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<!-- ==The website's challenge==
<!-- ==The website's challenge==
The challenge of the Faith Freedom International website is that Ali Sina, the founder of the website, says he will remove the website if he will be proved wrong .<ref name="WND" /> Sina promises a prize of $50,000 to "...anyone who can disprove my charges and prove Islam is a true religion in an objective (not subjective) way." He invites any refutation of the charges to be posted to his forum,<ref>[http://www.faithfreedom.org/forum.htm Ali Sina's Forum]</ref> and he claims to publish the resulting debates to allow for his readership to judge the success or failure of the challenge.<ref>[http://www.faithfreedom.org/debates.htm Ali Sina's debates]</ref> -->
The challenge of the Faith Freedom International website is that Ali Sina, the founder of the website, says he will remove the website if he will be proved wrong .<ref name="WND" /> Sina promises a prize of $50,000 to "...anyone who can disprove my charges and prove Islam is a true religion in an objective (not subjective) way." He invites any refutation of the charges to be posted to his forum,<ref>[http://www.faithfreedom.org/forum.htm Ali Sina's Forum]</ref> and he claims to publish the resulting debates to allow for his readership to judge the success or failure of the challenge.<ref>[http://www.faithfreedom.org/debates.htm Ali Sina's debates]</ref> -->

==Debates==

Since issuing his challenge in 2001, Ali Sina has held numerous debates with both Muslim scholars and non-scholars on his website. Prominent scholars among those who debated with Sina include Prof. [[Abdul Hadi Palazzi]], [[Javed Ahmad Ghamidi]]<ref>[http://www.faithfreedom.org/debates/Ghamidi60904.htm FaithFreedom.org: Mr. Javed Ahmad Ghamidi vs. Ali Sina]</ref> and [[Edip Yuksel]]<ref>[http://www.faithfreedom.org/debates/EdipYuksel.htm FaithFreedom.org: Edip Yuksel vs. Ali Sina]</ref>. Arguably the most prominent of the scholars with whom Sina exchanged a letter <ref>[http://www.faithfreedom.org/debates/montazeri.htm Letter from Montazeri]</ref> with was the [[Grand Ayatollah Hossein-Ali Montazeri|Grand Ayatollah Montazeri]], the former deputy of [[Ayatollah Khomeini]] who later became a dissident and critic of the Islamic Republic. Ali also posted a letter in his website claiming to be sent to Dr. [[Zakir Naik]]<ref>[http://www.faithfreedom.org/debates/ZakirNaik.htm Ali Sina's letter to Zakir Naik]</ref> inviting him for an open online debate. After being challenged by many Muslims to debate with him, several requests sent by Muslims and non Muslims to Zakir Naik's website were ignored. Ali then wrote to Zakir Naik himself but in reply, the administration of his website wrote back saying that Zakir was busy and did not have time to debate. Ali said that it was clear from his correspondence that Dr. Naik is evading the discussion since he is not responding to the debate request. <ref>http://www.faithfreedom.org/debates/ZakirNaik.htm</ref>

Several months prior to the establishment of Faith Freedom International, in [[January]], [[2001]], Sina had a discussion via email with [[Reza Cyrus Pahlavi]], the son of the late [[Mohammad Reza Pahlavi|Shah]] of Iran regarding a potential regime in Iran that could replace the current one. Sina argued it should be a [[democratic republic]], while Pahlavi advocated [[constitutional monarchy]].<ref>[http://www.faithfreedom.org/Iran/rpahlavi.htm Debate with Reza Pahlavi II]</ref>


==WikiIslam==
==WikiIslam==

Revision as of 09:12, 24 July 2009

Faith Freedom International
File:FFI-logo.png
File:FFI-2.png
Logo and Screenshot of FFI
Type of site
Anti Islamic
Available inEnglish, Arabic, Chinese, Dutch, French, German, Indonesian, Italian, Polish, Spanish
OwnerAli Sina
Created byAli Sina
RevenueDonations
URLhttp://www.faithfreedom.org
CommercialNo
RegistrationeNom, Inc. (R39-LROR)

Faith Freedom International (FFI) is an Internet website that is critical of Islam.[1][2] FFI identifies itself as "a grassroots worldwide movement of ex-Muslims and all those who are concerned about the rise of the Islamic threat". According to the website, FFI was founded by an Iranian ex-Muslim residing in Canada, going by the pseudonym of "Ali Sina." On the website, Ali Sina has issued a standing challenge that he will remove the FFI website if proven wrong on a number of issues. Faith Freedom International is listed by Richard Dawkins in the Appendix of his book, The God Delusion, as one of the few Islamic related "...friendly address[es], for individuals needing support in escaping from religion"[3] (although it was removed from the website following protest). FFI's mission statement is included in Ibn Warraq's book Leaving Islam: Apostates Speak Out.[4]

Faith Freedom International hosts the Mediawiki-based site WikiIslam.

