Entering the word in an Internet search engine will quickly reveal the extent of the presence of the in cyberspace. The text is readily accessible both in Arabic and in many other languages (with numerous different translated versions frequently available in any given language); it is available for downloading and it can be searched in straightforward manner (i.e. word-by-word) and in more complex ways (with Boolean algebra, for example). The recited may be found at a number of sites with many different voices and styles represented. Manuscripts, ancient and contemporary, are displayed as textual witnesses, as illustrations of Islamic art and as museum items of heritage. Discussions of the abound, as do classical works of commentary (tafsir becoming increasingly available in the original Arabic and, in a few cases, in translation).
The ever-changing content of the World Wide Web creates difficulties in providing stable referencing to available resources. Established meta-sites such as Alan Godlas’ ‘Resources for studying Islam’ (available at: http://www.uga.edu/ islam/), are probably the best places to start a search for material. Highlighting a few sites in this article, however, does provide some sense of the types of material currently available. The Arabic text of the is available for download in fully vowelled text format at www.al-kawthar.com/kotob/ A UNICODE version can be found at http://www.sacred-texts.com/ isl/uq/index.htm. Certain limitations with regard to these texts must be recognized; even the UNICODE format does not allow for a full representation of all the subtleties of the Arabic text as it was printed in what has become the ‘standard edition’ (Cairo, 1923; and in its second edition of 1956). The text is also available for direct consultation on the web in a variety of graphic formats, partially to overcome the above-mentioned limitations which are imposed by the readily available synthetic typefaces (although even this is not always fully successful); the implication of the employment of these graphic formats is that users are limited in the ways in which they may use the text in other computer applications. Useful sites that bring together the text (in graphic form), translations and recitations are the Egyptian http:// al-islam.com/ and the American http:// www.islamicity.com/mosque//. A number of classical and modern commentaries in Arabic are available in fully searchable form at http://www.altafsir. org/Home.asp.
Currently, there are significant limits to searching the Arabic text of the as it is found on the web. Searching by Arabic root is possible at http:// www.altafsir.com/Qur’anSearch.asp and these results allow for successful ‘cutand-paste’ operations from one’s web browser into other applications. Far more sophisticated but presently only available in an idiosyncratic transliterated form of Arabic is the morphologically tagged version of the text developed at the University of Haifa (available at http:// cl.haifa.ac.il/projects/Qura’an/). This text and application allow for searching the for specific grammatical parts of speech and other grammatical phenomena and display the power and unique abilities of computerized versions of texts which may well be commonplace in the future.
It has already become a cliché among scholars to remark on the impact this move of the into its new cyberexistence is having upon Muslims in general and, potentially, upon Islam itself. At the current time, because the process is still underway, no definitive study of the phenomenon is truly possible although a few specific aspects may be highlighted to illustrate future avenues of investigation.
The impact of the cyber upon access to knowledge and all the resulting changes which may come about because of shifting social, political and intellectual power structures have already become apparent at least in legal fields, where the invocation of the does, of course, play a central role. The notion of a ‘fatwa on-line’ means that the influence of a jurist can extend far beyond the geographically bound areas previously experienced by Muslims in their search for answers to day-to-day questions that arise in a life lived in an Islam-conscious fashion. Further, the theoretical accessibility of the web to anyone (restricted primarily by economic resources) has resulted in a shifting composition of those who provide legal opinions on subjects. The anonymity of the web means that anyone may assert his (or her, for gender, too, is hidden) qualifications as a mufti and the appropriate citation of sources is no longer limited to those who have undergone a traditional education in the religious sciences or even those who have access to a physical library of books. While it must be admitted that authority is frequently still being asserted through the invocation of sources from the past and that this very fact signifies a substantial level of learning (the classical works of law or commentary are not easier to understand simply because they are available on the web), it is clear that the composition of the scholarly classes among Muslims is being altered.
