Publication – English
An Engaged Islamicist: The Internet and Climbing Outside the Tower
MESA Review of Middle East Studies, 2011
Abstract:
This article by Alan Godlas appears in a Special Section of the MESA Review of Middle East Studies edited by Shafique N. Virani entitled “Speaking Truth Beyond the Tower: Academics of Islam Engaging in the Public Sphere.” With over a decade of experience communicating academic expertise on the web, Alan Godlas was one of the first scholars of Islam to take advantage of this medium for his scholarship, and one of the most successful. In his paper, “An Engaged Islamicist: The Internet and Climbing Outside the Tower,” he discusses three projects that he created, representing three different genres of online communication: “Islam and Islamic Studies Resources,” “Sufis Without Borders,” and “Sufi News and Sufism World Report.” Along with some of the other contributors, Godlas suggests that such scholarly bid’a, or innovation (even though it is certainly bid’a hasana, or laudable innovation) is often best pursued post-tenure. He references the role of his students and teaching in spurring him to think of new modes of communication, a common theme that runs through all four papers in the section. As one of the pioneers of digital resources in Islamic Studies, Godlas recalls facing a situation at the very outset in which good-quality internet resources on Islam were scarce, and “even relatively unbiased websites on Islam were uncommon.”
Cite this publication:
Godlas, Alan. “An Engaged Islamicist: The Internet and Climbing Outside the Tower.” Special Section,“Speaking Truth Beyond the Tower: Academics of Islam Engaging in the Public Sphere.” Edited by Shafique N.Virani. In MESA Review of Middle East Studies 45, no. 2 (2011): 172-181.
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