Islam in Second Life

Second Life to help real schools

2009-01-14T08:58:00.000-08:00

Second Life to help real schools

The internet phenomenon Second Life is being used by some organisations as an educational tool.

Mark Mullis of Middlesbrough City Learning Centre is harnessing the virtual social networking site for a local school.

Rory Cellan-Jones spoke to him at the BETT show in London, the world's largest educational technology exhibition.

Virtual world for Muslims debuts

2008-12-09T09:54:00.000-08:00

Virtual world for Muslims debuts

Muxlim's online world reaches from prayer mat to shopping centre

A trial version of the first virtual world aimed at the Muslim community has been launched.
Called Muxlim Pal, it allows Muslims to look after a cartoon avatar that inhabits the virtual world.
Based loosely on other virtual worlds such as The Sims, Muxlim Pal lets members customise the look of their avatar and its private room.
Aimed at Muslims in Western nations, Muxlim Pal's creators hope it will also foster understanding among non-Muslims.
"We are not a religious site, we are a site that is focused on the lifestyle," said Mohamed El-Fatatry, founder of Muxlim.com - the parent site of Muxlim Pal.
"This is for anyone who is remotely interested in the Muslim culture and the Muslim lifestyle," he said.
"From what we have seen from our market research is that most Muslims have a lifestyle that is not so different from everybody else," he said. "They all share the core values which are from Islam then beyond that they actually have made identities, they have many interests."
Mr El-Fatatry said Muxlim.com had 26 different categories of content, only one of which was religion. He said he hoped it would help Muslims meet and talk to others that shared their interests.

This is nowhere near the vision of where it will be someday
Mohamed El-Fatatry, Muxlim.com
Those joining the site will get to control the life of a cartoonish avatar or pal that they can then use as a proxy to explore the Muxlim Pal virtual world - which has a beach bar, arena and shopping areas.
Character development
The pal or avatar that members control has several "meters" governing its happiness, fitness, knowledge and spirituality that change when the character carries out tasks in the social world.
"How it differs from The Sims is that it is social," said Mr El-Fatatry. "So you can actually be with other people at the same time, interact, and see what their characters are doing."
The browser-based virtual world can be used for free but alongside will go some premium services that will help users do more with their avatar and personal room.
Those joining Muxlim Pal get a few virtual coins to spend in the online world's shops - to clothe their avatar or decorate their room. Real cash can be used to buy more virtual coins. So far no exchange rates have been given for swapping real for virtual coins.

The site hopes to foster understanding among Muslims and non-Muslims alike
Mr El-Fatatry said the impetus to create Muxlim Pal grew out of observing what Muxlim.com's 1.5m monthly users spent most time on.
He said: "We were seeing that our users were enjoying certain character developing elements of Muxlim.com, and as no other virtual world offers a family-friendly environment for our community, we felt there was a need to cater for the people who were being left out."
Mr El-Fatatry said because the trial version was only six months old it was likely to change significantly before the public launch in 2009. Muxlim was investigating whether members want to be able to create their own content, such as chairs or clothes, and be able to share those with other users.
"This is nowhere near the vision of where it will be someday," he said. "It is very important to put things out and listen to how people interact with it. What feedback they give us and then that will play a big role in which direction we take the product in."

What will happen if this HAPPENS in an Islamic Context_

2008-11-14T22:30:00.000-08:00

How do avatars have sex?

WHO, WHAT, WHY?
The Magazine answers...

Characters interact socially

A couple have divorced after the wife saw the husband having online sex in the virtual world of Second Life. So how do avatars have sex?

Wife walks in and finds husband in an compromising position on the sofa with another woman. Wife feels betrayed. Wife files for divorce. Marriage ends.

It's a familiar scenario in soap operas, but for one married couple it was all too real. Sort of.

Amy Taylor and David Pollard met in an online chatroom in 2003, got married and shared their interest in Second Life, a virtual world in which users create avatars to interact with each other.

But the marriage ended after Ms Taylor's online character saw her husband's avatar having sex on a sofa with a female prostitute.

THE ANSWER

First characters need to buy genitals

Male characters can get aroused and have intercourse with female ones, but graphic depictions are very rudimentary

Intercourse is usually represented by an animated sequence

So how do computerised characters have sex?

"First you need to buy genitals," says technology journalist Adrian Mars, explaining the process in Second Life. "You start off with no genitals and then you buy some. These objects can do all sorts of things. You can have ones that ejaculate at the right moment.

"But there's not much in the way of exciting mechanics. What you see on the screen is what you get and the best you can hope for is a bit of sexual humour, although some people do have intense relationships.

"Obviously the sex is not the same as in real life, but you're still expressing yourself in a way that would, maybe reasonably, upset a partner."

Participants can verbally communicate by voice or by typing speech that appears in a bubble above their character.

And although they can use the mouse and keyboard to move their character and pick things up, he says, the on-screen graphic depiction is very rudimentary. Undressing another character without their consent is not possible.

