JAKARTA – Mosques may outnumber Internet cafes in Muslim-majority Indonesia, but Islamic clerics out to take on social networking site Facebook may have met their match.

Media in the world’s most populous Muslim country were abuzz after a May meeting of hundreds of clerics from Java and Bali islands urged top religious authorities to issue a fatwa, or edict, banning Facebook for Muslims.

The clerics have argued the site enables unregulated chatting between the sexes, opening the door for “obscenity,” pornography, premarital sex and adultery.

Fatwas from the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI), the country’s highest religious body, are in theory binding on Muslims but in practice they are often ignored.

“Facebook is like a magnet that attracts people to join,” the cleric who headed the meeting, Abdul Muid Sohib, told Agence France-Presse.

“Many use it simply for chatting, but Islam restricts the relationship between men and women… not only for face-to-face contact but also for Facebook, since it too could lead to sexual intimacy.

“We all know that some Facebook users use it to offer themselves for prostitution,” he said.

Clerics hoping their call could make an impact may be a little disappointed with the response.

Indonesia ranks fifth behind the United States, the United Kingdom, Italy and France in terms of Facebook use, according to Internet tracking website Alexa.com, in spite of a patchy communications infrastructure and little computer access for many of its 234 million people.

Discussion groups ranging in topics from politics to Japanese animation and homosexuality in the national language Bahasa Indonesia dot the website.

Tens of thousands of Indonesians have signed up to Facebook groups condemning the clerics’ call, including at least one prominent Muslim member of parliament.

Niken Valentina, a 19-year-old student who lists her religion on Facebook as Muslim and her interests as “eating, swimming, hanging out with my gurlz, my phone,” is one of many who have reacted with derision to the ban.

“It all depends on the person using it,” said Valentina, whose posted photos document a social life of meals, clubbing and pouty poses with girlfriends.

“If you want to flirt or find pornographic stuff you can use (search engine) Google too, not only Facebook,” she said.

For 36-year-old Facebook user Intan Ruwaidah, the cleric’s call is a sign that many in Indonesia’s Islamic establishment are out of touch.

“If these clerics think Facebook is a venue for flirting, it shows they have no idea about what they want to ban,” Ruwaidah said.

“I don’t think Facebook users will listen to this. The clerics are turning into toothless tigers,” she said.

Indonesians exasperated by the push to ban Facebook can point to a series of fatwas issued by the senior clerics of the MUI that have strained the body’s credibility, said Ahmad Suaedy from the Wahid Institute Islamic think tank.

The MUI earlier this year issued one widely derided edict banning Muslims from practising yoga if they mix the exercises with elements of Hindu ritual.

The clerics also issued a fatwa banning public smoking — a quixotic gesture in nicotine-mad Indonesia — and ruled that abstaining from voting in national elections was haram, or forbidden to Muslims.

While clerics could have counted on a captive audience during the reign of dictator Suharto, the rise of democracy and the proliferation of media since his 1998 fall means many Indonesians today are too sophisticated, Suaedy said.

“Indonesian Muslims were very obedient to the MUI’s edicts during Suharto’s dictatorship,” Suaedy said.

“But with all the freedom of expression now, they’re just laughing at this.”

There are signs however that the MUI has learnt from the criticism. The body has refused to say whether it will issue a formal fatwa banning Facebook.

Other senior Muslim leaders, such as the head of the 30-million strong Muhammadiyah Islamic group Din Syamsuddin, have said they oppose a ban.

Recent news in Indonesia has also shown that those who try to tame the Facebook juggernaught can end up getting hurt themselves.

A hospital on the outskirts of Jakarta recently suffered a public relations disaster when it took a mother-of-two to court on criminal defamation charges after emails she wrote to friends about poor treatment ended up on the website.

Prita Mulyasari, 32, was cleared by a court in June after spending three weeks in detention amid public outrage and a call from President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono for the court to be lenient.

Facebook groups set up in support of her drew more than 100,000 members.

