The Communicative Function of the Islamic Websites and its Effectiveness on Spreading the Religious Content on the Internet: An analytical study of a sample of websites of government religious institutions

Author

College of Communication, Alqasimia University, Sharjah, Emirates

Abstract

This study tackles the Communicative Function of the Islamic Websites and its Effectiveness on Spreading the Religious Content on the Internet (An analytical study of a sample of websites of government religious institutions). The study aims to shed light on the communicative role which is played by websites of religious institutions on the Internet. To answer the study questions, the researcher has relied on the analytical survey approach by employing the content analysis tool for a regular random sample consists of 250 categories of religious contents which have been selected from four websites representing the study population. The study has come out with several results, the most important are the study sites have relied on the communicative functions with different percentages, the most notably (the teaching and educational function) which has come first with 16.5%. The results have shown that the category of (educational lessons and memorisation of the Quran) has topped the content type with 16.7%. The category of (contents focussing on diversity) has ranked the list of the communicative characteristics with 22.1%. The results have indicated that the study sites have provided multiple communication services (the service of prayer times, calendar and Qibla) have come first with 16% followed by service of (memorisation of the Holy Quran and teaching of Arabic Language) with 15%. The results have revealed that the most used forms in the study sites are (contests, competitions, and prizes) with 16%, (religious events and activities) with 15%, (news and reports of the institution activities) with 12%, and the study sites are unique in addressing the specialized religious and legal topics and contemporary islamic issues which have topped the list of the topics category with 29%. The study sites can provide their religious content with various languages, most notably of which is Classical Arabic with 47%. The study results have also indicated that the study sites have used multimedia elements through their religious content with different percentages, the most notably are image files, graphics, videos, and audio recordings.

Keywords

References

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