Islam and Muslims in Second Life

You may well be right, I've kind of forgotten exactly what prompted my to try to say whatever it was I was trying to say.

I don't think the OP is looking for spiritual guidance or even an authoritative opinion regarding the practice of her religion within SL - I gather her interest is in how others sharing her belief might deal with these matters in the virtual environment.


Frankly, I have never felt the slightest need to respect polite company for its own sake: we live in a messy world and it is always useful to discuss these matters in order to make sense of other people, their culture, their politics and their religion.

And to help them make sense of us.

Er, not true, although it's a criticism of Roman Catholicism I've heard often via the internet.

Catholics most certainly can pray directly to God and ask for His intervention; they always could. We simply believe in the power of saints to intercede on our behalf. Apples and oranges, really.

Kind of like calling on friends for help if you want an analogy.

I do tend to agree religion's a bit of a heavy topic for a help forum, but there I go dipping my toes in. I hate to see misinformation propagated, however unintentionally.

and yet it's not religion that's caused flames here, but people disagreeing over whether or not it's an allowed topic (it is by guidelines). (or silly things like personal definitions)


ahem... I'm sure we all know better than that pep.

It's early yet.

I think the fact that very few people are responding with the kind of information that the OP was looking for is a kind of answer in itself. Either very few Muslims are reading the forums or they just don't feel like discussing their virtual or rl spiritual life with a group that includes some who are merely idly curious.

curious? many are blatantly hostile. if i were a muslim i imagine i would keep a low profile, myself. western ignorance and intolerance is strong in regards to muslims and their lifestyle.

/me nods sadly.

The forums may not be the best place for information.

Al Andalus has a lot of Muslims who happen around and has activities aimed at Muslims in a multicultural context. Might be a good idea to go there - besides the fact its gorgeous.

(and I made the lions in the Lion Court - go see those too!)

Not guilty! I am even handed with justifiable comment. Ocasionally I may point out gender-linked characteristics, illumination of which may annoy, but how can you describe an elephant without referring to the size of its nose?

Pep (My wife doesn't count; she just happens to be female)

I am happy to see my post has triggered such a lively discussion.

I am not a Muslim, I didn't even know about Second Life until a few weeks ago, I'm just a regular college student with a 25-page Anthropology paper to write about Islam in Second Life. My questions aim at gathering different opinions on practical questions concerning Islamic rituals and their transposition into SL as well as personal experiences of what it is like to be a Muslim in SL. I was not looking to cause any trouble, and do not understand why religion as such should be such an inflammatory topic.

In no way did I liken Islamophobia to a disease nor did I mean to offend anyone on this forum. As written by someone in the thread, with this particular question I was searching for accounts of hostile behavior or verbal threats towards Muslim avatars or persons playing SL.

I would very much appreciate other comments to my questions or anything anyone might want to tell me about Islam in Second Life. Thank you for your help,

Marie

Pep (QED)

It is potentially so anywhere.

Haven't heard the adage "there are three things never to bring up at a dinner party"?

Good luck with your paper though, I guess. If you're unaware religion can be an inflammatory topic, I'm curious how in depth that thesis might be?

Most people do understand why, not that they necessarily like that life is like this.


Islamophobia on SL? No I have seen nothing like an irrational, nor rational, fear of it in the game itself, no attacks on Muslims. But in this string I have seen an insult of a people. A multiple attack, sadly with no apology, on someones Welshness. So I have seen phobia or what ever word you play around it, but not to Islam.


Also Marie, there's a substantial voice to keep religious strings off this forum.

Marie: you could always offer to continue the discussion in SL 'in person', or ask people to send you a note card with their replies. Just an idea.

I was very much hoping to read responses from English speaking Muslims here but it looks like that just isn't going to happen.

That said, I know there is a considerable number of Turkish residents in SL although just as many Turkish Muslims are no more religious than the average Christian or Jew in Europe or the US of A as those that are (the weddings, funerals and bar mitvah kind of attitude). Language might present an access problem to these Forums though - I'd certainly be reluctant to post in a second language if I thought some eejit was going to carp at my grammar and spelling for want of something better to do.

I recommend the OP tries posting in French or German - both countries have considerable Muslim populations. Germany has over 5 million Turkish Muslims.

Also, a search for "Islam" under "Groups" will return a number of associations specifically for Muslims in SL - it might be more productive to approach them directly. There is even one for the Sufi sect, which I'd like to explore myself sometime.

For my part, I'm astonished that any student can grow up and get to college standard in the Age of The Internet, be studying anthropology, and *still* not have some inkling "why religion as such should be such an inflammatory topic."

Earlier Ephraim said:

It might be a wonderful ideal - but this is not an ideal world and people anywhere of any or no religion aren't perfect. If it was, and if we were, religions wouldn't have been invented in the first place.

--
Aes

With all due respect, Aeslyn, Ephraim also said earlier that:



My temper was shortened considerably by the way many posters on this thread have insisted that the subject is inflammatory. I disagree entirely because it is only widespread ignorance and resultant prejudice that makes any weighty issue inflammatory.

How do we deal with that?

We discuss it.

As for prejudice, when the issue is raised we tend to expect segregation, discrimination and rednecks with burning torches or crosses on the lawn or madmen hijacking 'planes into buildings, for that matter. However, I would like to draw attention to the more insidious prejudice that is masked by the ostensibly 'polite' refusal to discuss certain issues in a forum like this.

It sticks in my craw that nobody bats so much as a metaphorical eyelid when other equally heavy issues of sexual and social mores are discussed in terms of "Adult Content" for instance. I'm fine with that myself but the responses on this thread regarding the potential of the subject of İslam for flaming are, perversely, an invitation to flaming in itself - and a disgrace, frankly, to anyone who appreciates open discussion.

If the subject is unpalatable, move on and leave others to address the matter if it interests them. Otherwise posting to merely whinge about it is simply contemptible.

I find your insult equally comtemptible - so like that we're quits.

Actually I find discussions about what people believe, and more importantly *why*, extremely interesting.

However I also know from years of experience that discussions involving religion don't generally happen in an open forum on the Internet without a great deal of acrimony. My remarks were addressing the OP's apparent, and in my opinion disingenuous, surprise at this fact - NOT attempting to censor you or anyone else that feels like another wrangle about it.

--
Aes

"disingenuous" please.

Pep (Should that be "censure" not "censor", do you think, Ephraim?)

Thanks. Getting your own back, eh?

--
Aes

Here to help.

Pep (will delete both posts now)

That's an interesting subtlety of the word that my Concise OED doesn't make explicit. Strangely, the Wikipedia entry does:

"Censure (pronounced /ˈsɛnʃər/) is a process by which a formal reprimand is issued to an individual by an authoritative body."

I live and learn.

It was my opinion, Aeslyn, not an insult. Looking back over this thread, 70% of it - including a few of my posts, I'm sorry to admit - could be deleted without detracting from the subject proposed by the OP. The excess amounts to an entirely irrelevant barney with the house troll here, and quite a few posters speculating about the flammable potential of the subject without having anything in particular to contribute to it. I made a fair comment and weighed my choice of words carefully: that is just so much whinging and it is contemptible.


In fact they do but it seems that won't happen here.

It's happening now. It's a religious string and there is stress.