ShiaChat.com
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| ShiaChat.com | |
 |
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| Type | Website |
|---|---|
| Founded | March 26, 2000 |
| Headquarters | Ottawa, CA |
| Website | www.shiachat.com |
ShiaChat.com (www.shiachat.com) is one of the top 10 most popular Shia sites online [1][2]. It is a 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. It is for those who wish to seek the truth, no matter what religion, sect, or school of thought. It is a place to gain knowledge and faith in a distinct fashion that attracts both youths and adults. Their users and guests include both Muslims and non-Muslims from all over the world from many different backgrounds.
Contents |
[edit] Introduction
ShiaChat.com is composed of over 30 forums relating to different aspects mainly involving Islam and Muslims. There is also a 24 hour monitored 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 1,200,000 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.
[edit] Website
[edit] 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.
[edit] Mission
The two major goals that they strive for are to provide a website to allow all Muslims and Non-Muslims alike to interact and discuss religious issues and to promote Shi'a Islam. They shall try to bridge the gaps between fellow Muslims, as well as uphold the teachings of God, Muhammad, and the Ahlul-Bayt.
[edit] Future plans
From the ShiaChat.com 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 own Discussion Forum, Text chat room and a dedicated Voice Chat room. Together, we can make this project become a huge success."
[edit] Contribution
From the ShiaChat.com 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."
[edit] Interactions
[edit] Religion
The history of religious interactions on ShiaChat have been rather benevolent. ShiaChat.com 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. 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 is prohibited and strong actions are taken against such practices. Academic criticism, only when carried out with respect, regarding any issue is always accepted.
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.
[edit] Administration
What makes ShiaChat.com specifically fair is the fact that the moderators themselves have been chosen from different backgrounds and set of beliefs. It is quite common for some moderators to indulge in heated debates amongst themselves in which then an Administrator is called upon to moderate the topic.
Moderators are usually chosen by the Administrators from the list of active users and usually through a voting system, moderator powers are given to the chosen member.
There are currently 3 main administrators and over 10 moderators from all over the world. A complete updated list can be found here.
[edit] 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.com 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 languages being Arabic and Urdu.
[edit] 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 Shia-Sunni unity. 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.
[edit] User Reviews
''well for me Shiachat is a very cool website, It has increased my knowledge plus i like the forums in here,shiachat also provides the fastest finger first answers!'' -Kulsoom(joined 7-10-2006)
''Shiachat is an amazing forum. One of the best i have come across. All the members are nice and friendly and you get too learn alot about many different aspects. It's a place to come when you want to enjoy yourself but gain more knowledge about Shiaism, Islam and Other religions aswell as things that are happening around the world. It also gives you a chance to meet people from all over the world'' -Sakz(joined 4-24-2006)
''Shiachat is one of the largest sites you will ever discover on our shi'ite faith. It is well structured, developed, handy and useful. I have experienced phenomenal discussions with all of the members. without these discussions I would be no where . This site consists of intellectual information, co-ordination and a friendly atmosphere which has been made possible by the members, staff and others who contribute to this site'' -Mahreen(joined 12-27-2006)
'' Allah says in the Holy Quran: [Surah Zumar # 18]: "Those who listen to the word, then follow the best of it; those are they whom Allah has guided, and those it is who are the men of understanding." Welcome to shiachat and please listen carefully the facts and proofs of true Islam and then decide for yourself the best course of life... then Allah will guide you and consider you among the men of understanding! Hope to see you in shiachat! Nice and friendly environment here to help you out in your way of life. '' -shukranlillah (joined 15-06-2004)
[edit] Software and Hardware
The site is hosted on a dedicated root server from www.1and1.com . The server is a Pentium 4 2.80GHz running Fedora Core 4. It is equipped with 1,024 MB DDR RAM and an 80 GB IDE hard drive to store the almost 2GB large database. The host provides 1,200 GB monthly transfer volume in which almost half is used up every month.
ShiaChat.com is composed of mainly community-building software provided by Invision Power Services . The forum itself is run using the latest version of Invision PowerBoard and the chatroom is through a Chat-service provider, AddonChat .
[edit] Features
ShiaChat.com 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.
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.
[edit] Recent activities
mar. 3, 2007: New and powerful server! more information
Jan. 11, 2007: ShiaChat.com On Youtube Contest!
Sep. 25, 2006: Annual Ramadhan Contest [$175 in Cash]
Dec. 2, 2005: ShiaChat.com Banner Contest
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 [Sum of $US 3,024]
Feb. 20, 2005: World Federation reports on ShiaChat.com Orphan Sponsorship program. [3]
Jan. 16, 2005: ShiaChat.com EID Fugitive Contest [$US 200 CASH, $US 100 Amazon.com Cert, The Holy Quran digital book (Valued at $US 150)]
Oct. 15, 2004: Annual Ramadhan Contest
Mar. 24, 2004: Sayyid Al-Modarresi @ ShiaChat.com
Dec. 14, 2003: Creation of ShiaChat.com Consultancy Group!
[edit] References
- ^ Most Popular In Shia. Alexa Internet.
- ^ Google Directory - Society → Religion and Spirituality → Islam → Shia. Google.
- ^ Iraq Relief – Response from users of Shiachat. World Federation of KSI Muslim Communities.