"You can touch and jiggle about a bit and you can emote and gesture in a way the other person would see. And you can have intercourse."

WHO, WHAT, WHY?

A regular feature in the BBC News Magazine - aiming to answer some of the questions behind the headlines

Users can make their avatars sit, lie or stand for sex, says Kieron Gillen of gamerzines.com, but the intercourse is usually an animated sequence triggered by a click of the mouse on an interactive "node", although it depends how they are programmed.

"People customize their avatars with animations and enormous e-phalluses which you can buy. It's a player-generated economy and people exchange things they have created - someone builds it, someone buys it and someone puts it into action."

For people participating in this, he adds, the sexual chat is more important than the avatar having sex, which acts more like a prop to get their imagination going.

And you can forget any notion of sensual touch. As crude, pixelated representations of humans, avatars can't flex individual muscles, says Gabby Kent, a lecturer in computer games at the University of Teeside.

In Second Life, all the characters are real people somewhere in the world and that's why there's always such betrayal felt

Gabby Kent

It would just resemble two clunky-looking characters rubbing their bodies against each other.

These kinds of online worlds are navigated fairly intuitively, she says, so just by clicking on a door could make your avatar walk through it, without the need to move your hand to find the handle.

In a similar way, some games could just have a special sequence cutting in to represent sexual intercourse. But even those offering the characters more control are unlikely to look very real. Yet that doesn't mean it's harmless fun.

"In Second Life, all the characters are real people somewhere in the world and that's why there's always such betrayal felt," says Ms Kent.

Antlers

One blogger writing about his experience in Second Life describes the range of male genitalia on offer to buy, including skin colour control, sound, animations, ejaculation, urine and some that are touchable by other players to lead to arousal.

He visited virtual sex shops and sex clubs where he saw people having sex in a number of different ways.

It is only to be expected in a world where players pick every detail of how their avatars will look, says Mr Mars.

"You can design any object. You can buy your own antlers, for instance. Sex has become a big thing [in Second Life] but I suspect it's full of teenagers, so that's no shock."

Some Second Lifers have been known to misbehave - a US journalist was attacked by flying penises when conducting an interview in his virtual office.

And infidelity is not the only thorny ethical issue thrown up by virtual sexual - some players have had sex with animals.

The importance of being there

2008-07-16T03:33:00.001-07:00

The importance of being there

The virtual world still needs a lot of work if it is to replace the real world says regular columnist Bill Thompson.

Sometimes there is no substitute for meeting in the real world

On Monday I went to see author and thinker Clay Shirky talk at a lunchtime seminar hosted by the Demos think tank.

I travelled in to London earlier than I needed to on a crowded train, sitting on a slow bus across town and then squeezing into a bright but too warm room to sit on a hard seat in order to listen to something which was being recorded and will later be available as a podcast.

Clay was charming and intelligent and funny, and I got to hear him thinking out loud about the impact of social tools on international politics, which was fun, but I could have done all that by listening in online, or even by watching the stream of brief reports appearing on Twitter, the communications service that is currently taking the net by storm.

Instead I sat there offering my own online commentary on what he was saying while looking up references on the web as he talked.

Net benefits

What drove me there was the same inner need that got me to the OpenTech conference last weekend, despite the fact it meant a trip to London on a Saturday.

Two weeks ago it took me to York for Shift Happens, an event for those working in the arts to explore new technology, and before that it had dragged me to 2gether08, the strangely-named but fabulously productive convention that arch-networker Steve Moore created by inviting a lot of interesting people to come up with some cool things to talk about.

I am sure that it will take me around the country and indeed the world in years to come, because there is something special about being in the same space as someone else.

We should not assume that any of today's models will persist or the big sites will be around in a few years time

Bill Thompson

However good the video link, however clear the audio, and however anatomically accurate the avatar, sharing the same space and breathing the same air makes a difference to the quality of interaction, especially when you're trying to do something creative rather than being a passive member of an audience.

This doesn't mean we shouldn't try to improve the various online alternatives to being there, just that we should not expect them to be an adequate substitute in all circumstances.

Online may not be the same as being there, but it does of course have its own special advantages.

Online I can participate in distributed events, meet with people who could never all be present in the same space at the same time, and use the tools to mix synchronous and asynchronous communications to allow a distributed form of participation.

I can even be in two places at the same time. A video feed of every session at 2gether08 was streamed live on the internet, so I managed to sit in a room paying a bit of attention to the discussion about freeing up public data with a headphone in one ear so that I could keep up with the discussion happening downstairs.

And I get to keep a record of my participation. The chat I had with Clay after his talk has vanished, but every word I said to the team from Chinadialogue in our Skype chat last week is carefully preserved, including the moment when the clock chimed and I thought it was interference on the line.

'Virtual presence'

Although they won't replace physical meetings, more and more of us are using online tools and services to keep up to date with our friends, share information about what we're up to or interested in and even to take part in events which we're not physically present at.

