ACCESSING THE HAJJ ONLINE

Understanding technological interfaces is increasingly important in developing a comprehension of contemporary Islamic issues and their dissemination. The continual evolution of interfaces, software, and hardware must be accommodated within academic interpretations. Many of these are relatively recent innovations, which have been quickly adopted by users; consider the exponential development and growth in social media since 2000, and the impact of enhanced forms of Internet access through mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets. Increased net literacy and access, with a “digital native” generation educated and brought up using the Web, has had a profound impact on Muslim individuals and communities.

The term cyber Islamic environments refers to a variety of contexts, perspectives, and applications of the media by those who define themselves as “Muslims.” Cyber Islamic environments contain elements of specific worldviews and notions of exclusivity, combined with regional and cultural understandings of the Internet and its validity, and have demonstrated the ability to transform aspects of religious understanding and expression within Muslim contexts. A complex spectrum of access, dialogue, networking, and application of the media associated with cyber Islamic environments has emerged. The term's original definition as an online Internet space with an Islamic religious orientation has evolved to incorporate elements of so-called Web 2.0+ tools, as well as alternate interfaces such as Web-enabled smartphones and televisions with net access. It can incorporate online services such as blogs, social networking sites, media distribution channels, and interfaces in which the Internet is integrated into “traditional” media delivery, for example, media channels using online delivery in real time and storage modes.

One should not separate the digital from the analogue, in terms of activities; while new networks and conceptual frameworks have emerged online, they can also connect directly at grassroots level to “real world” activities and research. Islam is “always on” technologically and through “traditional” channels, increasingly so through cell phones, with little separation for those whose online activities and levels of net literacy integrate with their everyday life. Just as there can be different levels of determining religiosity and “Islamic” activity, depending on the beholder, so the levels of Islamic activity and usage of online materials can vary. Different models could potentially be constructed, to indicate different typologies of “Islamic” Internet use.