom Movement, Azmat A.Khan, Secretary-General, JKLF,UK/Europe, Bashir
Siraj of the Kashmir Forum etc Some Western personalities taking interest in the Kashmir issue such as Lord
Avebury of the UK and Ms. Karen Parker of the US have their own sites. Some of the Kashmiri sites seem to have
been constructed and to be run by a Colorado-based Internet Service Provider with the typical Hindu name of
Indra's Net.

Amongst other jihadi organizations active in the WWW are those of Chechnya, which maintain their sites in eight
different languages, with video/audio coverage of the fighting, scenes from the training camps, interviews with the
Mujahideen etc, Kosovo, Indonesia and the Xinjiang province of China. 
One did not come across any sites of the jihadi organizations of the Central Asian Republics. Interestingly, the
Uighur jihadi organizations of Xinjiang seem to operate as lone wolves, with no links to other jihadi groups. No
satisfactory explanation for this is available.

The Taliban Government of Afghanistan used to have its own site maintained apparently from Islamabad. After the
enforcement of the UN sanctions against the Taliban in November last, this has disappeared. Now, the site carries a
message that due to difficulties in loading and maintaining the site directly from Afghanistan, it has been
discontinued. The visitors are advised to read the "Dharb-e-M'umin", an online electronic monthly, for news about
Afghanistan, Kashmir and Chechnya. Amongst organizations of West Asia and North Africa having their own
sites are the Hamas, the Hizbollah, the Islamic Salvation Front of Algeria etc.

Some of the jihadi sites are in the Malaysian language. One does not know whether they are about jihad in
Malaysia or Indonesia. Repeated searches did not throw up any site of the Al Ummah of Tamil Nadu. However, they
led to an interesting analysis of the Hindu-Muslim communal riots over the location of a Hindu temple in Penang
in March, 1999. It has expressed anxiety over the tensions created by the birth of the Al Ummah in Tamil Nadu on
the relations between the Tamil Hindus and Muslims of Malaysia.

Surprisingly, one came across very few references to Osama bin Laden in the jihadi websites. There are far more
references to the late Mohd.Azzam, a Palestinian who, along with bin Laden, was quite active during the Afghan
war and who was mysteriously killed in an explosion in Peshawar in the late 1980s.The complete text of a book on
jihad by Azzam is available on the web.

It would be difficult to estimate the impact of these jihadi web sites on the ground situation in terrorism-affected
areas. In regions such as  Chechnya, where the Russians don't allow foreign journalists, the web sites definitely become reference points for outside people wanting to have a version different from that of the Russians. One does not know in 
how many instances, the terrorists were established to have learnt their trade craft from the web sites. However, it is
important for the security agencies to closely monitor the jihadi sites. It would also be advisable to monitor the
links, if any, of the Al Ummah with jihadi elements in Malaysia and to look for possible flow of funds to the Al
Ummah from Malaysia.
 
Fe'Aman'Ullah