But travel takes time, costs money and can have an environmental impact that outweighs the benefits of actually "being there", so we want to make sure that the alternatives are as good as they can be.

And we can't assume that there is a single model for success, or that something that works in one context will be effective or even acceptable everywhere.

Clay Shirky was in London to talk about the ideas from his recently published book Here Comes Everybody, and in it he outlines what he sees as the social and technological factors that determine the success of a social tool, whether a service like email, a site like Facebook or a video-conferencing tool offering "virtual presence" at meetings.

For Shirky every successful social tool brings together a promise, a tool and a bargain - or rather, a plausible promise, an effective tool and an acceptable bargain with users.

The promise is the premise for a group's formation, the reason why people might sign up, join in or take part; the tool makes the necessary interaction possible; and the bargain is the deal between the provider and the user about what will ensue.

If you want to launch a new service then you need to find a way to bring the group of interested people into existence by promising them something, you need to find a tool that will do the job, and you need to keep your side of the bargain once the community is in existence - however ephemeral it may be.

Tools work in different ways, and they also build different levels of engagement between their users, from contribution (which Shirky calls "sharing") through cooperation to collaborative production, and ending with collective action. Wikipedia is a good example of cooperative creation; Linux of collective action.

We are still at a very early stage in our use of online tools for interaction and community-building, so we should not assume that any of today's models will persist or the big sites will be around in a few years time.

What is clear, however, is that the boundaries between the online and offline worlds are blurring as we put our hands through the looking-glass of the screen to shake hands with those on the other side, occasionally pulling them back through into what we still like to call "real life".

revolution will be televised from Second Life

2008-05-21T05:57:00.000-07:00

By Kara Andrade, August 2, 2007

Event Transcript

Don Lattin's Opening Remarks

Hello, and welcome to our little experiment here in Second Life. In Real Life, my name is Don Lattin, and I am a writer. Unlike most people in Second Life. I have the same name and same job in the Real World and in Second Life - DonLattin Writer. Maybe I suffer from a virtual lack of imagination. I do have fantasies, but I don't care to share them with you all at the moment. Before we get rolling, let me apologize in advance for any Second Life faux-pas I make during my presentation. I'm a stranger in this strange land, having only heard about the place a couple months ago, and having only logged in a a few hours of flying time so far.

We've been hanging out on the island for nearly a week now showcasing the work of a team of journalists from the Graduate School of Journalism at the University of California, Berkeley exploring "God, Sex and Family." We chose that title for two reasons. We wanted to get your attention, and we think that's where choices about marriage, dating, the building of community, family and faith play out in private life. To see our work as it unfolds over the next few weeks, go to www.newsinitiative.org/ucb .

"God, Sex, Family" projects are being streamed (video, audio, content) into different tents created to look and feel like a church revival. The tents, such as "My Brother, The Christian," the "Moral Compass" and our "Data Road Trip" will highlight stories and interactive info-graphics reported on and created by the fellows in our News21 project.

News 21 is a national initiative led by five leading universities (UC Berkeley, USC, Columbia, Northwestern and Harvard) and funded by the Carnegie-Knight Initiative on the Future of Journalism Education. My colleague at the Berkeley School of Journalism, Bob Calo, and myself have been leading the Berkeley effort. "Leading" may not be the right word. Bob and I have been hanging out of a group of 12 (tk) recent graduates - all of them very smart and tech-savvy -- learning how to operate in this strange new world of viritual journalism.

We're gathered here on Nowhere Island for a panel discussion on religion on the Internet, and more specifically, religion in Second Life. We'll be looking at how people experience spirituality in Second Life - things like prayer, evangelism/proselytizing and congregational life is different in Second Life and Real Life. Or is it? Does the anonymity of Second Life foster or impede the spiritual connection between people of faith and between people and God? Do some religions work better than others in Second Life and the Internet? Does the "anything goes" philosophy of Second Life get in the way of authoritative religious teachings? Can groups with a history on animosity - like Muslims and Jews - find common ground in Second Life?

Our plan today is to give each of them two-three minutes to talk about their ministries (different word?) here in Second Life, then I'll ask some questions to get the discussion going. There will be a question and answer period at the end of the event. Please make sure to hold your questions until then and please send those questions to KaraAndrade Writer, the UC Berkeley fellow who's masterminded this whole thing.

And then it's party time -- which may be the real religion of Second Life.

If everything is working right today, and don't blame me if it isn't, this event is being broadcast live from SL (Second Life) to RL (Real Life) via the Second Life Cable Network http://slcn.tv/ so people don't have to login to Second Life to listen in and participate.

We have a distinguished panel of speakers with us here today.

Muhammedyussif Wikinger

Lives in Sweden, 63 years old, embraced Islam 20 years ago and is now board member of the Chebi mosque support group in SL. He works as psychiatrist in real life.

Franko Corleone/Frank Scott

Frank, 48, is a respected technology futurist in Australia. He has been a Hare Krishna devotee for many years and follows Bhaktivedanta Narayana Maharaja as his spiritual master. In January 2007 he created a virtual temple, now the "Hare Krishna community welcome area".

