Indonesian clerics want rules for Facebook
SURABAYA: Muslim clerics are seeking ways to regulate online behaviour in Indonesia, saying the exploding popularity of social networking sites like Facebook could encourage illicit sex.
Around 700 clerics, or imams, gathering in the world’s most populous Muslim nation on Thursday were considering guidelines forbidding their followers from going online to flirt or engage in practices they believe could encourage extramarital affairs.
Facebook says Indonesia, a nation of 235 million, was its fastest-growing country in South-East Asia in 2008, with a 645% increase to 831,000 users -- outpacing China and India. And with less than 0.5% of Indonesia’s citizens wired, there is a huge potential for growth.
"The clerics think it is necessary to set an edict on virtual networking, because this online relationship could lead to lust, which is forbidden in Islam," said Nabil Haroen, a spokesman for the Lirboyo Islamic boarding school that is hosting the event.
Though followers could still be members of the networking site, guidelines dealing with surfing the Web and Islamic values are urgently needed, he said.
Facebook officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Ninety per cent of Indonesians are Muslim, though most practise a moderate form of the faith.
An edict by the clerics would not have any legal weight. But it could be endorsed by the influential Ulema Council, which recently issued rulings against smoking and yoga. Most devout Muslims adhere to the council’s rulings because ignoring a fatwa, or religious decree, is considered a sin.
Facebook is the top ranked site in Indonesia, ahead of search engines Yahoo and Google, according Alexa.com, which tracks Internet traffic. Nearly 4% of all Facebook visitors are from Indonesia, making it the largest source of visitors after the United States, Britain, France and Italy. -- AP
Clerics?
A cleric (Ancient Greek κληρικός - klērikos), clergyman (pl. clergymen), or churchman (pl. churchmen) is a member of the clergy of a religion, especially one who is a priest, preacher, or other religious professional. It is often used to refer to the religious leadership in Islam, where the term "priest" is not accurate and where terms such as "Alim" are not widely understood in the English-speaking world. - (Wikipedia)
Oh ok.. Alim .. but that word means "scholar" or "educated" .. but the actions doesn't show any traces of educated .. more like a decision made by a group of Haraam Police who mainly try to find bad stuff, but hard to acknowledge good stuff.
Social networks increase illicit sex?, bullshit~. I would say bunch of uncontrolled horny people got in contact with each other, regardless medium, increase illicit sex. It can even happen in the mosque.
Bro. Baba Ali described these people best. Click here if you didnt see the youtube video below
No technologies are evil, its how the people utilize that make it appear bad. A sword does not kill, its the sword wielder who kills.
So, find a way to fix your people, not block something that your people (mis)use. It wont fix anything, those (mis)users will find other alternatives in no time. (mis)Users nowadays are more clever in finding workarounds than you think.
The church knows how to react to technology better. Something to learn from.
Fatwa as religious decree?. So far what I understand with it is, its only like laws passed in parliament. Yep its religious in one sense, but not something to be call as part of the Deen. Its a law made by Muslims based on teachings of Islam, but its not part of the real thing and humans make mistakes, a fatwa can't escape that nature. The Deen have been perfected by God during the final prophet's day. There's no need to add new stuff in it.
To non-Muslims who are reading this: Want to know more about the True Message of Islam?. Try reading and analyse the Quran and see if you can find agreement. You can grab a copy of a translation of the Quran here : http://www.2muslims.com/images/downloads/Quran.pdf. Or if you want a higher tech tool than that ancient PDF, grab Zekr : http://zekr.org. You might also want to watch the vids from The Deen Show.
God knows best. I'm not a scholar, neither I pretend to be one. So, I leave it to yourself to think and decide. Different people may have different judgement on this stuff. Some with better, more logical, reasons.
Peace be upon all of you.