Shiachat
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ShiaChat.com is an online community dedicated to serving Muslims worldwide, formed in a way to allow interactions and exchanges of ideas and thoughts both in real-time and in a discussion board format.
Introduction
ShiaChat.com is composed of over 25 forums relating to different aspects mainly involving Islam and Muslims. There is also a 24 hour live chat room for those who wish to discuss in real-time. Aside from being an online community for the many Muslims across the world who are far from any Islamic centers, ShiaChat.com has also become an online tabligh center where people of different faiths come to learn and understand the religion of peace and tranquility.
ShiaChat.com currently has almost 15000 registered users and over 1 million posts since January of 2003. The site receives more than 30,000 hits a day (3500 unique) on average from many different parts of the world. On a weekly average, there are over 5000 new posts and more than 80 new members register.
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Website
History
Originally started as a small homepage for a Shia IRC room in 1998, ShiaChat.com has slowly transformed to be the largest Shia discussion forum on the net. On March 26, 2000, launching for the very first time as an independent, dedicated discussion forum hosted on the EZboard network, the Ahlulbayt Discussion Forum rapidly became a great success due to the help and support of its members and development team alike. To help build a bigger frame and infrastructure for the rapid growth of this community, In 2003, ShiaChat.com was for the first time transferred on its own server using its own hosted software that would allow for further expansion and growth. Along with it being a discussion forum, a live chatroom was also added by popular demands after a few months.Mission
The two major goals that they strive for are to first provide a website to allow all Muslims and Non-Muslims alike to interact and discuss religious issues; secondly, to promote the Jafari school of thought. They shall try to bridge the gaps between fellow Muslims, as well as uphold the teachings of Allah, the prophet Muhammad, and the Ahlul-Bayt.Future plans
From the ShiaChat web team, "With the current rate of growth of Shiachat.com, there are many plans in store for this site. Looking ahead, we see Shiachat.com being the largest Shia community online hosted on its own dedicated server with it’s very on Discussion Forum, Text chat room and a dedicated Voice Chat room. Together, we can make this project become a huge success."Contribution
From the ShiaChat web team, "Anyone can help and contribute to make this site a success. However, if anyone wishes to become an official moderator or an administrator, they must be an active member showing great dedication to Islam and this site in general. You will be approached by the ShiaChat.com team when you’ve qualified and when an addition to the administration team is needed."
Interactions
Religion
The history of religious interactions on ShiaChat have been rather benevolent. ShiaChat allows all denominations of Islam and other religions to attend in discussions as long as they adhere to the basic tenant of respecting each other's beliefs.There is controversy about this not being equally applied, however. Though Sunni Islam and other non-Islamic religions are well respected, Salafism is not. It is commonplace to see Salafism cursed on the forums and allowed by moderators. Many Shias point out that Salafis often do the same on their websites, while others do not find this explanation satisfactory. However, it should be noted that direct insults on members are never accepted, and is often dealt harshly with by the moderators. It should also be noted that the practice of cursing the first three caliphs of Sunni Islam, though once allowed, is now prohibited.
Though there are no exact numbers, many ShiaChat members are in fact Sunni converts to Shiism. Many Sunnis who also visit the website learn about Shiasm and convert for that very reason. Shiachat's success in this form of dawah, especially in contrast to strictly moderated Salafi websites, is a testament to both its ideology of healthy freedom and discussion, and it's belief in the peaceful ideals of the Ahlul Bayt.
Culture
Like many websites, ShiaChat has shown the Internet phenomena of developing its very own unique culture around it. Some examples of this are an odd use of emoticons and an eerie obsession with biryani. Speaking badly of soccer is an easy way to get oneself physically and emotionally harmed. There is often reference to member's distinct personalities across the board, and these references are usually understood by other members. It is not uncommon for members of ShiaChat to know each other in real life, or possibly decide to meet in real life because of their association through the website. One could certainly draw parallels with another popular Internet website, Myspace.ShiaChat takes many tokens from its mothering Arab and Islamic culture, and uses much Arab-Islamic vocabulary and customs. These include saying the standard as-Salaamun 'Alaikum greeting at the beginning of each post (which is a handy emoticon) and the use of terms such as "InshaAllah" (if God wills it). Some members often speak to each other in their mother tongues, the most common language being Urdu.
Debated topics
Many non-religious topics have been the subject of debate within the ShiaChat community. Popular topics include: the morality of the State of Israel, the Islamic Republic of Iran, and the question of whether Sunnis are allies or enemies. Note that this does not include polemical debates between Islamic schools of thought, religions, or theism and atheism as that is beyond the scope of this article.
Features
Shiachat has many distinct characteristics that distinguishes itself from other Islamic and Shiism related forums. For example, often for special events, such as Ashura in Muharram, the moderators will change the forum colors from the normal blue theme to a red theme. Another example when this occurred was shortly after the Al Askari Mosque bombing.Shiachat uses the most recent version of Invision Power Board and thus has many advanced forum features, though there are complaints that the website is very slow when accessed via dial-up in contrast to the much faster and more common broadband internet connection. Aside from the bandwidth heavy forum features, it would seem as if the large avatars and picture filled signatures have contributed very much to this.
Another unique feature of ShiaChat is the fact that there is a religious scholar on the website forums who is available to answer all questions, as long as no other question is still awaiting an answer. This has undoubtedly made the website more than just a hangout for men and women of the same religious faith, but also a place where more religious knowledge can be pursued. Outside of this scholar, members often help each other study Shia Islam or other branches of Islam, or even non-Islamic religions.
ShiaChat has developed its own unique form of literature, and members often link to past topics or ongoing debates where both eloquent and intellectual writers have posted strong arguments. Some of these members will quote very well written arguments they have posted before on the forum, or quote another member's very eloquent argument. There may soon be growing concern in the community to address the saving and preservation of this literature, as it often could be presented as a strong and facile form of dawah, in particular the Shia arguments with Sunnis and other non-Islamic faiths.
Recent activities
Oct 5, 2005: Annual Ramadhan Contest [An apple ipod shuffle, 8 lecture DVDs]May 27, 2005: ShiaChat.com @ UMAA in 2005
May 22, 2005: Media Section!
May 9, 2005: Sayid Mohammed Baqir Al-Qazwini @ ShiaChat.com
Apr 6, 2005: ShiaChat.com on a new dedicated Server.
Mar 4 2005: ShiaChat.com and it's members sponsored 7 Iraqi orphans, for a sum of $US 3,024!
Feb 20, 2005: World Federation reports on ShiaChat.com Orphan Sponsorship program.
Jan 16, 2005: ShiaChat.com EID Fugitive Contest ($US 200 CASH, $US 100 Amazon.com Cert, The Holy Quran digital book (Valued at $US 150))
This contest was won by members [Hasnain] and [Ali Imran] who worked jointly to hunt down the EID Fugitive. The brothers demonstrated awesome investigative skills and coordination. Their dedication in making this contest will be glorified in ShiaChat.Com history. They split the prizes.
Oct 15, 2004: Annual Ramadhan Contest
Mar 24, 2004: Sayyid Al-Modarresi @ ShiaChat.com
Dec 14, 2003: ShiaChat.com Consultancy Group!
External links
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