Otenth Paderborn/ Kenneth Sutton

Managing editor of UU World and uuworld.org. Also founded the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) group in SL in January 2007, and the resulting First Friends Church of
Second Life, which has been meeting weekly for worship since February.

Beth Odets/Beth Brown

Founded the Second Life Synagogue (SLS) or the Temple Beth Israel in September 2006.
She is part of the Live Music scene in SL, and tends to spontaneously have live Violin shows, mixing requests with traditional Jewish folk music, a little classical here and there, and tons of Broadway show tunes.

Tom Bukowski / Tom Boellstorff.

Tom Boellstorff is Associate Professor in the Department of Anthropology at the University of California, Irvine. He is also currently Editor-in-Chief of American Anthropologist, the flagship journal of the American Anthropological Association.

Al-Jazeera Visits Second Life

2008-05-21T05:17:00.000-07:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eNNqd2AxxyM&feature=related

2008-05-21T04:56:00.000-07:00

Catching Terrorists in Second Life?

2008-05-21T04:36:00.001-07:00

Catching Terrorists in Second Life?

By Mohammed Yahia

Editor - IslamOnline.net

The virtual world of Second Life (SL) is remarkably different from the real world in many ways. Not only can you fly or teleport between islands, but also can change the appearance of your avatar at will. When you enter the virtual world, you may leave your real identity at the door. You can be anyone or anything you want to be inside.

This is the main thing that attracted me to the virtual world a few months ago. I became a new person much fitter than my real-life self! And that is what every one else is doing. They are living their dreams, doing the things that they cannot do in real life.

Following the SL logo of "Your World, Your Imagination," people have come up with all kind of strange things in-world. You have griffins and dragons for transportation as well as UFOs. But you also have weapons turning up that can do serious damage to avatars and buildings in the virtual 3D world.

Weapons are not new in SL, nor are they new in virtual worlds in general, such as World of Warcraft. There are dozens of duals taking place on SL and, as one duelist there once told me, "you have to come prepared." Her text blinked up on my screen as she packed her semi-automatic rifle and AK-47 and pulled out a huge RPG!

Lately, however, police and intelligence services have been eyeing SL, claiming it has been "infiltrated" by terrorists. They did not explain how they arrived to this sinister conclusion, given that nearly every one in SL is adopting a different identity than in real life. This poses a very serious question: Are they watching and collecting data on people who visit SL? And if that is the case, then are they monitoring all 8.5 million residents (the name given to users inside SL) or are they screening for people who could be "terrorists"?

On May 22, 2007, there was an attack on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's (ABC) offices inside SL. It was the first virtual terrorism attack in-world. A group of people dropped a virtual nuclear bomb on ABC's island (virtual place inside SL), leveling it all except for a single communication tower. A group calling themselves the Second Life Liberation Army claimed responsibility for the attack. Until recently, those people were only regarded as "geeky teenagers" with too much time on their hands.

But a report on the Sunday Times published on August 5, 2007, said that some experts blame this attack on real-life Islamist radicals. Now, all of a sudden, the attack that took place months ago has become important again. It is not being blamed on geeks anymore, it is now the international media's favorite topic: Islamists and terrorism.

No one has explained how that deduction came about. There are hundreds — if not thousands — of residents in-world who carry weapons on them. My dueling friend was telling me she spends around US$3000 on weapons every couple of months. She is not alone either; according to her, that is the average that duelers pay. They travel to special islands where they fight. They sometimes even used to gamble on who is going to win; that is, of course, before gambling was banned in SL.

In real life, my dueling friend is a 19-year-old girl who probably has never even seen a real gun. Inside SL, she is a killer who boasts on how many residents she has blasted! And herein lies the problem. How can you label someone a terrorist inside a virtual world? And how can you extend that label to real life when people are creating completely different alter identities in SL compared to their real world?

This raises the issue of monitoring and screening. Most Muslims are already subjected to ethnical screening in almost all airports around the world, even if they do not have the stereotyped long beard. Has this screening extended to SL?

Rohan Gunaratna, a terrorism expert at the International Centre for Political Violence and Terrorism Research (ICPVTR) in Singapore, said thathe had been monitoring "12 jihadists" inside SL for the past three months. The question that begs to be asked is: How did Gunaratna figure that these avatars belong to the terrorists in the first place?

Terrorism Training In-World

If screening is conducted inside SL, then on what basis is it taking place? There are no clear ethnical variations inside SL, since you can choose to completely change your avatar's looks in a few minutes.

Terrorism experts are worried that "radical figures" may be pursuing terrorism training within the confines of SL. Experts expect that after the dismantling of training camps in Afghanistan, terrorists have gone online to train in virtual worlds. Some experts even think that the attack on ABC was a training or simulation for something the terrorists are preparing in real life.

