SAUDI ARABIA: Cleric delivering virtual sermons on Second Life

Forget your image of a bearded old cleric delivering religious sermons in a corner of a mosque.

Muslim preachers are increasingly using sophisticated Internet tools to reach out to a wider audience.

Recently, a Saudi cleric delivered a “virtual” lecture on the social utility network Second Life.

The talk focused on the Palestinian cause, one of the central questions of contemporary Islam, and was delivered by an avatar of Sheik Ali bin Omar Badahdah, a professor at a Saudi university.

MIDDLE EAST: Virtual Muslim world bans drinking, sex

Ever wanted to experience life in the Muslim world but didn't have enough money to fly to Cairo?

The first-ever virtual version of the Muslim world was recently launched online.

Muxlim Pal lets you adopt an animated avatar and interact with others online in a virtual world governed by the rules of Islam.

You can shop, socialize in a beach cafe and, of course, pray at a mosque.

Aimed at Muslims and non-Muslims, the website aims to foster understanding and communication between East and West.

According to Finnish-based company Muxlim.com, the website hopes to bring Muslim communities worldwide closer, especially Muslim youth in the West.

"We are not a religious site, we are a site that is focused on the lifestyle," said Mohamed El-Fatatry, founder of Muxlim.com, in an interview with the BBC.

IRAN: Pride swells as Persia enters the Space Age

Many Western governments viewed the announcement this week that Iran had successfully launched a domestically made satellite into orbit as a menacing display of the Islamic Republic's growing rocket power.

But on snow-covered streets of Tehran, ordinary Iranians hailed the launch as a source of pride for the nation.

"Who could think that one day we would have our own homemade satellite?" said Ahmad Montazeri, the 48-year-old owner of a produce shop, warming his hands above the flames of a small fire along the sidewalk. "It is very important and we think we are entering a new phase in our development."

Western officials and analysts interpreted the launch as testament to Iran's growing mastery of missile technology, meant to show off the fact that the country can reach targets 1,500 miles away.

But with presidential elections less than four months away, the launching also made Iranians feel proud of their country and their government during commemorations marking the 30th anniversary of the Islamic revolution, despite rising economic hardship under incumbent President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

EGYPT: Coptic pope bans phone confessions

Egypt's Coptic pope has outlawed confessions over the phone for fear that state security agents might be listening in, a local newspaper reported this week.

"Confessions over the telephone are forbidden, because there is a chance the telephones are monitored and the confessions will reach state security," the pope was quoted as saying in the independent al-Masry al-Youm daily.

Pope Shenouda III also forbade online confessions as they might be read by others.

“Confession through the Internet cannot be considered confession because everybody can read it and hence it will not be a secret,” added the pope.

Telephoned confessions are a relatively new practice -- only allowed for the last four or five years, Coptic bishop Marcos was quoted in a report by Agence France-Presse.

In the same press report, Marcos said that the pope also has banned monks from using cellphones.

"The monk is supposed to be secluded from the world," he said. "But the mobile phone brings the world to him,"

—Noha El-Hennawy in Cairo

Photo: Pope Shenouda III. Credit: Freecopts.net

EGYPT: Again, Internet almost dead for a day

“Do you have access to the Internet?” Egyptians kept asking one another all through Friday. The answer was the same everywhere: “No access at all.”

Internet service collapsed after six undersea cables linking the Middle East and Europe were damaged last weekend.  Since then, the government has been trying to repair the cables. The service has been back up since Sunday but not at full capacity. The government said that the service improved by 85% on Sunday.

The Egyptian Ministry of Communications announced that it diverted the Internet traffic to other service providers through cables in the Indian Ocean. It is still not very clear what led to the damage. The ministry has been calling on people to ration their Internet use until service gets back to normal. 

Egypt had a similar problem in January. Undersea cables were also damaged,  leading to outages in the Middle East and India.

Apparently, the latest outage did not lead to serious repercussions as it happened on a non-workday. However, it prompted a lot of concern as it showed the vulnerability of the Internet service in Egypt.

The repair work is expected to take several days.

— Noha El-Hennawy in Cairo

Photo: An empty Internet cafe in Cairo during the service outage. Credit: Associated Press

JORDAN: Queen Rania receives YouTube award

She may be queen of an ancient land. But this week word emerged that Queen Rania of Jordan was winner of a distinctively 21st century honor. She has been given YouTube's first-ever Visionary Award for launching an interactive online channel to combat stereotypes and misconceptions associated with Arabs and Muslims, Jordan's Petra news agency reported.

The news was announced Thursday by YouTube co-founder Chad Hurley:

Queen Rania sets the standard for breaking down stereotypes and her YouTube videos are nothing short of inspirational. It is both a pleasure and an honor to present her with this much-deserved tribute.

