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Move over MySpace, MuslimSpace is here

MuslimSpace users and advertisers need to obey strict rules, also female members can’t post pictures of themselves without hijab.

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WASHINGTON, DC: MySpace.com may be the biggest phenomenon on the Web right now – it is the fourth-most visited English-language site in the world, has 98 million users and it generates around 4.5 per cent of the world’s web traffic, but it is another niche site is slowly gaining acceptance – and influence – on the Internet.

At 15,000 subscribers, MuslimSpace.com is sub-atomic in size compared with MySpace, but its strict adherence to Islamic values and tradition has made it the de facto social networking website for several devout Muslims since its inception in February this year.

MuslimSpace.com was started by Mohammed El-Fatatry, a 21-year-old UAE-born Egyptian software engineer, media specialist and documentary filmmaker who now resides in Finland. A student of media technology at the Espoo-Vantaa University of Applied Sciences, he calls himself a Muslim entrepreneur, and has set up several websites targeting the Muslim community the world over, including a peer-to-peer file sharing site called IslamicTorrents.net, a support site for the popular BitTorrent.

Although you can do the same things you do on other social networking sites — create Web pages, write blogs, join groups, post pictures and even add their favourite audio and video favorite audio and video —the rules are stringent, and require rigorous adherence to an Islamic code of conduct.

For instance, women posting their pictures have to pose in traditional Islamic clothing. Indeed, most of the pictures of women posted show them revealing only their eyes. El-Fatatry also bans “unIslamic” words like four-letter exclamations. And yes, you cannot use your membership to date other users.

El-Fatatry’s stated goal for the website is to create a space for those following Islam and who are tired of the un-Islamic content of popular social networking sites. MySpace.com, for instance, has no restrictions on what you can post. So it ends up having adult content like movie clips of sex scenes, obscene language, overt propositioning and even adult-related advertising.

Although MuslimSpace.com’s design is not user-friendly, and sometimes even gaudy, El-Fatatry says his aim is to make the site popular with the 1.2 billion Islamic community the world over. With more than 150 new members a day, it could soon carve a niche for itself.

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