But there is a serious flaw to this point. Training on terrorism in SL does not substitute real-life training. Blowing things up inside SL consists mainly of choosing the "bomb" from a resident's infinite backpack, right-clicking on the target, then choosing an option from a circular menu that pops up. That is all there is to it. It makes sense when experts say many terrorists travel to Iraq to get practice on the field, but how does blowing things up in SL give them any training?

In this context, it makes more sense that these virtual terrorism attacks are executed by "geeky teenagers" vying to prove who has created better virtual weaponry. After all, virtual worlds are full of such competitions.

Besides, if SL was being as closely monitored as evident from what many experts said, then it would make sense that this is not where terrorists would be. With the amount of funding and technological know-how they are claimed to have,it would make sense they'd have their own networks. Setting up a virtual world is not that complicated anymore, there are already dozens online.

For many Muslims who are irritated by the constant screening wherever they go, it will be very annoying to know they are even being monitored in the virtual worlds they escape to.

Kevin Zuccato, head of the Australian government's High Tech Crime Centre, called for closer surveillance in virtual worlds. "We need to start thinking about living, working and protecting two worlds and two realities," he told a security industry conference in Sydney, Australia.

In this case, this would spell the end of the anonymity that people in SL enjoy right now. The question will remain how do you label a terrorist in-world? If they start screening people, will they capture and charge my duelist friend who has killed dozens of "people" while playing in SL? Or will they charge the bombers of the ABC island in-world? Chances are that these are just little children who are playing too much videogames.

Where should the red line be drawn between the real world and a virtual one?

Al-Jazeera Visits Second Life

2008-05-21T04:34:00.001-07:00

Opens Ramadan Tent in Second Life

2008-05-21T04:34:00.000-07:00

Opens Ramadan Tent in Second Life

By Mohammed Yahia

The tent will serve as an informative center on all aspects of Ramadan and allow residents to meet scholars and watch the Tarawih prayers.

CAIRO — IslamOnline.net is marking the start of the holy fasting month of Ramadan by launching the first Ramadan tent ever made inside the virtual world Second Life.

Designed with a distinctive Arabian theme, the tent will serve as an informative center on all aspects of Ramadan and will cater to both Muslim and non-Muslim audiences.

It will offer daily special events to the residents of Second Life which includes hosting prominent scholars, lecturers, artists and singers.

"The aim is to make the tent fun. Visitors will always find something different to do whenever they visit," says Breathe Swindlehurst, IOL's correspondent in Second Life.

Bands and singers from around the world will be hosted to give a cultural taste.

The tent, the first inside the virtual world, will be officially opened to visitors at 12:00 GMT on Thursday, September 13.

But it has already started its first activity on Tuesday, September 11, keeping SL residents updated with moon sighting across the "real" world.

A huge, regularly updated screen was installed outside the tent showing the start of Ramadan in different countries.

The location of the tent was chosen to be next to Chebi Mosque, the most popular mosque inside SL.

The idea became a joint project between IOL and the Islamic Group, a group of people managing the mosque.

Second Life is a virtual world that was created in 2003 by Linden Labs. It has grown exponentially in 2007 and has over nine million subscribed users today.

To reach the island, a visitor needs to create an account at www.secondlife.com and download a 70MB program.

The Chebi Mosque can be reached by visiting http://slurl.com/secondlife/Chebi/158/198/87/?title=Chebi%20Mosque.< /SPAN>

Presenting Islam

The tent is keeping Second Life residents updated with the sighting of Ramadan moon across the "real" world.

The Ramadan tent was designed by a Bahraini 23-year-old girl called Toti Lowey.

"I'm very happy to have helped build the Ramadan tent in this world," she says.

"It will help to introduce people to Islam in general and to Ramadan in particular inside the world of Second Life."

Drown Pharaoh from the UK, Khawla Masala from Bahrain and Laracroft Bade from Qatar joined in preparing the structure.

"I joined this project because I believe it is my job to present Islam to others, in any possible way, as long as I do have the ability," says Khawla.

Laracroft volunteers her time in the tent because it will be a good chance to "make Muslims in Second Life meet."

Tenet visitors will find a big screen showing video clips and information about Ramadan.

They can also visit the tent to watch the Tarawih prayers live from the holy city of Makkah.

IOL will also hold daily events where Second Life residents can come to meet muftis and scholars and ask questions.

The Ramadan tent is IOL's first step into Second Life.

In the coming months IOL plans to buy its own island in the virtual world, where it will extend the services of its bilingual portal to Second Life residents.

Virtual Hajj in Second Life

2008-05-21T04:31:00.000-07:00

IOL Virtual Hajj in Second Life

By Mohammad Yahia, IOL Staff

The program is a powerful educational tool for people embarking on the soul-searching journey, in the real world, or anyone else who wants to learn about it.

CAIRO — Have you ever dreamed of being able to be part of the full hajj experience without leaving your home? Today, that is possible with the launch of IslamOnline.net's educational hajj program on the virtual world of Second Life.

