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History_of_Allah-com, page : 41
spreading this understanding in public. To interpret, in public, what Islam
means, to talk in the name of Islam, is no longer the prerogative of scholars who
have had a specialized education, or of Sufi shaykhs who have been initiated by
their masters. It is the right—and some would say, the duty—of every believer.
This threatens the power to define Islam that religious specialists have long held:
‘I don’t need a shaykh when I can have direct recourse myself to the basic sources,
to Koran and Prophetic Tradition.’43 At heart, this is a development that advances
the emancipation of the individual from traditional authorities.
The internet is an ideal platform for spreading and facilitating such an individualized
approach to interpreting Islam, and software guru Ahmad Darwish
A HISTORY OF ALLAH.COM
129
has indefatigably used it, like other technologies before, to present his version of
the faith. He constructed “the First Site of Prophet Muhammad on the Internet,”
the “Mosque of the Internet,” “The Free Islamic University,” to make available “all
the documents that every Muslim needs,” the “Largest Give Away Free Islamic
Authentic References” (first and foremost, his own Koran translation—with subtitles
to facilitate understanding!—and his “Millenium Biography of Muhammad”),
means, to talk in the name of Islam, is no longer the prerogative of scholars who
have had a specialized education, or of Sufi shaykhs who have been initiated by
their masters. It is the right—and some would say, the duty—of every believer.
This threatens the power to define Islam that religious specialists have long held:
‘I don’t need a shaykh when I can have direct recourse myself to the basic sources,
to Koran and Prophetic Tradition.’43 At heart, this is a development that advances
the emancipation of the individual from traditional authorities.
The internet is an ideal platform for spreading and facilitating such an individualized
approach to interpreting Islam, and software guru Ahmad Darwish
A HISTORY OF ALLAH.COM
129
has indefatigably used it, like other technologies before, to present his version of
the faith. He constructed “the First Site of Prophet Muhammad on the Internet,”
the “Mosque of the Internet,” “The Free Islamic University,” to make available “all
the documents that every Muslim needs,” the “Largest Give Away Free Islamic
Authentic References” (first and foremost, his own Koran translation—with subtitles
to facilitate understanding!—and his “Millenium Biography of Muhammad”),