Pakistan: Thousands rally against

Facebook because of Everybody

Draw Muhammad Day

LAHORE, Pakistan – Pakistan’s government ordered Internet service providers to block Facebook on Wednesday amid anger over a page that encourages users to post images of Islam’s Prophet Muhammad.The page on the social networking site has generated criticism in Pakistan and elsewhere because Islam prohibits any images of the prophet. The government took action after a group of Islamic lawyers won a court order Wednesday requiring officials to block Facebook until May 31.

By Wednesday evening, access to the site was sporadic, apparently because Internet providers were implementing the order.

The Facebook page at the center of the dispute — “Everybody Draw Mohammed Day!” — encourages users to post images of the prophet on May 20 to protest threats made by a radical Muslim group against the creators of “South Park” for depicting Muhammad in a bear suit during an episode earlier this year.

In the southern city of Karachi, some 2,000 female students rallied demanding that Facebook be banned for tolerating the controversial web page. Several dozen male students held a rally nearby, with some holding signs that urged Islamic holy war against those who blaspheme the prophet.

“We are not trying to slander the average Muslim,” said the information section of the Facebook page, which was still accessible Wednesday morning. “We simply want to show the extremists that threaten to harm people because of their Mohammad depictions that we’re not afraid of them. That they can’t take away our right to freedom of speech by trying to scare us into silence.”…

Sounds reasonable to me.

In an attempt to respond to public anger over the Facebook controversy, the Pakistani government ordered Internet service providers in the country to block the page Tuesday, said Khurram Ali, a spokesman for the Pakistan Telecommunications Authority, which regulates the telecommunications network in the country.

But the Islamic Lawyers Forum asked the Lahore High Court on Wednesday to order the government to fully block Facebook because the site had allowed the page to be posted in the first place, said the deputy attorney general of Punjab province, Naveed Inayat Malik.

The court complied with the request and ordered the government to block the site until the end of May, Malik said.

Lawyers outside the courtroom hailed the ruling, chanting “down with Facebook.”..

// Facebook, the largest social networking site in the world, has been banned in Pakistan till 31st May, 2010 due to the insult of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) and Islam following the order of the Lahore High Court on Wednesday 19th May, 2010.

The court directed the PTA (Pakistan Telecommunications Authority) to use all measures to ban this site in Pakistan. Following the court’s order, PTA instantly ordered all the Internet Service Providers in the country to immediately ban Facebook. PTA has also blocked the famous video sharing website ‘YouTube’ due to the blasphemous material being shown on the site.

An online competition on Facebook has been created and promoted under the title of ‘Draw Muhammad Day’ inviting people to send in caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) on May 20th.

The sketches or caricatures of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) and representation of any Prophet is deemed un-Islamic and blasphemous in Islam. The Muslims came out on the roads in protest all over the country and demanded the government to put a ban on the site. The court took notice and immediately ordered to block ‘Facebook’ in Pakistan on Wednesday. The government took serious and immediate action on the blocking ‘YouTube’ as well after some sacrilegious caricatures of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) were transferred from Facebook to YouTube.

Earlier in 2005, the Danish newspapers had published the caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH).

The California-based social networking site, ‘Facebook’ has been set-up on the slogan of ‘Freedom of Speech’. But freedom of speech does not mean to hurt anybody’s feelings or insult anybody’s religion or religious personalities rather they must be respected.

Protest

i request all the Muslim who read this plz stand up and say some thing to world and importantly to Molly Norris ,We are Muslim and we are United.

And Muslim rule Spain and Most of world 100 of 100 years.

In last Fuck Molly Norris

From: “HONOUR THE PROPHET MUHAMMAD (S)” page in Facebook

A facebook page/event has been set up for May the 20th, and this event has been called draw Muhammad day. So as a response, this page has been created, for Muslims and non-Muslims alike to come and defend the honour of Muhammad peace be upon him. The way we shall respond is not by violence, or threats, or insults. No, we shall respond back with wisdom, and with the most important tool we have, the truth.

The prophet Muhammad himself stated that the strong Muslim was the one who could control his anger, and control his emotions, therefore all Muslims should follow this example.

Responding with threats does not defend the prophet, rather it simply feeds the propaganda, and makes them say ‘look! You see , we are right, the Muslims are violent!’ Therefore as Muslims we should be better.