"I think this would be an unparalleled experience for anyone who is going to go to hajj and is unsure of what should and should not be done," says Breathe Swindlehurst, IOL's coordinator in Second Life.

As part of its mission statement to better educate Muslims worldwide about their faith, IOL will launch the hajj educational program on December 9, on its own island inside Second Life.

The program is a powerful educational tool for people embarking on the soul-searching journey, in the real world, or anyone else who wants to learn about it.

-Check Course Timetable

- Learn how to register in Second Life

- Click to visit IOL's island

Rather than reading through a course or watching a video, people can actually go through all the steps of hajj with all the details of the journey from beginning to end.

"We have setup points throughout the island that can direct any visitors through the whole experience," said Swindlehurst.

"In addition to that, we plan to have special, preannounced sessions where visitors can go through the hajj under guidance of counselors from the IOL Shari`ah department who will teach the group everything they need to know about hajj."

One of the five pillars of Islam, hajj consists of several ceremonies, which are meant to symbolize the essential concepts of the Islamic faith and to commemorate the trials of Prophet Abraham and his family.

Every able-bodied adult Muslim — who can financially afford the trip — must perform hajj, which starts later this month, at least once in their lifetime.

Second Life, created in 2003, is entirely built and owned by its booming population of over 11 million registered users.

In the animated world, real people use their avatars to "live" alternate identities in a virtual community, complete with homes, cars, shopping malls and a virtual currency, known as Linden Dollars.

Interactive

Virtual pilgrims will go all the way through Al-Masjid Al-Haram in the holy city of Makkah to Mena and Mount `Arafah

The project designers say the degree of interactivity in the 3D virtual world would allow participants the ultimate step by step guide to hajj.

"The Second Life hajj project is exceptional as it breaks all the traditional limits of training," says Khawla Masala, one of the designers.

"It allows the trainees to actually interact and be part of the program besides giving them all the textual material they may need."

The program is designed to be as accurate to real life as possible.

At the start of the virtual course, trainees will be able to take a free bag containing all the virtual tools they need in their pilgrimage.

It features ihram garb (special clothes worn by people during hajj), a tent and a sleeping bag.

This is all designed to give the visitor a feeling of the real hajj experience.

Virtual pilgrims will go all the way through Al-Masjid Al-Haram in the holy city of Makkah to Mena and Mount `Arafah.

Through their avatars, trainees will also be able to gather pebbles for the symbolic stoning of the devil at the Jamrat Bridge.

Walid Weston, who worked on parts of the program, is fascinated by the idea.

"Walking through the Al-Masjid Al-Haram for the first time was a fantastic experience!

"It is very awe-inspiring and I believe it is the closest you can get to the real thing."

More to Come

The virtual hajj program is only the latest of IOL's projects in the computer-generated world.

The first was the Ramadan tent during the holy fasting month.

The tent was a great hit and gained instant popularity with nearly 100 visitors daily.

It received wide media coverage, in Second Life as well as in the real world, in many different languages.

IOL was the first Islamic media organization to host a full island inside Second Life.

The organization is currently planning a center for lectures and fatwa sessions in the virtual world.

Using text and audio, the center will be the first stop for all new visitors to the island. It will offer many of the website's services to SL residents.

IOL will also unveil new projects in Second Life that make use of the 3D tools of the world on a regular basis.

Islam in Second Life *

2008-05-21T04:26:00.000-07:00

Islam in Second Life *

By Ahmed Fathy

IslamOnline.net Staff

The virtual Chebi mosque attracts 1,500 visitors every month.

Facing Islamophobic campaigns in the real world, Muslims are turning to the virtual world of Second Life to elucidate the teachings of Islam and clear stereotypes in the computer-generated world.

"We meet hundreds of avatars every month to explain the pillars and teachings of Islam," Second Life resident Mohammad Yusuf told IslamOnline.net's correspondent in the virtual world.

Yusuf, 39, a Sweden-based Saudi psychiatrist, said the know-Islam campaign he launched along with other Second Life Muslims has attracted non-Muslims.

"Hundreds of curious avatars of different nationalities want to know more about Islam, far from the negative image of Islam and Muslims drawn by the western media" he said.

Yusuf said three Christian visitors have reverted to Islam.

Second Life is a virtual world entirely built and owned by its booming population, currently estimated at nearly nine million.

In the animated world, real people use proxies, called avatars, to "live" alternate identities in a virtual community, complete with homes, cars and shopping malls.

The cyber world has its own economy and virtual currency, known as Linden Dollars, in honor of Second Life's creator Linden Lab.

Virtual Mosque

Yusuf has further joined the board of the virtual Mosque of Chebi, where he preaches Islam and teach visitors mosque etiquette.

Inside the mosque, there are interactive copies of the Qur'an and the English translation of its meanings.

He teaches them how to perform ablution, pray, listen to recitation of the Qur'an. Women are offered to put on hijab available in a large clay-colored pot by the mosque's main doors.