The Visionary Award celebrates active and motivated users of YouTube whose aim is to utilize the service as an open platform to foster dialogue, highlight social and cultural issues and work for positive change in their communities and around the world.

IRAN: Hamas office declares cyber-war on Israel

The Tehran office of a Palestinian political group has announced it is offering cash prizes for any intrepid computer whiz who hacks into a "Zionist" website.

For the second year in a row, the representatives of Hamas in the Islamic Republic are holding a contest to encourage techies to break into the websites of hard-line Israeli political organizations such as Shas or Hagana, according to a report published in Tabnak, a Farsi-language news website.

Winners will receive cash prizes equivalent to about $2,000.

Hamas announced the competition at a media expo now underway in Tehran.

Contest organizers describe the hack-Zionist-websites-for-cash competition as a "peaceful and non-violent initiative."

MIDDLE EAST: "Muslim massacre" game stirs debate

A new computer game promoting “modern religious genocide” against followers of the Islamic faith is causing an uproar among Muslims in the Arab world and elsewhere.

According to media reports, the game, "Muslim Massacre" (available on a website that appeared to be down Monday morning), allows players to be in control of an “American hero” on a mission to kill bearded Muslims and suicide bombers using a machine gun and a rocket launcher.

On the game’s website, the creator, identified only as Sigvatr, encourages Internet users to “take control of the American hero and wipe out the Muslim race with an arsenal of the world’s most destructive weapons.”

The game is said to be inspired by the "war on Islam" declared by the United States.

“Don’t be a liberal...! Download the game now,” reads the promotional ad on the game’s frontpage.

EGYPT: Tests, teachers and anger

Egyptian teachers don't want to be tested.

Thousands of them have protested a government requirement that they pass an assessment exam to receive higher salaries. The average pay for teachers is $70 a month. Some see the new test as an attempt by the debt-ridden Egyptian Ministry of Education to avoid giving all the nation's teachers a raise.

It has been a bad few months for the country's education system. A spate of student suicides led to accusations that rich pupils were cheating by buying leaked copies of college entrance tests. The news came amid repeated complaints that Egypt is not producing enough qualified students to supply a growing economy and increased foreign investment.

The state is also considering forbidding teachers to earn extra money by tutoring outside class hours. The practice is widespread, but it has turned teachers into mercenaries. The government says moonlighting teachers put less effort into their public school lesson plans, forcing parents with limited incomes to pay tutoring fees if they want their children to succeed.

"Decades of neglect have led to a dead end and even when the education ministry decided to restructure teachers' salary schemes in hopes of curing the private lessons epidemic, it found itself caught in another pickle," wrote Rania Al Malky, editor of the Daily News Egypt. "Realizing that it can't fund the 50 percent raise, the minister decided to impose a teachers' assessment exam to 'separate the wheat from the chaf.' "

— Jeffrey Fleishman in Cairo

Photo: Egyptian classroom. Credit: www.unv.org

LEBANON: Hezbollah TV draws U.S. ire

Hezbollah TV has started broadcasting to millions of Muslims in Southeast Asia amid strong U.S. objection. The Shiite militant group's station, Al-Manar, has been using since April the Indonesian satellite, Indosat, to broadcast its programs in the Asia-Pacific region.

This concerns the Americans, who complained to authorities in the Indonesian capital. Tristram Perry, a public diplomacy officer at the U.S. Embassy in Jakarta, accused the station on Thursday of inciting violence and hatred: "Al-Manar and its partners and affiliates form a recognized arm of Hezbollah."

The U.S. State Department listed the station as a terrorist organization in 2004, when Al-Manar was accused of anti-Semitism for a controversial series about the Jewish Diaspora.

But Indonesia, home to the world's largest Muslim population, took a more pragmatic approach. Communication and Information Minister Muhammad Nuh, simply called Al-Manar's airing "a pure business to business deal." He criticized the U.S. government:

We can't stop anyone here as long as they aren't violating our regulations… We don't want any intervention or request from any country, which isn't in line with our basic principles.

The Indonesian government holds about 14% of the shares of the satellite hosting Al-Manar and has a veto right over strategic decisions.

Through Indosat, Al-Manar can now be viewed in China, Southeast Asia and Australia. The channel's programs include news bulletins and political talk-shows but also drama series, programs on health, family and religious matters.

In January, Al-Manar tried to broadcast in East Asia through a Thai satellite company. But airing broadcasts of the channel stopped within a few days when the company learned Al-Manar was tied to Hezbollah.

-- Raed Rafei in Beirut

Photo: Screenshot from Al-Manar's website