An effect upon the recitation of the may also be observed. The process of putting recitations on record and then cassette has been going on for almost a century and the controversies which this practice initially engendered appear to have subsided fully. It is thus the internationalization of certain recitations that is primarily being enhanced by their presence on the web. However, a development which might be anticipated may be conceived in relation to the readings the web possessing the potential both to make variant traditions within recitation more widely known, with the resultant increased realization of the diversity of tradition in Islam, and a greater certainty of the survival of the various traditions of reading and recitation by facilitating their distribution through the Internet.
Some observers have commented upon the increasing sense of the cornmodification of the under the impact of technology. On the web one now finds the ‘alongside’ (in a digital sense) the less refined aspects of human behaviour. This might be argued to be true of a library as well, but the uncontrolled nature of the cyber context does change its dimensions. With the available to anyone, for free, open to whatever changes it might be subjected to with very little effort—and with an awareness of that context being felt by Muslims themselves—the sanctity of the text and the emotions which that evokes are being subjected to subtle but substantial change. The impact on the status of the through its manifestation in an electronic form is still being absorbed by Muslims, with questions regarding the need for purity in interacting with a digital and the problem of the impermanence of the image of the text when it displays on a screen being grappled with by those whose frame of reference remains the memorized and recited text. Online fatwas often try to address such questions. For example, among the rulings provided at Islamicity.com, special attention is paid to whether or not one must be in a ritually pure state when reading the on the Internet (or, for that matter, from a CD); the answer provided is that it is not required—because this is not the same as a tangible, physical text—but that it is desirable to maintain purity while interacting with the text regardless of the form in which it is presented. Encountering the recited by hearing it play as a background track at a website also raises questions; this practice of web design was determined objectionable because those encountering the recited in such a context would not necessarily pay appropriate attention to the recitation given that the purpose of their visit to the website would presumably be to another end.
There is no doubt as well that academic research into the and its place in Muslim society will be altered and, potentially, enhanced by the emergence of the cyber For example, the previously mentioned website, altafsir.com, sponsored by Al al-Bayt Foundation for Islamic Thought in Jordan (a foundation established in 1980 by the late King Hussein), currently includes the Arabic text for thirty-six books of exegesis, including sixteen Sunni and four Sufi texts, plus ulum al-tafsir texts specializing in variant readings, grammar, law, abrogation and occasion of revelation. All are indexed by verse of the making access ready and easy. Scholars around the world no longer need such an extensive library of these reference works on their shelves.
The most significant aspect of the electronic versions of these texts is that they are fully searchable electronically. Given that it is not always predictable where a word or idea may be treated within a work of exegesis, having a full text which is searchable for individual words suggests a major transformation in investigative methods on every level. It is here that we witness in this use of technology what has already been recognized as fundamental transformation in global terms but it still needs to be remarked upon within this context: a wholesale change in access to knowledge that alters fundamental aspects of exegetical procedure, well beyond issues related to scholarly investigations. One of the presuppositions of the entire method of classical Muslim exegesis is the cumulative nature of the enterprise and how the person involved within the process needs to be immersed not just in the itself but in the world of tafsir literature, in grammar, in lexicography, and so forth. The authority of one’s pronouncements on meaning is intimately tied to one’s ability to be able to cite cross-references, authorities, information, rules and opinion. Such abilities demand training, dedication, intelligence and acumen. This is what electronic access and searchability truly transform.
Now, of course, because the material is available electronically, and because one does not have to have all the material memorized, does not make the products of exegetical work easier to understand, or immediately accessible in an intellectual manner, or even appealing to many people. But it does have the potential to result in a radical transformation of the notion of exegesis, one comparable to, and perhaps even a continuation of, the tendency which commenced with Ibn Kathir in the eight/fourteenth century and which aimed to make exegesis authoritative on an entirely different basis than it has been, previously. Authority would reside not in grammar, but in the words of the Prophet. The contemporary instant access to a vast quantity of material may result in an increased tendency to distil information into monovalent readings of the text, relying on the accessibility of the resources lying behind those readings to preserve the diversity. On the other hand, the net result may well be an increased emphasis on the diversity of Muslim opinion about the meaning of the through studies that bring together all the many sources which are now so much more easily accessible. Such transformations in attitude are taking place in the Muslim world but the final outcome is far from clear.
