WikiIslam

The website was registered on October 27, 2005 and launched on September 4, 2006.{{rp|162}} It was founded by Ali Sina, an Iranian-born Canadian ex-Muslim, and originally maintained by his organization, Faith Freedom International,{{rp|162}}{{Efn|FFI has stated that its aim is to "unmask Islam and help Muslims leave [the faith]".}} part of the counter-jihad network.{{cite book |last1=Busher |first1=Joel |title=The Making of Anti-Muslim Protest: Grassroots Activism in the English Defence League |date=2016 |publisher=Routledge |location=London |isbn=9781315661377}}{{rp|47|quote=He was particularly taken by the writings of Ali Sina, an Iranian ex-Muslim, the founder of Faith Freedom Initiative, a well-known counter-jihad website, and a board member of Pamela Geller's Stop Islamization of Nations.}} As of 2013, among the site's aim was to act in defence against a perceived "global threat" of Muslims and Islam;{{rp|65|quote=Besides providing critical information about Islam and Muslims, the aim of the site is also to build online [a] defensive position against Islam and Muslims as a global threat....WikiIslam provides Internet users with new ways of combating and criticising Islam and Muslims in both cyberspace and offline, by circulating critical information about Islam and Muslims.}} the site described its purpose as "collect[ing] facts relating to the criticism{{Efn|As used on WikiIslam, to be "critical" has meant holding preconceived negative opinions of Muslims and Islam.{{rp|57|quote=Those who call up the homepage are also reminded that this is a critical site and that it does not contain any pro-Islamic content. In this specific context, to be critical is to hold a preconceived and negative opinion about Islam and Muslims.}}}} of Islam from valid Islamic sources" without the effect of "[politically correct] censorship" that is common in Wikipedia.{{rp|162}}{{cite book |last1=Gardell |first1=Mattias |author-link=Mattias Gardell |title=Islamofobi |date=2012 |publisher=Leopard förlag |location=Stockholm |isbn=9789173434027 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vC6bCwAAQBAJ |language=Swedish |quote=WikiIslam – en 'islamkritisk encyklopedi' som skapades av antimuslimska cyberaktivister som slutit sig till att deras inlägg på Wikipedia 'censurerades' av politiskt korrekta redaktörer och motsades av muslimer som lade sig i samtalet om islam och muslimer – anser att 'termen islamofobi är avledande, uppeggande och ofta används för att förhindra mycket legitim kritik av islam'.}}{{rp|57}} It rejected concerns of Islamophobia by arguing that Islam has been proved to be a "dangerous ideology".

As a "community-edited website", the wiki was set to be edited and modified by (registered) approved netizens.{{rp|162}} {{As of|2018}},{{Efn|name=Larsson2018|Larsson's latest publication on the site is from 2018 where he asks readers to consult his publications from 2007 and 2013 for scholarship on WikiIslam.{{Cite journal|last=Larsson|first=Göran|date=2018-03-13|title=Disputed, Sensitive and Indispensable Topics: The Study of Islam and Apostasy|url=https://brill.com/view/journals/mtsr/30/3/article-p201_1.xml|journal=Method & Theory in the Study of Religion|volume=30|issue=3|pages=201–226|doi=10.1163/15700682-12341435|issn=0943-3058|quote=For example, the anti-Muslim webpage WikiIslam (on this homepage, see Larsson 2007; Enstedt and Larsson 2013) simply concludes: 'The punishment for apostasy in the Islamic faith is death.'}}}} information on (alleged) internal contradictions in the Quran, persecution of non-Muslims and ex-Muslims, follies of Muhammad etc. were held; a narrow focus is maintained on "violence, sexuality and gender conflicts".{{rp|162}} Also as of 2018,{{Efn|name=Larsson2018}} apostasy testimonies were featured too and the site held a list of 101 provocative questions which are to be asked of any Muslim to prove that Islam is not a "true religion," running in tune with the site's active encouragement to criticize Muslims.{{rp|59|quote=WikiIslam also encourages its visitors to question and criticise all Muslims for their belief in Islam.... The visitor is also recommended to make use of the Internet to criticise Muslims and spread negative information about them and about Islam.}} The same year, WikiIslam was noted to feature slurs about Muhammad.{{Cite journal |last=O'Brian |first=Peter |date=2018 |title=Islamophobia & Europhobia: Expanding Rhetorics of Exclusion |url=https://www.ceeol.com/search/article-detail?id=698049 |journal=Bulletin of the Transilvania University of Braşov, Series IV: Philology & Cultural Studies |language=English |volume=11 |issue=1 |pages=16 |issn=2066-768X}} Translations of content into multiple languages are available. In December 2015, the Ex-Muslims of North America (EXMNA), a secularist organization, took ownership and operation of the site.