On May 20th we shall release our own video, a video which shall compile some of the greatest examples of the prophet Muhammad. You to can take part, by posting several Islamic narrations that showed the kindness, mercy, humbleness, generosity, and sincerity of the prophet Muhammad. If you choose to do more, and want to make your own video, then do so!

Let us show everyone what a great man Muhammad (S.A.W) was, and rather than mocking him, he should be praised and given the utmost respect. So join up, and forward this group to your friends, so they join as well.

So come, let us defend the honour of Muhammad. peace be upon him, and let us do this with dignity, respect, and wisdom.

NOTE: This updated post was originally published at 1 a.m. April 30.
Molly Norris, the Seattle artist who drew and circulated an “Everybody Draw Mohammed Day!” cartoon to support “South Park’s” censored creators, not only has distanced herself from the viral campaign her work spawned. Now she also playfully prefers a different campaign:

“Everybody Draw Al Gore Day.”

The Lahore High Court imposed the ban until May 31 and asked Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry to protest to the international community over the competition, the state-run Associated Press of Pakistan said on its website yesterday.

Pakistan needs an effective plan to prevent anti-Islam elements “hurting the sentiments of Muslims,” APP cited religious affairs minister Saeed Kazmi, as saying in Islamabad. Protesters gathered in Karachi holding banners and shouting slogans against Facebook yesterday and people circulated text messages asking users of the site in Pakistan to support the ban.

Cartoons depicting Muhammad in a Danish newspaper in 2005, provoked protests by Muslim communities around the world including Pakistan, home to the world’s second-largest Muslim population after Indonesia. Depictions of the prophet are considered blasphemous by Muslims.

A Facebook user set up a page called “Draw Mohammed Day,” allegedly inviting people to send in their caricatures of the Muslim prophet by today, Agence France-Presse reported.

Kazmi called on Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani to organize a meeting of Muslim countries and create a united policy for dealing with anti-Islamic moves, APP reported.

The Pakistan Telecommunication Regulatory Authority imposed the ban after the high court ruling.

“We were instructed by the Ministry of Information Technology to block a link,” Khurram Mehran, spokesman for the Pakistan Telecommunication Regulatory Authority, said by telephone from Islamabad yesterday.

The cartoons of the prophet printed in Danish newspapers in 2005 included one of him with a bomb in his turban and accompanied an article on freedom of speech and self-censorship in the media.

Acer Smartphone camera application
The business users of the Acer beTouch E400 handset will surely value the support for Microsoft Exchange. An additional strong point is that it is also possible to manage, view, and edit office content such as Excel, Word and PowerPoint documents. Still, not only the business user will be charmed by this new Acer smartphone. Small details such as a Home-button that lights up with every new e-mail and the built-in Facebook and Twidroid Apps will also appeal to flashy, younger users… Of course it also includes a digital camera with a modest resolution of 3 Megapixels. The Acer digital camera is supported by a built-in flash.

Acer Smartphone review availability
The Acer beTouch E400 is an interesting new Android smartphone for several kinds of users. We have planned in this Acer smartphone for a detailed Smartphone review and when a test sample becomes available, we will publish a full Acer beTouch review with a high-resolution photo gallery.

Photo : New Acer mobile phones at the Mobile World Congress 2010 in Spain

Canon Video Snapshot Mode
Also new to Canon’s video line-up is Video Snapshot Mode, which enables users to capture the highlights of a once in a lifetime trip, or a family milestone, with the same ease as taking photos. Consumers can now record a series of four-second video clips, and along with supplied software which includes various background music compositions, blend in background music to create an exciting movie that will hold everyone’s attention.

Canon LEGRIA HD camcorders
All LEGRIA camcorders feature Canon’s trinity of core technologies that create the highest level of high definition image quality – a Genuine Canon HD Video Lens; Canon designed and manufactured HD CMOS Image Sensor for Full HD image capture; and Canon-developed DIGIC DV II and DIGIC DV III Image Processors. Additional features found on select LEGRIA models include Instant AutoFocus, SuperRange Optical Image Stabilization and 24Mbps Recording – the highest bit rate in AVCHD. The same high quality Genuine Canon Face Detection Technology used in Canon digital cameras is now available in Canon LEGRIA high definition camcorders. Up to 35 faces can be detected automatically, and nine detection frames can be displayed at one time. The system is so intelligent that it will even recognize faces that are turned down or sideways. Consumers can select a face they would like the camcorder to continuously track. While in playback, consumers can access specific scenes based on chosen faces.

