Cyber Muslims: Mapping Islamic Digital Media in the Internet Age

: T he digital world has opened new channels for the Islamic world to build a global Muslim community, strengthening solidarity, social networking, political participation, self-expression, storytelling, and meaning-making. Muslims around the world have joined the global digital revolution, integrating social media into every dimension of their lives with incredible speed and skill. A new generation of Muslims have learned to use digital media to find their voices, question cultural taboos, criticize traditional gatekeepers of religious authority, and challenge entrenched political forces. This virtual production has showcased various Muslim identities, blending culture, ethnicity, class, and gender. The Internet allows interface between digital media with a variety of lively contemporary Islamic contexts, as described in this book. Case studies from a wide variety of cultural and geographical areas: Indonesia, Iran, the Arab Middle East, and North America, showing a map of the diversity and vibrancy of Islamic digital media against the backdrop of trends in broad social issues: racism and Islamophobia, gender dynamics, culture celebrities, identity politics, and ever-changing modes of piety and religious practice. The digital world has upended social hierarchies and entrenched power dynamics, with Islamic religious leaders and laypeople alike using electronic multimedia platforms to speak in the name of Islam, fighting over the cloak of authority and authenticity of Islam.