Fun, creative,islamic style

“Kesmen then decided to print the slogan “I Love My Prophet” on a T-shirt. This first T-shirt is still the best selling item. Art and modern fashion, as a means to overcome religious and ethnic differences, is our brand’s mission,” explains Khojah.Before founding Styleislam, an online Islamic-themed clothing label, in Germany three years ago, Kesmen was the CEO of Manatwork, an advertising agency which he established in 1998. Kesmen wanted to challenge the stereotypes of Islam that were being circulated, so he designed hip street wear along with accessories adorned with Islamic messages. These slogans introduced people to the Muslim faith
“Our customers, who are wearing our clothes printed with our slogans, bring Islam onto the streets. The Islamic slogans trigger reactions and conversations, which is a form of dawah/public relations for Islam. Currently, Styleislam is planning an art exhibition revolving around contemporary street art in Europe,” says Khojah.An increasing number of women acknowledge that wearing a veil does not mean giving up fashion and style. Islamic dress is not about giving up elegance. Presently, Styleislam only has a small selection of Islamic fashion but one can only hope it will feature a larger variety in the near future.Amanda Rinaldi, a contributor to www.associatedcontent.com, acknowledges that she was “stunned and equally impressed” by the openness of the site, especially since she is neither from the Middle East nor Muslim. “In fact, I felt very welcomed and drawn into a fascinating culture with which I was not too familiar. Unlike the many online retail sites, Styleislam stands out, providing an eye-popping, grunge, vintage visual mixed with Middle Eastern artwork.”“We only select high-quality products. We like to offer multifunctional items such as Q-Bla Bag, a versatile bag made entirely of recycled material. Its decorative flap can be used as a prayer rug,” explains Khojah, who was previously an international goalkeeper for the Saudi Arabian national team.

Faceb00k and Twitter Islam?

I found pages titled “Tweeting during church services gets blessing of pastors” (an article in the Houston Chronicle two years ago) and “Does God Tweet?”, an online forum organized by the Washington Post two years ago, where 16 contributors presented their thoughts on whether a relationship with God can be established through Twitter. Can prayer be reduced to a 140-character statement? Can we no longer free our minds, quiet our inner selves, focus on our spiritual dimension, and establish a meaningful religious state of being?

Facebook poses another set of challenges and concerns for Muslims. First and foremost is the freedom of speech that either can be much greater than many Muslims are accustomed to (in their countries) or can be abused to the point of becoming hate speech. There have already been a number of instances where a page was set up to publicly and crudely “criticize” Islam, and last month an Egyptian was jailed for “insulting Islam” on Facebook.

In reaction to this, some Muslims have either waged Facebook-boycott campaigns or just went ahead and created Muslim social networks, e.g. Muslimsocial.com, Muxlim.com, or Naseeb.com.

Other concerns that many Muslims have with Facebook relate to the loss of “virtual modesty,” of “correct behavior” and of privacy. The concern over “modesty” refers to images that can be deemed indecent. “Correct behavior” decries the loss of inhibition that people exhibit online, often in stark contrast to their everyday personalities, and the hypocrisy of voicing views online that are quite different from one’s beliefs and practices in “real life”. And the issue of privacy online is well known.
Finally, there is the huge problem of time waste in social-networking activity. Two years ago, a study was conducted among evangelical Christian college students; these were found to spend an average of 18.6 hours a week on social media, half of that on Facebook. Interestingly, 54 percent of these religious students reported that “they were neglecting important areas in their life due to spending too much time [on that activity].” On the other hand, 43 percent of the students stated that this helped alleviate stress in their lives, and 35 percent reported that their social relationships were improved by that. The authors of the study warned against the negative impact that this time waste will have on the religious activities (prayer, Bible study, attending services, serving others, etc.) of the users of social media.
The most important effect that was highlighted is that the new media are allowing a larger exposure of ideas regarding Islam and giving people new freedoms to discover or express thoughts that have often been hidden from view. Muslims are becoming more aware of the diversity within their tradition and can now shape their opinions in a more informed way. This democratization of the Islamic opinions, however, has turned into a “fragmentation,” a plethora of views with no core or reference frame. Moreover, a “ghettoization of views” has occurred (as has been observed with other obscure views or groups): liked-minded people linking up and reinforcing each other’s views.
However, one must be careful not to give these new tools more credit or power than they actually have. After all, only a small fraction (10 to 15 percent) of Muslims worldwide has access to the internet, according to the 2011 Global Information Technology Report. Moreover, the internet and the new media, require a certain level of education and sophistication. Thus, the impact that the new media are having on Muslims’ views and understanding of their religion is — for now — largely confined to the well-educated segments of society.