The Death of a Virtual Muslim Discussion Group : Issues and Methods in Analysing Religion on the Internet

Abstract

In his article, Göran Larsson discusses and tests the way an Islamic online discussion group could be analyzed. The contribution deals both with theoretical and methodological questions. All the suggested approaches are tested against data taken from the Swedish Muslim discussion group, Sveriges Förenade CyberMuslimer (SFCM), which was the largest Muslim discussion group in Swedish at the time of writing. Larsson argues that it is necessary to develop fresh approaches and combine online research with traditional fieldwork (in particular interviews) in order to be able to use data taken from the Internet. Larsson also demonstrates that analyzing a Swedish Muslim discussion group requires recognition of the significant exchange with the global Muslim community in different languages and on many ”global” topics.