"We are now seeking to hold the weekly Friday prayers at the mosque as well as conducting humanitarian activities," said Yusuf.

Designed as a virtual version of the Mezquita (Mosque) de Cordoba in Spain, the Mosque of Chebi is the most famous Islamic worship place in Second Life.

Decorated with Islamic architecture, the mosque has a minaret and a prayer niche indicating to qiblah (direction of the Ka`bah). It receives about 1,500 avatars monthly.

Inside the mosque, there are interactive copies of the Qur'an and the English translation of its meanings.

Our conversation was interrupted by a girl whose name is Andromeda Felepine greeting us with "As-Salamu `alaykum." Although she is a Christian, Felepine was keen to wear Hijab before she entered the mosque.

"I'm eager to visit the mosque every day," said Andromeda Felepine. "I feel relieved whenever I come here and don hijab. It really makes my happy to know more about Islam."

Andromeda believes that Islam can explain itself better in Second Life than in the real world, "Muslims here are quite moderate," she said.

Nearby, there is an Islamic center being constructed.

"We're building this center to promote Islam, especially the Sufi school," said Drawn Fero, British, who is supervising the construction of the Tasneem center.

Second Life residents say that the real world is increasingly materializing in their alternative universe.

Spotting a lucrative market, real corporations, including Dell, MTV and Reuters, are flocking to set up virtual offices in Second Life.

Nations are even opening embassies, with Sweden the first to have an official presence in the virtual world.

Al-Andalus Caliphate Government Sim Opens in Second Life; Judiciary to Be Based on Islamic Law

2008-05-21T04:14:00.000-07:00

Al-Andalus Caliphate Government Sim Opens in Second Life; Judiciary to Be Based on Islamic Law

September 13th, 2007 by Benjamin Duranske

Al-Andalus Caliphate, a private government sim based on what its creator says are “authentic Islamic principles,” has opened in Second Life. Here is a SLURL to the build. Al-Andalus plans to eventually incorporate a functioning judiciary, based on Islamic law.

Al-Andalus joins Caledon, the Confederation of Democratic Simulators, and others, as quasi-governmental systems in Second Life. It is a creation of ‘Michel Manen,’ who has been involved in other government and judicial projects in the virtual world.

From the Al-Andalus Caliphate announcement:

The Al-Andalus Caliphate Project reconstructs 13th Century Moor Alhambra and builds around this virtual space a community of individuals willing to explore the modalities of interaction between different languages, nationalities, religions and cultures within a political and juridical space shaped by authentic Islamic principles.

Developer ‘Manen’ said that over 200 avatars visited during the opening ceremonies, including ‘Robin Linden’ (Robin Harper, Linden Lab’s VP of Marketing and Community Development). The event featured music, tours, and a presentation by Second Life commentator ‘Gwyneth Llewelyn’ on Portugal’s e-Justice alternative dispute resolution facility that recently opened in-world.

The term “Caliphate” refers to a unified Islamic government, and as such, the build will likely be controversial. ‘Manen’ says that the term “corresponds to an authentic Islamic politico-legal system representing an alternative world view.” He says that “without understanding the fundamentals of Islamic law and politics we will never be able to fully come to terms with the diversity and richness of today’s Islamic societies, whose roots reach back 1000 years.”

According to ‘Manen,’ Al-Andalus will have a judiciary, and it will be based on Islamic law, specifically “leading edge research of how authentic Islamic legal principles can be applied in a 21st century context, and be compatible with universal ideals of dignity, equality, democracy, participation and human rights.”

‘Manen’ says, “many such strands exist in an extremely rich and diverse history of Islamic jurisprudence going back to the origins of the Ku’ran, and a lot of research is being done by scholars in Europe and North America, as well as the Middle East, Africa, and Asia.” He says that his goal is “to pull this debate together and try to apply it in Second Life.” Which, he says, “is much easier and less dangerous than in real life.”

Virtual jihad hits Second Life

2008-05-08T05:19:00.000-07:00

Virtual jihad hits Second Life website

Chris Gourlay and Abul Taher

Islamic militants are suspected of using Second Life, the internet virtual world, to hunt for recruits and mimic real-life terrorism.

Police and the intelligence services are concerned that it may have been infiltrated by extremists to proselytise, communicate and transfer money to one another. Radicals may also be responsible for “virtual” terrorist attacks in which buildings depicted on the website are blown up.

Kevin Zuccato, head of the Australian government’s High Tech Crime Centre, said jihadists may also be using the virtual reality world to master skills such as reconnaissance and surveillance. “We need to start thinking about living, working and protecting two worlds and two realities,” he told a security industry conference in Sydney.

The concerns are shared by Europol, the pan-European police agency, which believes that Second Life provides a means to transfer money across borders in a way that is more difficult for the authorities to monitor. It has recruited security consultants to advise on the use of Second Life for fraud and terrorism.

Of particular concern is the anonymity of Second Life members who can use false names for their digital personas, known as avatars, to disguise their real identity and provide false contact details in the real world.