As is well known, the World Wide Web is also an extremely active venue for modern polemics. Sites such as ‘Islamic Awareness’ and ‘Answering Islam’ abound with tracts on the from the Muslim and Christian perspectives respectively. These are resources to which the unwary are drawn and to which the convinced contribute. The very sophistication of such sites is both their appeal and their danger, in their glossing over of critical questions while asserting the veracity of what they claim on the authority of established academic scholarship. The web has also fostered intra-Muslim polemic, with Iranian websites being very active in providing Ithna Ashari Imami interpretations of the and Saudi sites promoting a conservative Salafi view. The group know as ‘The Submitters’, based in the USA and following notions promulgated by Rashad Khalifa in relation to the (especially the role of the number 19), have garnered much greater attention as a result of their presence on the web than would otherwise have been the case. The Internet can thus be a place for the creation of a community of like minds and at the same time a place for the aggravation of contemporary contention, strife and disagreement.
Further reading
Bunt, G. (2003) Islam in the Digital Age: E-jihad, online fat was and cyber Islamic environments, London: Pluto Press.
Dror, J., Shaharabani, D., Talmon, R. and Wintner, S. (forthcoming) ‘Morphological Analysis of the ’, Literary and Linguistic Computing 19; preprint available online at
in an Internet search engine will quickly reveal the extent of the presence of the 
in cyberspace. The text is readily accessible both in Arabic and in many other languages (with numerous different translated versions frequently available in any given language); it is available for downloading and it can be searched in straightforward manner (i.e. word-by-word) and in more complex ways (with Boolean algebra, for example). The recited 
may be found at a number of sites with many different voices and styles represented. Manuscripts, ancient and contemporary, are displayed as textual witnesses, as illustrations of Islamic art and as museum items of heritage. Discussions of the 
abound, as do classical works of commentary (tafsir becoming increasingly available in the original Arabic and, in a few cases, in translation).
material. Highlighting a few sites in this article, however, does provide some sense of the types of material currently available. The Arabic text of the 
is available for download in fully vowelled text format at www.al-kawthar.com/kotob/ 
A UNICODE version can be found at 
al-islam.com/ and the American http:// www.islamicity.com/mosque/
/. A number of classical and modern commentaries in Arabic are available in fully searchable form at 
as it is found on the web. Searching by Arabic root is possible at 
for specific grammatical parts of speech and other grammatical phenomena and display the power and unique abilities of computerized versions of texts which may well be commonplace in the future.
into its new cyberexistence is having upon Muslims in general and, potentially, upon Islam itself. At the current time, because the process is still underway, no definitive study of the phenomenon is truly possible although a few specific aspects may be highlighted to illustrate future avenues of investigation.
upon access to knowledge and all the resulting changes which may come about because of shifting social, political and intellectual power structures have already become apparent at least in legal fields, where the invocation of the 
does, of course, play a central role. The notion of a ‘fatwa on-line’ means that the influence of a jurist can extend far beyond the geographically bound areas previously experienced by Muslims in their search for answers to day-to-day questions that arise in a life lived in an Islam-conscious fashion. Further, the theoretical accessibility of the web to anyone (restricted primarily by economic resources) has resulted in a shifting composition of those who provide legal opinions on subjects. The anonymity of the web means that anyone may assert his (or her, for gender, too, is hidden) qualifications as a mufti and the appropriate citation of sources is no longer limited to those who have undergone a traditional education in the religious sciences or even those who have access to a physical library of books. While it must be 
commentary are not easier to understand simply because they are available on the web), it is clear that the composition of the scholarly classes among Muslims is being altered.
