This makes a lot of sense.I received it in response to my post of last night regarding " the new quraan" Please read and pass on. Jabou > > as-salaamu alaykum > > JazakAllah khayran for the e-mail - May Allah (swt) reward you for seeking > to alert the Muslims > > However please DO NOT forward this message and tell your > friends - it is an old trick used by the people who > make these anti-islamic sites to get their sites more > publicity, more hits and thus higher places on the > search engines when people type in "islam" or "quran"- > > Please read what is written in brackets in the original message > > >Kindly send this message (with the web > > > sites > > > > > shown below) to inform as many persons as you can. > > That tells you all about the intent of the e-mail > > Its obvious upon visiting such sites they are false - > surely virtually every non-Arabic Muslim would have a "proper" English > translation of the Quran and surely everyone with a degree of intelligence > knows not to believe everything they read on the internet particularly > about Islam - particularly converts who would have been intelligent enough > to have rejected a great deal of false propaganda and lies about Islam to > have converted in the first place > > So why publicise them ? How does publicising them help resolve the problem > ? What is needed is just one brother/sister with particular computer > "skills" to deal with the site. > > We really need to be sharper and more alert in dealing with the plots of > the kufar against Islam - in many cases they are running rings around us > > Please read the articles below > Apologies for any offence caused > > wasalaam > > > >Dear Brothers and Sisters in Islam, > > > > Assalaamu Alaikum. > > > > The purpose of this email is to bring to your > attention an act of Satan > >in > >which Muslims are the > >biggest and probably the only aids. Almost every > other day you get an email > >that gives a link to some > > website that has either insulted Islam, the beloved > Prophet Muhammad > >(salallahu alaihay wassulam), his > > companions, or the Muslim nation. > >A very important and a must feature of such an email > is the emphasis that > >you forward this email to as many Muslims (not just > anyone, but Muslims) > >as > >possible so that the website can be removed by the > ISP on their request. > > On receiving such an email here is what we > typically do. We read it, go > >to > >the mentioned website, read > > all the contempt that is displayed, get mad about > it and sometimes > >confused. > > After this, perceiving it as our religious > obligation, we forward this > >email to all the Muslims we know. Next, some of us > simply move on to the > >next email in the Inbox while some others write to > the person responsible > >for that website or the ISP that hosts the site to > stop the nonsense right > >away or else... > > There are a few things that Muslims need to realize > here. First of all, > >it > >is very rare that such a website gets deleted. If > you are threatening the > >person of the "dire consequences", then please note > that he went through > >all > >the pain of making the website and is probably > willing to face those > >"consequences". If you are contacting the ISP then > you should know about > >"freedom of speech" concept. > >An ISP cannot predominate your concern over its > customer's freedom of > >speech. > > > > > > The cases where there was success were the ones > involving big names like > >Yahoo etc. They provide > > FREE web hosting and don't mind deleting a user's > site in interest of > >their > >image. On the other hand a > > smaller ISP, which takes money from the user will > never delete the site > >just because the Muslim community got offended. > > > > > > Next and more importantly, we need to know how > these web sites surface > >and > >what keeps them there. While > > making a search, the Internet search engines do not > simply check the text > >on that site. Now a great deal > > of emphasis is being laid on the amount of Internet > traffic for a > >particular site. > > > > > > So every time you go to that site, "just to see > what's there", you > >increase > >the traffic record of that web site. Then all your > Muslims friends go there > >and end up doing the same. Consequently, next time > when someone makes a > >search using Islamic keywords, this site comes up as > it has been visited > >very frequently and hence must have what the person > making the search is > >looking for. > > > > > > Do you know that simply writing the address of a > website in your email, > >increases the chances of it being picked up by a > search engine? So even if > >you do not go to the site, but forward it to other > Muslims, and then they > >do > >the same, you are basically increasing the chances of > that site to surface. > > > > > >Normally web companies spend a lot of money for their > sites to surface, but > >for these enemies of Islam, we provide this service > free of charge. > > > > > > The next very crucial point is that in this age of > the Internet, it is > >very > >difficult to establish the authenticity of what you > are reading. You might > >be a very learned person about Islam and might be > able to distinguish > >between right and wrong as if it were black and > white. I