Cyber Muslims: Mapping Islamic Digital Media in the Internet Age

by Robert Rozehnal (Editor)

Overview

Through an array of detailed case studies, this book explores the vibrant digital expressions of diverse groups of Muslim cybernauts: religious clerics and Sufis, feminists and fashionistas, artists and activists, hajj pilgrims and social media influencers. These stories span a vast cultural and geographic landscape-from Indonesia, Iran, and the Arab Middle East to North America.

These granular case studies contextualize cyber Islam within broader social trends: racism and Islamophobia, gender dynamics, celebrity culture, identity politics, and the shifting terrain of contemporary religious piety and practice.

The book's authors examine an expansive range of digital multimedia technologies as primary “texts.” These include websites, podcasts, blogs, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube channels, online magazines and discussion forums, and religious apps. The contributors also draw on a range of methodological and theoretical models from multiple academic disciplines, including communication and media studies, anthropology, history, global studies, religious studies, and Islamic studies.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781350233713
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Publishing
Publication date:	04/21/2022
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	344
File size:	4 MB

About the Author

Robert Rozehnal is Professor of Religion Studies and the Founding Director of the Center for Global Islamic Studies at Lehigh University, USA. His books include Cyber Sufis: Virtual Expressions of the American Muslim Experience (2019) and Piety, Politics and Everyday Ethics in Southeast Asian Islam: Beautiful Behavior (Bloomsbury, 2019).

Robert Rozehnal is Professor of Religion Studies and the founding director of the Center for Global Islamic Studies at Lehigh University, USA. His books include Cyber Sufis: Virtual Expressions of the American Muslim Experience (2019) and Piety, Politics and Everyday Ethics in Southeast Asian Islam: Beautiful Behavior (Bloomsbury, 2019).

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations
List of Contributors
Acknowledgments
Introduction: Mapping Islamic Digital Media in the Internet Age, Robert Rozehnal (Lehigh University, USA)
Part I: Authority and Authenticity
1. The Net Imam Effect: Digital Contestation of #Islam and Religious Authority, Gary R. Bunt (University of Wales-Trinity Saint David, UK)
2. Hybrid Imams: Young Muslims and Religious Authority on Social Media, Sana Patel
3. Mediating Authority: A Sufi Shaykh in Multiple Media, Ismail Fajrie Alatas (New York University, USA)
Part II: Community and Identity
4. Stream If You Want: See Something, Say Something and the Humanizing Potential of Digital Islam, Caleb Elfenbein, Grinnell College, USA
5. Latinx Muslim Digital Landscapes: Locating Networks and Cultural Practices, Harold Morales (Morgan State University, USA) and Madelina Nuñez (Purdue University, USA)
6. Revisiting Digital Islamic Feminism: Multiple Resistances, Identities, and Online Communities, Sahar Khamis (University of Maryland, College Park, USA)
7. #MuslimGirlWoke: A Muslim Lifestyle Website Challenges Intersectional Oppression, Kristin M. Peterson (Boston College, USA)
Part III: Piety and Performance
8. The Digital Niqabosphere as a Hypermediated Third Space, Anna Piela (Northwestern University, USA)
9. Islam as Meditation: Mindfulness Apps for Muslims in the Digital Spiritual Marketplace, Megan Adamson Sijapati, (Gettysburg College, USA)
10. From Mecca With Love: Muslim Religious Apps and the Centering of Mecca, Andrea Stanton (University of Denver, USA)
11. Seeing a Global Islam?: Eid al-Adha on Instagram, Rosemary Pennington (Miami University, USA)
Part IV: Visual and Cultural (Re)presentation
12. Defining Islamic Art: Practices and Digital Reconfigurations, Hussein Rashid (Independent Scholar, USA)
13.Dousing the Flame: The Political Work of Religious Satire in Contemporary Indonesia, James B. Hoesterey (Emory University, USA)
14. The Instagram Cleric: History, Technicity, and Shii Iranian Jurists in the Age of Social Media, Babak Rahimi, (University of California-San Diego, USA)
15. Muslims Between the Blackmail of Transparency and the Right to Opacity, Nabil Echchaibi (University of Colorado-Boulder, USA)
Notes
Bibliography
Index

Editorial Reviews

There is no doubt that this is a timely volume. Cyber Muslims offers a fantastic range of material to readers curious about the myriad ways in which the internet is shaping and being shaped by Muslims. From art and lifestyle influencers, to podcasters and spiritual guides, these essays refuse to essentialize or flatten the effects of digital platforms and the affective communities that produce and engage them. The result is a terrific read that opens up both new understandings of contemporary Muslim life and new directions for future exploration.” —Anna Bigelow, Director, Stanford Center for South Asia, Stanford University, USA

“The catastrophic quarantine associated with Covid-19 has forced all religious communities, including Muslims, to move online. Cyber Muslims brings together many scholars who have been working on digital Islam prior to Covid. This brilliant collection, masterfully edited by Robert Rozehnal, is enthusiastically recommended for all.”” —Omid Safi, Professor of Islamic Studies, Duke University, USA

From the Publisher