Canon LEGRIA HF S10 and LEGRIA HF S100 camcorders
Canon’s top-of-the-line high definition Flash Memory camcorders, the Canon LEGRIA HF S10 and LEGRIA HF S100, boast an impressive range of new and advanced features. The LEGRIA HF S10 offers the option of recording video to a 32GB internal Flash drive or directly to an SDHC memory card, while the LEGRIA HF S100 records to an SDHC memory card only. Both models feature the new DIGIC DV III Image Processor, an 8.59 Megapixel Full HD CMOS Image Sensor, Genuine Canon Face Detection Technology, an advanced Auto Exposure system and Video Snapshot and Dual Shot Modes. In addition, both models deliver stunning 8.0 Megapixel digital photographs.

Canon LEGRIA HF20 and LEGRIA HF200 camcorders
Canon’s most compact high definition Flash Memory camcorders, the LEGRIA HF20 and LEGRIA HF200 are powerhouse options for anyone looking to take their HD camcorder with them wherever they go. The LEGRIA HF20 offers the option of recording to a 32GB internal Flash drive or SDHC card slot and the LEGRIA HF200 records to an SDHC memory card only. Additional features include a 3.89 Megapixel Full HD CMOS Image Sensor, newly designed Genuine Canon 15x HD Video Lens, advanced Auto Exposure system, and Video Snapshot and Dual Shot Modes.

Canon LEGRIA HV40 HDV camcorder
The Canon LEGRIA HV40 HDV Camcorder, a replacement to the highly acclaimed LEGRIA HV30 camcorder, shares the core components found within the LEGRIA line, but also offers a Genuine Canon 10x HD Video Lens and 2.96 Megapixel Full HD CMOS Image Sensor. What’s more, the camcorder allows consumers to record in native 24p Mode, a feature previously found only on Canon’s professional camcorders. Native 24p allows consumer to capture and record 24 progressive frames per second to a HDV tape, a big advantage for the serious filmmaker. Another add-on feature, Custom Key Mode, enables consumers to assign commonly used functions to a single button on the camcorder for easy access.

Canon Standard Definition camcorders
Standard definition camcorders offer consumers the ability to capture and watch high quality video, even if they do not own a high definition television at home. All Canon standard definition camcorders come fully equipped with Canon’s core expertise in optics and image processing.

Canon LEGRIA FS22, FS21 and FS200 camcorders
The Canon LEGRIA FS22, FS21 and FS200 Flash Memory camcorders are ultra-sleek and compact – up to 17 percent smaller than previous FS series models. The LEGRIA FS22 and FS21 Dual Flash Memory camcorders incorporate 32GB and 16GB of internal Flash memory, respectively and can record video directly to an SDHC memory card. Additionally, these two models feature Genuine Canon 48x Advanced Zoom, which is great for capturing sideline action from the bleachers. The Canon FS200 Flash Memory camcorder records video directly to an SDHC memory card and comes in three fashionable colors – Misty Silver, Sunrise Red and Evening Blue.

Canon DC420 and DC410 DVD camcorders
The Canon DC420 and DC410 DVD camcorders are perfect for consumers who want the convenience of recording their memories directly to DVD. The DC420 offers 48x Advanced Zoom, while the DC410 offers 41x Advanced Zoom. Both feature a DIGIC DV II Image Processor and Widescreen Recording, as well as the flexibility of optional add-on features, such as filters and lens accessories, to help achieve a designed look.

Canon ZR960 MiniDV camcorder
For consumers who wish to record video to MiniDV, the ZR960 MiniDV camcorder is perfect. This easy-to-use option is a beginner’s go-to product. While still incorporating Canon’s core technologies and optics, this model provides 41x Advanced Zoom, great for capturing far-away shots, as well as a microphone terminal for better audio control. Additionally, the flexibility of add-on features, such as filters and lens accessories, help to achieve a designed look.