on the other hand, > >might be a person with a weak faith and a slight > knowledge of Islam. On > >reading what you introduced me to, the Satan is more > likely to convince me > >into believing some of that nonsense, or at least be > more confused about > >it. > > > > > > A non-muslim, on the other hand is very less likely > to go to such a site > >because remember, you sent out > > all the emails to your Muslim friends and the only > reason why they went > >to > >this site was that email. So we should realize that > such sites are not > >addressed to the non-believers, but the Muslims. It > is only when we make > >them surface, the non-believers get to see them too. > Without a slightest > >doubt in my mind, I attest that we have been ordered > to fight disbelieve, > >but in this case we are only helping it out. > > > > It is also very probable that the Webmaster himself > implanted the email > >and > >while we go around spreading > > the word about it, he sits back, and is surprised > to see his mischief > >become a success. > > > > Now here is the remedy. > >We should delete the email as soon as we get it > (especially for web based > >accounts like hotmail, netaddress, etc). Never go to > that site "just to > >take a look at what's it all about". Never forward > the email to anyone. Do > >not > >even reply to the sender using the same email (never > Autoreply). Instead > >you > >can forward all the recipients this email> so as to > prevent further > >propagation. > > > > In the end have faith in Allah (SWT) who says in > Quran: > > > > "It is he whom Allah guides, that is on true > Guidance; but he whom He > >leaves astray - for such wilt thou find no protector > besides Him". - 17:97 > > And "If Allah so willed, He could make you all one > people: But He leaves > >straying whom He pleases, and > > He guides whom He pleases: but ye shall certainly > be called to account > >for > >all your actions." - 16:93 > > > >This email is something that you MUST forward to all > the MUSLIMS you know. > >I cannot stress more that you > > should not let this email sit in your mailbox and > let this nonsense, in > >the > >name of protecting Islam, > >to continue. > > > Wassalam > > ------------------------------------------------------- > There is Another anti-Islamic Site" > > Why issuing an alert letter is precisely the wrong > thing to do? > > The alert letters keep coming. Beware here is the > latest anti-Islamic site. Then a URL so you can verify > that it is indeed as described. Then a passionate > request to tell all the Muslims in the world about it. > > > Sincere. Misguided. Counter-productive. Little do the > senders realize that they are actually helping the > very sites they are trying to fight. > > The failure is in realizing that the Internet is a > very different medium and the rules that applied to > the previous media do not always apply here. If there > is a bad magazine or book out there, you can tell > others about it. We can be sure that nobody will rush > to the closest bookseller to buy it. The warning may > be useful, if there was a chance that some people > could have bought the book out of ignorance. > > In the click-click world of the Internet, the first > thing most people will do is to click on the URL, > thereby increasing the hit counts and boasting the > morale of the site owners. Second, it will help it > with search engine placement, as some of them will use > the increased curiosity traffic as a sign of > popularity. You just helped create the monster you > wanted to fight! > > It is common sense. If you don't want people to visit > a site, just don't tell them about it. > > It is very easy to setup a page on the Internet. It is > very difficult to draw traffic to it. The most > anti-Islamic site will die if it faces a frozen > counter. That would happen if you just leave it alone. > But if you are out there telling everyone about it and > asking them to do the same, you are in effect > volunteering as their publicity department. That is > exactly what they need. If there is a well-established > site (like CNN) it makes sense to launch a protest > campaign. But for most of the sites the prudent course > is just the opposite. Leave it alone. Let it die of > neglect. A natural death. The greater the lack of > attention, the faster will be the death of this would > be monster. > > So the next time you receive an alert letter about an > anti-Islamic site, just delete it. If you respond to > the sender, do not include the original text of his > alert email, because even that may help some search > engine ranking. > > There were dozens of anti-Islamic sites that sprang up > recently but died soon after because, luckily, our > enthusiasts had not noticed them and had not > publicized them through their alert letters. The ones > that receive the alert letter mention will, > unfortunately, survive and may thrive. > > On the Internet, the best use of your energies is to > promote the good Islamic sites. Let the good drive out > the evil. > > Now, may we request that you send this article to all > your friends? > > By Khalid Baig > > > http://www.jamiat.org.za/caution.htm > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to: [log in to unmask] ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~