Intelligence sources said that although communications traffic through Second Life could in theory be monitored, often the only means of tracking an individual is by tracing the user’s IP address - the physical location of a computer in the real world - but even this can be faked. Monitoring complex money movements in the virtual world presents law enforcement agencies with further surveillance challenges.

Second Life, which has a global membership of more than 8.5m, uses three-dimensional graphics technology to create a virtual world. Anyone can become a member or “resident” for free and roam the virtual world after creating an avatar. They then meet and interact with other users’ avatars, visiting shops, theatres and sports events, trading goods and services and having sex.

So popular has Second Life become that companies such as Sony, BMW and Reebok have bought “land” and opened premises there. Some governments, including that of Sweden, have opened virtual embassies in Second Life.

Recently, inhabitants of the virtual world have experienced a more sinister phenomenon - virtual terrorist attacks against buildings and avatars. A recent attack took place at the Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s Second Life base. A number of these attacks, known as “griefings”, have been launched by what industry insiders say are “geeky teenagers” giving themselves names such as the Second Life Liberation Army.

Some experts, however, believe the “virtual atrocities” may have been committed by real Islamic radicals. Rohan Gunaratna, a terrorism expert at the International Centre for Political Violence and Terrorism Research in Singapore, said that for the past three months he had monitored about 12 jihadists who have assumed identities in Second Life. He said they were mostly based in America and Europe.

Some radicals, he said, had given themselves “innocuous” titles, while others had provocative jihadist names such as Irhabi007 (Arabic for Terrorist007). Gunaratna acknowledged that not all Islamists had any intention of carrying out terrorist attacks in real life, but said that they were using Second Life to build a community of extremists.

“Even in the training camps of Afghanistan, less than 1% returned and committed terrorist acts,” said Gunaratna.

Second Life has its own currency, the Linden dollar, named after the company behind the virtual reality world. About 250 Linden dollars are equivalent to one US dollar and residents can buy the currency from the company to trade in Second Life.

Linden Lab said that about $1m (£490,000) a day was exchanged in Second Life.

Linden, which has a team monitoring financial transactions in Second Life, said it was not aware of any money being exchanged by jihadists, but could not rule out the possibility.

Europol and the British Serious Organised Crime Agency (Soca) are concerned that Second Life provides an ideal facility for criminals to launder money through in-world enterprises such as casinos. There are fears that terrorists could also take advantage of difficulties in policing Linden dollar movements to transfer funds between operatives around the world.

A Soca source said the agency was looking at ways to address illicit financial activity in the virtual world.

The source added that policing the movement of money in Second Life presents challenges, as funds may be transferred across borders.

Mark Johnson, chairman of Risk Management Group, a British agency that advises Europol on fraud and terrorism in Second Life, said: “The critical issue with terrorist funding cases is trying to detect money movements prior to the commission of the crime. So if you can move money around in secret in an environment where there is little surveillance, it is a very sensitive point.”

John Zdanowski, chief financial officer at Linden, said the company strictly monitored the exchange of money in Second Life. So far, he added, there had not been any suspicious transaction where the company had called in the police or the FBI.

Linden also said that it was unaware of any extremists using Second Life.

Terror Spotters

CCTV cameras capable of spotting criminals and known terrorist suspects through facial recognition technology are set to be deployed at Euston railway station in London, writes Dipesh Gadher.

The cameras are likely to monitor passengers coming through ticket barriers in order to get a “fix” on their faces. The captured images will be cross-referenced against photographs of criminals.

Sources claim this will initially involve identifying minor offenders, such as pickpockets. Once installed, the technology could also be used with a security service database of terrorist suspects.

Euston already has a network of digital CCTV cameras that should be able to run facial recognition software.

The technology - based on two-dimensional images, or possibly 3-D ones for greater accuracy - is being developed by biometrics experts at the National Policing Improvement Agency.

The trial, which could take place later this year, is part of a wider clampdown on security at key transport hubs.

The July 7 suicide bombers were captured on CCTV as they travelled to London on the Thameslink rail service from Luton. At least two of the attackers had previously been monitored and photographed by the authorities.

Islam in Second Life

Second Life to help real schools

Second Life to help real schools

SEE ALSO

Virtual world for Muslims debuts

What will happen if this HAPPENS in an Islamic Context_

How do avatars have sex?

The importance of being there

The importance of being there

revolution will be televised from Second Life

By Kara Andrade, August 2, 2007

Al-Jazeera Visits Second Life

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eNNqd2AxxyM&feature=related

Catching Terrorists in Second Life?

Al-Jazeera Visits Second Life

Opens Ramadan Tent in Second Life

Virtual Hajj in Second Life

Islam in Second Life *

Al-Andalus Caliphate Government Sim Opens in Second Life; Judiciary to Be Based on Islamic Law

Al-Andalus Caliphate Government Sim Opens in Second Life; Judiciary to Be Based on Islamic Law

Virtual jihad hits Second Life

Virtual jihad hits Second Life website