COMMUNICATIONS-SUDAN: Islamic Scholars Leary of Internet

By IPS Correspondents Reprint | | Print |

Nhial Bol

KHARTOUM, May 5 1998 (IPS) - While local non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in Sudan applaud the internet as a valuable tool for gathering information, Moslem scholars have condemned it as a tool of “cultural imperalism”.

Many Sudanese NGOs have set up their own pages on the internet, and say the information techology has speeded up the gathering of information on other organisations.

Anan Al Amin, head of Data Bank which was established by the Sudanese Environment Conservation Society, said before she had access to the internet, it took her about three years to gather information on 70 NGOs working in the area of environment.

“We are now making arrangements to get all the passwords of experts, environmentalists, journalists so that we can contact and discuss with them issues of concern,” she told IPS as she surfed the web in her office.

Using the web, Anan added, also removes the tension, especially among local NGOs, to give information about their work. “Whenever we go and ask for specific information, they say ‘why do you want this information?”‘

Edward Lado of a local NGO which works in the area of children’s rights, believes that as more local organisations see the benefit of the internet, others will begin to use information technology to network.

“The NGOs’ pages on the internet can impact positively on local activities, because you discover what others are doing,” Lado added.

“We have daily consultations with experts and lawyers about the situation of children. We give them what we have, and in return, we exchange the views on matters of concern,” Lado said.

According to some estimates, about 80 percent of Sudan’s NGOs have access to the internet. A new company, Sudan Tel, is making a pitch for new subscribers by lowering its subscription fees from about two million Sudanese Pounds (one U.S. Dollar is equal to about 1,700 Sudanese Pounds) to 150,000 Sudanese Pounds.

But Moslem scholars in this Islamic-ruled country believe that the internet is a tool of “western cultural imperalism” and fear that it will be used to attack Islamic norms.

Islam is the state religion in Sudan, and there are more than 15 million adherents. The majority of Muslims are concentrated in the Arab north of the country, which includes the most populous provinces and the capital Khartoum. The south is predominantly Christian.

The Khartoum-based Faith Research Centre, an NGO fighting for Islamic rule in Sudan, held a workshop in the capital recently to discuss the impact of the internet and globalisation on Islam.

Aun Al Sharif Gasim, an Islamic scholar here, argues that the internet and other forms of information technology are instruments being used by the west to “globalise cultures”.

“Muslims have an important role to play in opposing this distorted globalisation, which is presented by the western communities,” Gasim said.

Zakeria Imam Basher, vice chancellor of Juba University based in Khartoum, said the aim of the internet in developing countries is to culturally influence the local populations, and impose cultural imperalism on poor nations which have limited capacity to develop their own information systems.

Al Tayeb Zein Abdeen, a lecturer at Khartoum University echoed this view saying that: “Globalisation is western values aimed at dominating the world’s institutions, nations and individuals. The whole process will be implemented via the internet service.”

Al Tayeb, however, unlike some Islamic scholars who have called for a boycott of the internet, urges Muslims to be selective in using internet services. A total boycott, he said, would isolate Sudan from the rest of the world.

“The aware person should select the information of things which help him in his or her community,” Al Tayeb added. “If we fail to use the internet, the country is going to be isolated”.