Talk of a website purely for the Muslims and the first reaction is, "is it another one that rattles mostly about the Islam and spreads radical thoughts"? Click on the URL http://muxlim.com, however, and what attracts is its refreshing content. Although it only concerns Muslims, it is interesting enough not only to remove some of the misconceptions one may have had about Muslims and Islam, but also prods one to go deeper to know more about them.
Formed in 2006 in a different avatar before morphing into its present state early this year, Muxlim is the only and biggest online community on Muslims that enhances Muslim lifestyle instead of talking about purely religion or rambling politics, claims Mohamed El-Fatatry, its creator.
Muxlim's biggest contribution to the Muslim community, is that unlike all other social networking websites that provide people-centric service, it provides a content-centric services, which help in uniting the widely dispersed and fragmented Muslim population to one virtual venue.
"Most Muslim websites generally come in two types; either they are marriage websites, or those that are purely religious. There's another category though that talks only about politics. But if you are looking for a wholesome Muslim lifestyle experience that includes, Muslim fashion, Muslim music, movies, and everything that an ordinary Muslim does on a daily basis -- which may not necessarily be related to religion but definitely based on its belief -- there's none barring Muxlim," says El-Fatatry.
Muxlim, he claims, fills the urgent need for a separate online community for Muslims, particularly against the background where in others (like You Tube Facebook, Twitter, MySpace and the likes) "there's always someone dictating what Muslim values are, and the type of content that is acceptable or not."
Muxlim on the other hand, gives power to the people; "its users decide what content should be allowed or not, while they have all the power to ensure the content is accurate and closest to Muslim values," he says.
The users in Muxlim also ensure that Muxlim has no place for sex, crime, or drug use-related content, neither is there a place for illegal content or content that spreads radicalization.
This Finland based venture, which says El-Fatatry "is growing from strength to strength", currently has over 160,000 registered users (that leapfrogged from 100,000 three months back) and already reaches several million Muslims around the world.
"Muxlim is not only a source of information about Islam but it also helps connect like-minded Muslims around the worlds," says a young student user who along with her friends prefers to log only into Muxlim instead of MySpace or Facebook. "It kind of brings the entire rationalist Muslim community in one place," she says.
El-Fatatry claims 55 percent of Muxlim users are females, which is opposite to most other online sites. "The power is truly in the community's hand while the community feels very safe and empowered by using this site," he says.
Having grown in strength the next focus of Muxlim is "to pursue more service and more features that [besides maximizing its shareholders' value] make the world a better place," says El-Fatatry.
And now, El-Fatatry aims to use Muxlim as a channel to spread global awareness about social development projects that help Muslims around the world.
The website announced this week that it was selected to be the exclusive social media partner for Gaza 100, a 100-metre relay race attempt to break the world record, which is taking place in London next month. Gaza 100 aims to set a new Guinness World Record for "the most people running 100 meters in a 24-hour relay" and is seeking 4,000 participants to take part in the run at Mile End Stadium on May 23rd and 24th
This campaign aims to raise British ₤400,000 from all the participants in the run (every participant needs to either raise or contribute ₤100) for Gaza Aid project, that Save the Children, an international social development organization is organizing to help the children of the Gaza region.
According to Dalia Association, a leading Palestinian Community Organization, "Gazans need an estimated $1.9 billion just to repair the physical damage caused by the recent war".
"The Gaza 100 aims to raise a humble sum towards this desperately needed aid, and we are delighted to be able to help them spread the word and garner additional support through our community, as part of a diverse and all-inclusive world," says El-Fatatry. "Social media in general and Muxlim in particular are very effective channels to spread global awareness about such projects. We hope to use the Muxlim community as a launch pad for wider social media activities that either attract attention to the fund raising effort, or help directly through sign-ups to the campaign."