Around 2020, a major revision to WikiIslam took place with a stated aim to "provide accurate and accessible information from traditional and critical perspectives” on Islam, and stressing a "zero-tolerance policy on hateful, misleading, unencyclopedic, and polemical content."{{rp|2}} As of 2022, WikiIslam did not "meet all the requirements stated in their own vision document," although some content was in line with the new vision.{{rp|9–10, 16}} Articles generally presented how Muslim scholars have addressed specific "questions or episodes in the history of Islam"; internal variations and differences among Muslim scholars are also "often presented."{{rp|10}} However, there is "seldom (if ever)" content that includes modern discussions or "progressive interpretations."{{rp|10}} In addition, there was a bias in the selection of topics covered on the website, some of which explicitly or implicitly linked Muslims with a non-rational worldview that is incompatible with a scientific outlook, and often tended to cast them or Islam in a negative light when voices of contemporary scholars or contextualisation of debates were lacking.{{rp|11, 3}} WikiIslam continues to have "hardly any information that presents Muslims in a positive or neutral way."{{rp|11}}

{{Islamophobia}}

In 2007, Göran Larsson, Professor of Religious Studies at University of Gothenburg, argued that WikiIslam is an Islamophobic web portal{{efn|Larsson's 2007 view was summarized by Ruth Tsuria, an expert on the intersection of digital media and religion:{{Cite web|date=2017-08-03|title=Profile Ruth Tsuria|url=https://www.shu.edu/profiles/RuthTsuria.cfm|access-date=2021-12-26|website=Seton Hall University|language=en}} "Larsson argues that WikiIslam takes a closed attitude in its understanding of Islam, and so should be seen as an Islamophobic web portal."{{Cite journal |last=Tsuria |first=Ruth |date=2013-01-01 |title=The video Three Things About Islam: Islamophobia online or a religious dialogue |url=https://journal.fi/scripta/article/view/67442 |journal=Scripta Instituti Donneriani Aboensis |volume=25 |pages=225 |doi=10.30674/scripta.67442 |issn=2343-4937 |doi-access=free}} However, Larsson conceded that since WikiIslam contained a list of links to other websites—such as that of the Middle East Media Research Institute—, it was difficult to argue that all information posted on the site was Islamophobic.{{rp|63}}}} and that the stories on WikiIslam were selected only to show that Muslims are "ignorant, backward or even stupid".{{rp|59|quote=My impression is that the stories reported by WikiIslam have merely been selected to show that Muslims are ignorant, backward or even stupid.}} In a 2014 survey of "anti-Muslim websites",{{rp|161}} Larsson profiled WikiIslam's apparent aim as "present[ing] Islamic history, theology and practitioners in a way which leaves the reader with an exceedingly negative image of the faith".{{rp|162|quote=[T]he apparent aim of this site is to present Islamic history, theology and practitioners in a way which leaves the reader with an exceedingly negative image of the faith, discouraging them from either taking up or continuing its practice. The focus, in other words, is on violence, sexuality and gender conflicts, leaving WikiIslam's potential visitors without easy access to material that might counterbalance its narrowly-focused view and/or convey the fact that Muslim theologians hold differing opinions about many of the site's topics.}} He repeated his position in 2018, citing WikiIslam as an example of an "anti-Muslim webpage."

In 2013, Daniel Enstedt and Larsson wrote that the website has been "often perceived as being anti-Muslim, if not Islamophobic,"{{rp|65|quote=For highlighting negative and biased perceptions about Islam and Muslims, the site is often perceived as being anti-Muslim, if not Islamophobic.}} describing the then-present content on WikiIslam as part of a "negative and biased"{{rp|64|quote=From the six testimonies it is clear that Islam is presented in a negative and biased way, as summed up in the following three points: (1) Islam is an irrational, illogical way of thought; the beliefs that Islam holds to be true are false; (2) Islam is not about peace, high standards and God; Islam is an evil, self-centered and morally corrupt religion, and Muslims are hypocrites; (3) Islam is an oppressive, misogynist and violent religion, and is negative for its followers, especially women.}} representation of Islam that could "easily be turned into an important weapon in the hands of those who want to express anti-Muslim feelings"; the site propagated "an Islamophobic world view that present[ed] Islam and Muslims as diametrically opposite to all others."{{rp|88|quote=From this point of view these stories can easily be turned into an important weapon in the hands of those who want to express anti-Muslim feelings and so constitute an important element in an Islamophobic world view that presents Islam and Muslims as diametrically opposite to all other world views.}} Both Enstedt and Larrson have contended WikiIslam's selection and presentation of Islamic topics to be "very one-dimensional" with "alternative interpretations [by Muslim theologians] seldom represented".{{rp|64–65|quote=Quotes are taken from Islamic sources and sayings from Muslim spokespersons and therefore presented as authentic, but selection and presentation of the material remains very one-dimensional, and alternative interpretations are seldom represented.}}{{rp|162|quote=The focus, in other words, is on violence, sexuality and gender conflicts, leaving WikiIslam's potential visitors without easy access to material that might counterbalance its narrowly-focused view and/or convey the fact that Muslim theologians hold differing opinions about many of the site's topics.}}

