Islam in World Cultures: Comparative Perspectives - Islamic Books ...

3 1 6Islam i n World Cult u r e sal-Azhar University’s Arabic home page, http://www. a l a z h a r.org, has a mirrorsite in English. A selection of sermons from Mecca and Medina is available ath t t p : / / w w w. a l m i n b a r.com/default.asp. This site designates itself primarily as aresource for Muslim preachers and prayer leaders, but browsing through itssermons can be instructive on the kinds of topics and the tone of their discussionsthat are popular among some circles of contemporary Muslims.Other Muslim organizations of more explicitly political orientations, suchas the Islamic Salvation Front of Algeria (http://www.ccfis.org), also have significantWeb presences. Web sites for such Islamist radical organizations asHizbullah (Lebanon) and Hamas (Palestine), not to mention legitimate newsorganizations such as the English-language site of al-Jazeera, the satellite newsnetwork based in Qatar, are sophisticated, eye-catching, and more elaboratethan those for most mainline Muslim institutions or movements. But they areregularly hacked, blocked, and otherwise disrupted by governments, individualhackers, and others, so links to them often do not work. In addition,changes in U.S. laws, law enforcement, and popular mood since 2001 meanthat access or reference to these sites can sometimes be perceived as sinister orsupportive of their aims and methods.Alongside these more conservative materials, there are plenty of resourcesonline for the study of Islamic modernism and liberalism. A great gateway forthese materials can be found at http://www. u n c . e d u / ~ k u r z m a n / L i b e r a l I s l a mLinks.htm. There is also a site dedicated to Muslims who are lesbian, gay, bisexual,transgender, or intersex at http://www.al-fatiha.net. Modern Muslimmystical groups are also represented in cyberspace at sites such as that dedicatedto Turkish teacher Sayyid Nursi, at http://www. b e d i u z z a m a n . o r g / .3. Shi’ite Islam in Contemporary Iran:From Islamic Revolution to Moderating ReformPrimary Sources Available in EnglishKhomeini, Ayatollah Ruhollah. Islamic Govern m e n t [Hokumat-e Islami]. Tr a n s-lated by Hamid Algar. http://khomeini.hypermart.net/hukumat/right.html.This is an English translation of Khomeini’s Persian text, which argued forthe establishment of a modern government guided by clerics. He applies thepremodern Shi’ite idea of the guardianship of the jurist (velayat-e faqih) t osolving contemporary problems of authority and power.N a s r, S. H., H. Dabashi, and S. V. R. Nasr, eds. 1989. Expectation of the Millennium:Shi’ism in History. Albany: State University of New York Press.