Fatwa Explorer

Fatwa #611218 July 2002Afghanistan

Is it allowed to tell the people about this site they have made wrong ourafghanistan.com it will be pulicity of this site ?

Answer

"Caution: There is Another anti-Islamic Site"%0D%0A%0D%0AWhy issuing an alert letter is precisely the wrong thing to do?%0D%0A%0D%0AThe alert letters keep coming. Beware here is the latest anti-Islamic site.%0D%0AThen a URL so you can verify that it is indeed as described. Then a%0D%0Apassionate request to tell all the Muslims in the world about it.%0D%0A%0D%0ASincere. Misguided. Counter-productive.%0D%0ALittle do the senders realize that they are actually helping the very sites%0D%0Athey are trying to fight.%0D%0A%0D%0AThe failure is in realizing that the Internet is a very different medium and%0D%0Athe rules that applied to the previous media do not always apply here. If%0D%0Athere is a bad magazine or book out there, you can tell others about it. We%0D%0Acan be sure that nobody will rush to the closest bookseller to buy it. The%0D%0Awarning may be useful, if there was a chance that some people could have%0D%0Abought the book out of ignorance.%0D%0A%0D%0AIn the click-click world of the Internet, the first thing most people will%0D%0Ado is to click on the URL, thereby increasing the hit counts and boasting%0D%0Athe morale of the site owners. Second, it will help it with search engine%0D%0Aplacement, as some of them will use the increased curiosity traffic as a%0D%0Asign of popularity. You just helped create the monster you wanted to fight!%0D%0A%0D%0AIt is common sense. If you don't want people to visit a site, just don't%0D%0Atell them about it.%0D%0A%0D%0AIt is very easy to setup a page on the Internet. It is very difficult to%0D%0Adraw traffic to it. The most anti-Islamic site will die if it faces a frozen%0D%0Acounter. That would happen if you just leave it alone. But if you are out%0D%0Athere telling everyone about it and asking them to do the same, you are in%0D%0Aeffect volunteering as their publicity department. That is exactly what they%0D%0Aneed.%0D%0AIf there is a well-established site (like CNN) it makes sense to launch a%0D%0Aprotest campaign. But for most of the sites the prudent course is just the%0D%0Aopposite. Leave it alone. Let it die of neglect. A natural death. The%0D%0Agreater the lack of attention, the faster will be the death of this would be%0D%0Amonster.%0D%0A%0D%0ASo the next time you receive an alert letter about an anti-Islamic site,%0D%0Ajust delete it. If you respond to the sender, do not include the original%0D%0Atext of his alert email, because even that may help some search engine%0D%0Aranking.%0D%0A%0D%0AThere were dozens of anti-Islamic sites that sprang up recently but died%0D%0Asoon after because, luckily, our enthusiasts had not noticed them and had%0D%0Anot publicized them through their alert letters. The ones that receive the%0D%0Aalert letter mention will, unfortunately, survive and may thrive.%0D%0A%0D%0AOn the Internet, the best use of your energies is to promote the good%0D%0AIslamic sites. Let the good drive out the evil.%0D%0A%0D%0ANow, may we request that you send this article to all your friends?%0D%0A%0D%0ABy Khalid Baig
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