In 2019, Asma Uddin, an advisor on religious liberty to the OSCE and a fellow at the Aspen Institute,{{Cite web|last=Affairs|first=Berkley Center for Religion, Peace and World|title=Asma Uddin|url=https://berkleycenter.georgetown.edu/people/asma-uddin|access-date=2021-12-26|website=berkleycenter.georgetown.edu|language=en}} reiterated WikiIslam to be a "rampantly anti-Muslim website". The same year, Syaza Shukri, Professor of Political Sciences at International Islamic University Malaysia, deemed the lack of positive content on WikiIslam to demonstrate a "definite agenda": the promotion of a monolithic version of Islam—violent, oppressive, and unrepresentative of "how a majority of Muslims view their religion".{{cite journal |last1=Shukri |first1=Syaza Farhana Mohamad |title=The Perception of Indonesian Youths toward Islamophobia: An Exploratory Study |journal=Islamophobia Studies Journal |date=2019 |volume=5 |issue=1 |pages=61–75 |doi=10.13169/islastudj.5.1.0061 |jstor=10.13169/islastudj.5.1.0061 |s2cid=213425625 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.13169/islastudj.5.1.0061 |issn=2325-8381 |quote=Larsson (2007) did a research on Islamophobia on the Internet, specifically the anti-Islam portal WikiIslam. Unlike Wikipedia, WikiIslam only produces content that are critical to Islam. While the owner does not consider the website to be a hate site, the fact that there is nothing positive about Islam on it proves that it has a definite agenda.... WikiIslam is of course promoting Islam as a monolithic religion that is violent and oppressive, and more importantly, does not represent how a majority of Muslims view their religion.}}{{rp|65}} Rabia Kamal, a cultural anthropologist based at University of San Francisco, finds WikiIslam to be of the many Islamophobic websites dedicated to "surveillance" of Islam and Muslims.{{cite journal |last1=Kamal |first1=Rabia |title=Muslims and Social Media in North America |journal=Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Religion |date=18 July 2022 |doi=10.1093/acrefore/9780199340378.013.899|isbn=978-0-19-934037-8 |quote=In fact, many Islamophobic websites have taken on the responsibility of nongovernmental surveillance as an element of their agenda. Internet hubs such as WikiIslam and websites such as Campus Watch, Jihad Watch, and thereligionofpeace.com are just a few of the digital platforms explicitly dedicated to the surveillance of Muslims and Islam both on- and offline.}}

In 2023, a content analysis of WikiIslam by Edin Kozaric of Oslo Metropolitan University and Torkel Brekke, Research Professor at the Peace Research Institute Oslo, was published following what the researchers described as "a serious effort to reinvent itself as a scientific, neutral, and unbiased website in several ways."{{rp|2}} Analysing how external websites had cited WikiIslam over many years, the researchers concluded that its articles had been "used to give legitimacy to arguments made on other websites, many of which contain Islamophobic messaging." Their analysis of the most widely disseminated WikiIslam articles found them "largely selective when it comes to topics covered, and to some extent selective in the choice of references." Some of the articles "could be said to espouse attitudes that are Islamophobic", though they noted "at the same time it is also important to underline that the articles often present alternative and conflicting opinions about the topics that are discussed." Kozaric and Brekke's overall impression of WikiIslam was that the information presented about Islam was "far from neutral"; their main concern was that "WikiIslam presents itself as an encyclopedic and scientific site without a political agenda and that it does not critically reflect upon how it can be used for serving other interests."{{rp|16}}

{{notelist}}

{{Reflist}}

• {{official website|https://wikiislam.net/wiki/Main_Page}}

Category:Counter-jihad

Category:Internet properties established in 2006

Category:Islamophobic publications

Category:Wiki communities

Category:MediaWiki websites