Website access and traffic

According to a 2002 study by professor Jonathan Zittrain and Benjamin Edelman of Harvard University, Saudi Arabia had banned the [5] Website. The Public Interest Registry service used by all .org domains,[6][7] and Alexa.com[8] state that FFI website is Bellevue, Washington, USA. The traffic ranking for Faith Freedom International has fluctuated since its inception in June 2001.[9] According to the online source Alexa, which reports traffic from Alexa toolbar users, in early 2003 faithfreedom.org was in the top ten thousand sites on the Internet. Currently it is in the top fifty thousand.[9] The site has had significant highs and lows. During the end of September 2006 the site went below the top 100,000 and then spiked up and reached 20,000 by the beginning of October. During the same month it went back down to 60,000. It has fluctuated between 20,000 and 80,000 till February 2007, and has fallen down below 100,000 again.[9] According to Ranking.com, Faith Freedom International is in between the top 30,000 and 40,000 websites.[10] According to Site Meter, Faith Freedom International has had over 25 million views since its creation, receives approximately 10,000 visitors every day and about 1 million page views every month.[11]

Debates

Since issuing his challenge in 2001, Ali Sina has held numerous debates with both Muslim scholars and non-scholars on his website. Prominent scholars among those who debated with Sina include Prof. Abdul Hadi Palazzi, Javed Ahmad Ghamidi[12] and Edip Yuksel[13]. Arguably the most prominent of the scholars with whom Sina exchanged a letter [14] with was the Grand Ayatollah Montazeri, the former deputy of Ayatollah Khomeini who later became a dissident and critic of the Islamic Republic. Ali also posted a letter in his website claiming to be sent to Dr. Zakir Naik[15] inviting him for an open online debate. After being challenged by many Muslims to debate with him, several requests sent by Muslims and non Muslims to Zakir Naik's website were ignored. Ali then wrote to Zakir Naik himself but in reply, the administration of his website wrote back saying that Zakir was busy and did not have time to debate. Ali said that it was clear from his correspondence that Dr. Naik is evading the discussion since he is not responding to the debate request. [16]

Several months prior to the establishment of Faith Freedom International, in January, 2001, Sina had a discussion via email with Reza Cyrus Pahlavi, the son of the late Shah of Iran regarding a potential regime in Iran that could replace the current one. Sina argued it should be a democratic republic, while Pahlavi advocated constitutional monarchy.[17]

WikiIslam

File:Wikiislam logo.png
WikiIslam: a wiki hosted by Faith Freedom International.

In September 2006, Faith Freedom International launched[18] WikiIslam, a community-edited wiki collecting negative and critical material about Islam.[19] According to the FAQ section on the website, "the main difference between WikiIslam and Wikipedia is that opinions critical of Islam are not censored on WikiIslam for political correctness."[19] Due to the controversial nature of the website, it has been subject to vandalism, due to which increased security measures have been employed.[19]

WikiIslam is the subject of an article in the 7/2007 issue of the journal Contemporary Islam, entitled "Cyber-Islamophobia? The case of WikiIslam",[19] which argues that the website commits selection bias by collecting only negative or critical material.[19][20] The article states that "In relation to the criteria set up by the Runnymede Trust ... it should be quite easy to label most of the material published on WikiIslam as expressions of Islamophobia." Göran Larsson adds that "[m]y impression is that the stories reported by WikiIslam have merely been selected to show that Muslims are ignorant, backward or even stupid."[19][21] Because of the presence of material obtained from other websites, such as MEMRI, the article notes that "it becomes much more difficult to argue that all information posted on WikiIslam is Islamophobic by nature."[19]

See also

References

  1. ^ "Ex-Muslim's site trashes Muhammad - Founder challenges: Prove me wrong and I'll take down page". WorldNetDaily. 16 Sept 2004. Retrieved September 18 2007. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= and |year= (help); Unknown parameter |dateformat= ignored (help)CS1 maint: year (link)
  2. ^ Jamie Glazov (31 Dec 2004). "Symposium: Gender Apartheid and Islam". FrontPageMagazine.com. Retrieved September 18 2007. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |dateformat= ignored (help)CS1 maint: year (link)
  3. ^ Dawkins, Richard (2006). The God Delusion. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co. p. 379. ISBN 0-618-68000-4.
  4. ^ Ibn Warraq (2003). Leaving Islam: Apostates Speak Out. Amherst, NY: Prometheus Books. pp. 433–436. ISBN 1-59102-068-9.
  5. ^ Faith Freedom
  6. ^ [1]
  7. ^ Whois.Net
  8. ^ faithfreedom.org - Site Information from Alexa
  9. ^ a b c Alexa.com: Ratings for FaithFreedom.org
  10. ^ Faith Freedom at ranking.com
  11. ^ "Faith Freedom International". Site Summary. Site Meter. 2005-07-14.
  12. ^ FaithFreedom.org: Mr. Javed Ahmad Ghamidi vs. Ali Sina
  13. ^ FaithFreedom.org: Edip Yuksel vs. Ali Sina
  14. ^ Letter from Montazeri
  15. ^ Ali Sina's letter to Zakir Naik
  16. ^ http://www.faithfreedom.org/debates/ZakirNaik.htm
  17. ^ Debate with Reza Pahlavi II
  18. ^ On Monday Sept 4, 2006, (WikiIslam) was opened to the public.
  19. ^ a b c d e f g Cyber-Islamophobia? The case of WikiIslam, Journal: Contemporary Islam, publisher Springer Netherlands, ISSN 1872-0218 (Print) 1872-0226
  20. ^ "Compared to “Muslim homepages,” i.e. those set up by believing Muslims, WikiIslam contains only negative and critical examples. This bias is clearly represented in the section called “laughing with the prophet”, which presents stories and reports from the life of prophet Muhammad (i.e. hadith reports)." ibid.
  21. ^ Islamophobia: A Challenge For Us All, p. 5, Runnymede Trust (1997).
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