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 'Fasting online' a hit with Muslim users
    November 01 2004 at 12:43PM Get IOL on your
mobile at m.iol.co.za

Cairo - Ramadan e-cards, "iftar" recipes, spiritual guidance and praying tips blend online with children's stories and the latest news out of Iraq, as Muslim websites aim to compete with Arab television for Ramadan audiences.

Despite the growing number of "hits", the special Ramadan sections on scores of Arab websites are still far from attracting as many viewers as the countless soap operas which keep millions of people glued to their sets after Muslim evening prayers.

But with a fast-growing pool of Internet-users, which currently stands at around 3,3 million, Egypt has witnessed a surge of interest in Ramadan-related surfing this year.
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As life in general moves at a slower pace during Ramadan, young users say they "like to kill time" by surfing the web before the cannon goes off at sunset, signalling the time to break the dawn-to-dusk fast with your family.

'Egypt has witnessed a surge of interest in Ramadan-related surfing'
The islamonline website has one of the most extensive Ramadan offers, with a wide variety of sections supported by state-of-the-art graphics.

The site provides a wealth of Islamic background, with excerpts from the Koran holy book, fatwas, or religious edicts, on fasting and recommendations from leading clerics.

Cooking tips also feature widely, with health pages informing the reader that "fasting is the single greatest natural healing therapy".

The "Palestine competition", which challenges its participants to remember dates of landmark killings and massacres in Palestinian history, sits in the on-screen menu just above a special science section on fasting.

Another page carries feature stories on how Somalis living in London or various other Muslim communities outside the Islamic world observe Ramadan.
'Fasting is the single greatest natural healing therapy'


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