may also be observed. The process of putting recitations on record and then cassette has been going on for almost a century and the controversies which this practice initially engendered appear to have subsided fully. It is thus the internationalization of certain recitations that is primarily being enhanced by their presence on the web. However, a development which might be anticipated may be conceived in relation to the readings 
the web possessing the potential both to make variant traditions within recitation more widely known, with the resultant increased realization of the diversity of tradition in Islam, and a greater certainty of the survival of the various traditions of reading and recitation by facilitating their distribution through the Internet.
under the impact of technology. On the web one now finds the 
‘alongside’ (in a digital sense) the less refined aspects of human behaviour. This might be argued to be true of a library as well, but the uncontrolled nature of the cyber context does change its dimensions. With the 
available to anyone, for free, open to whatever changes it might be subjected to with very little effort—and with an awareness of that context being felt by Muslims themselves—the sanctity of the text and the emotions which that evokes are being subjected to subtle but substantial change. The impact on the status of the 
through its manifestation in an electronic form is still being absorbed by Muslims, with questions regarding the need for purity in interacting with a digital 
and the problem of the impermanence of the image of the text when it displays on a screen being grappled with by those whose frame of reference remains the memorized and recited text. Online fatwas often try to address such questions. For example, among the rulings provided at Islamicity.com, special attention is paid to whether or not one must be in a ritually pure state when reading the 
on the Internet (or, for that matter, from a CD); the answer provided is that it is not required—because this is not the same as a tangible, physical text—but that it is desirable to maintain purity while interacting with the text regardless of the form in which it is presented. Encountering the recited 
by hearing it play as a background track at a website also raises questions; this practice of web design was determined objectionable because those encountering the recited 
in such a context would not necessarily pay appropriate attention to the recitation given that the purpose of their visit to the website would presumably be to another end.
and its place in Muslim society will be altered and, potentially, enhanced by the emergence of the cyber 
For example, the previously mentioned website, altafsir.com, sponsored by Al al-Bayt Foundation for Islamic Thought in Jordan (a foundation established in 1980 by the late King Hussein), currently includes the Arabic text for thirty-six books of exegesis, including sixteen Sunni and four Sufi texts, plus ulum al-tafsir texts specializing in variant readings, grammar, law, abrogation and occasion of 
making access ready and easy. Scholars around the world no longer need such an extensive library of these reference works on their shelves.
word or idea may be treated within a work of exegesis, having a full text which is searchable for individual words suggests a major transformation in investigative methods on every level. It is here that we witness in this use of technology what has already been recognized as fundamental transformation in global terms but it still needs to be remarked upon within this context: a wholesale change in access to knowledge that alters fundamental aspects of exegetical procedure, well beyond issues related to scholarly investigations. One of the presuppositions of the entire method of classical Muslim exegesis is the cumulative nature of the enterprise and how the person involved within the process needs to be immersed not just in the 
itself but in the world of tafsir literature, in grammar, in lexicography, and so forth. The authority of one’s pronouncements on meaning is intimately tied to one’s ability to be able to cite cross-references, authorities, information, rules and opinion. Such abilities demand training, dedication, intelligence and acumen. This is what electronic access and searchability truly transform.
text, relying on the accessibility of the resources lying behind those readings to preserve the diversity. On the other hand, the net result may well be an increased emphasis on the diversity of Muslim opinion about the meaning of the 
through studies that bring together all the many sources which are now so much more easily accessible. Such transformations in attitude are taking place in the Muslim world but the final outcome is far from clear.
from the Muslim and Christian perspectives respectively. These are resources to which the unwary are drawn and to which the convinced contribute. The very sophistication of such sites is both their appeal and their danger, in their glossing over of critical questions while asserting the veracity of what they claim on the authority of established academic scholarship. The web has also fostered intra-Muslim polemic, with Iranian websites being very active in providing Ithna Ashari Imami interpretations of the 
and Saudi sites promoting a conservative Salafi view. The group know as ‘The Submitters’, based in the USA and following notions promulgated by Rashad Khalifa in relation to the 
(especially the role of the number 19), have garnered much greater 
’, Literary and Linguistic Computing 19; preprint available online at 
