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History_of_Allah-com, page : 14
com/). This is clearly an exaggeration—Islamicity, for example, started earlier, in
February 1995—but nevertheless, Ahmad Darwish was among the pioneers of
Muslim domains on the internet.
The principal raison d’être of Ahmad’s “Mosque of the Internet” was the distribution
of his Koran translation, which he advertised as “the most authentic
translation in modern English.”11 Ahmad also offered “for the first time in the
West, the explanation of Al Fatihah (…) available to non-Arabic speaking readers,”
as well as a Life of the Prophet Muhammad that he and his wife had written
and for which in December 1996 they received high praise from “Prof. Hasan al
Fatih Qaribullah, former Dean, Umm Durman Islamic University”: “This
A HISTORY OF ALLAH.COM
113
work—in my opinion, and I am sure that other Muslim scholars will agree—is
far more authentic than the work of Martin Lings and definitely more authentic
than Haykal’s work, moreover it will touch the hearts of all ages…”12
Building on these translations and texts, Ahmad developed the idea of making
other texts on Islam available for download, first in the form of “the largest
DB 18mb on Islam,” and then as a “trademarked” “Interactive Islamic College”
(IIC) that promised instruction in the Koran, Hadith, jurisprudence, Arabic,
February 1995—but nevertheless, Ahmad Darwish was among the pioneers of
Muslim domains on the internet.
The principal raison d’être of Ahmad’s “Mosque of the Internet” was the distribution
of his Koran translation, which he advertised as “the most authentic
translation in modern English.”11 Ahmad also offered “for the first time in the
West, the explanation of Al Fatihah (…) available to non-Arabic speaking readers,”
as well as a Life of the Prophet Muhammad that he and his wife had written
and for which in December 1996 they received high praise from “Prof. Hasan al
Fatih Qaribullah, former Dean, Umm Durman Islamic University”: “This
A HISTORY OF ALLAH.COM
113
work—in my opinion, and I am sure that other Muslim scholars will agree—is
far more authentic than the work of Martin Lings and definitely more authentic
than Haykal’s work, moreover it will touch the hearts of all ages…”12
Building on these translations and texts, Ahmad developed the idea of making
other texts on Islam available for download, first in the form of “the largest
DB 18mb on Islam,” and then as a “trademarked” “Interactive Islamic College”
(IIC) that promised instruction in the Koran, Hadith, jurisprudence, Arabic,