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Inquiry and Analysis |874 |August 20, 2012   'iDawa': Radical Sheikh Delivers 'Jailbreaking' Fatwa, While  Islamists Proselytize And Arab Youth Spread Liberal Ideas By iPhone MEMRI | MEMRI TV | JIHAD AND TERRORISM THREAT MONITOR | SOUTH ASIA STUDIES PROJECT

Introduction Apple's iTunes media player computer program for digital music and video files allows users to purchase and download music, videos, games, books, podcasts, and more to their iPhone, iPod, and iPad. It also lets users download application software, or apps, from Apple's App Store. Increasingly, iTunes offers Arabic-language and Islamic music, podcasts, apps, and more: contemporary music from the Middle East, regional mainstream liberal and reform media, sermons, religious guidance, games – and Islamist content. Mainstream Arabic Media, Music, e-Books, and Games   Media Among the major Arabic-language news outlets with iTunes apps are the Qatar-based Al-Jazeera TV, the Jordanian Al-Dustour daily, the Lebanese Al-Hayat daily, the Egyptian Al-Ahram daily, the Kuwaiti Al-Rai' daily, and the Iranian English-language Press TV, and many others. Via the Live Station iTunes app, users can watch live video feeds of major Arab satellite channels. Other mainstream Arabic-language apps function as bookstores, offering thousands of Arabic-language e-books. Music One major Arabic music iTunes app is Mideast Tunes, produced by Mideastyouth.com. In its "About Us" section, the app (mideastunes.com) states that it was "founded in 2010 in Bahrain" and that it serves "as a primary resource for discovering up and coming Middle Eastern talents." It says that it is "a multifaceted platform for underground musicians in the Middle East and North Africa who use music as a tool for social change," with the mission of "bridg[ing] barriers of faith and geography to unite young people committed to fostering constructive discourse in the Middle East through music... [We b]elieve music can change the world and that the musicians of the Middle East and North Africa will lead the way." A category on the site, titled "Arab Spring," features artists such Egypt's Ramy Essam. Ramy Essam on Mideast Tunes app, accessed June 21, 2012  Mideastyouth.com also launched an app titled "Muslimyouth" with the tagline "Middle East Social Networking in Your Pocket." This app gathers posts from Facebook, Twitter, and various blogs and other sites to bring all of the latest Middle East news "into your pocket." While the app content covers the whole spectrum of Middle Eastern news, it also has a special function to keep up with human rights groups on Facebook. The app helps integrate and spread news from different sources by allowing the user to seamlessly transfer information from one social media site to another within the app. Games iTunes hosts numerous Arabic-language games, including crossword puzzles and "Hangman." "Hangman" game, accessed June 21, 2012 Mainstream Sheikhs and Imams, Sermons, Religious Guidance Sheikhs and Imams One major figure with an iTunes app is Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani. While Ayatollah Al-Sistani resides in the holy Shi'ite city of Najaf in southern Iraq, he provides religious guidance to an estimated 80% of Shi'ite worshippers. Al-Sistani's app, launched by his office in late 2011, featuresfatwas, posted in Arabic, Persian, English, Turkish, Urdu, and French. The app includes a feature allowing users to submit questions on religious matters; a member of Al-Sistani's staff answers them, in Arabic or Persian. The majority of the content pertains to religion in daily life. Ayatollah Sistani's app, accessed July 12, 2012 Religious Guidance iTunes offers a wide range of Islamic iPhone apps, on topics such as general religious guidance, Koran study, and daily prayers. Numerous apps include tafsir (explanation of Koranic verses),hadith (words and deeds of the Prophet Muhammad) and tajweed (instruction for Koranic recitation). Some of the apps offer the recitations and sermons for free, others for purchase. Other Islamic apps include prayer-time alarms, halal food guides, and a compass showing theqibla (direction of prayer). Islamic apps on sexual matters can be found in English, Urdu, and Arabic. One app even helps users "track all your daily spiritual efforts to help you measure your status and continue to improve." Quran study guide, accessed June 21, 2012 Islamic "sex-ed" app, accessed June 26, 2012 Palestinian Resistance on iTunes and "Jailbreaking" iPhones Palestinian resistance movements have also used iTunes, in a number of ways; in June 2012, one such app was launched by The Third Intifada (3rdintifada.com), only to be banned a few days later by Apple. One week later, following a formal request from Israeli Public Affairs Minister Yuli Edelstein to Apple CEO Steve Jobs, Apple removed the app, on the grounds that it violated the rules of the Apple App Store. In response, The Third Intifada posted a 38-page Arabic-language manual on "jailbreaking" – a way for users to hack their iPhones, iPods, and iPads so that Apple no longer controls them – and so that the Third Intifada app can be installed despite Apple's ban. It should be noted that a "jailbroken" iPhone has the potential to be used to wreak much more havoc than the mere dissemination of jihadist propaganda. iPhone "jailbreak" hacking manual featured on The Third Intifada; accessed June 21, 2012 Screenshots from Third Intifada's "jailbreaking" manual; accessed June 21, 2012 The Third Intifada hosts links to iPhoneIslam.com, which has launched 23 Apple-certified apps. It also has posted instructions, in Arabic, for "jailbreaking" the iPhone, as well as the firmware required to do so. www.iphoneislam.com features links to it's official App Store apps while also displaying "jailbreaking" instructions; accessed June 21, 2012 www.iphoneislam.com hosts different Apple firmware used for "jailbreaking" the iPhone and iPod; accessed June 21, 2012  "iDawa" – Salafi/Islamism On iTunes   Also now using iTunes are many prominent Islamist sheikhs, who in recent years have used social media – Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube – to conduct their da'wa, or proselytizing for Islam, and are now branching out to other media. Some of these apps are apparently created and operated by the sheikhs themselves, while others are established by supporters of sheikhs, or members of his administration. The following are examples of Islamist content available from iTunes/for the iPhone, iPod, and iPad: Islamist Sheikhs Apps by Islamist sheikhs generally include audio sermons, links to YouTube videos, articles, PDFs of books (available for downloading and printing) and fatwas. Audio sermons are also released as free podcasts on iTunes. The following prominent sheikhs have iTunes apps: Sheikh Muhammad Al-Munajid and the "Jailbreaking" Fatwa Saudi Sheikh Muhammad Al-Munajid is a popular Saudi Arabia-based television cleric who frequently appears on the Saudi Iqraa TV channel (see below).  MEMRI has documented Al-Munajid's support for jihad and anti-West sentiment in a number of reports. He maintains the Islam Q&A website (islamqa.com), which has pages in a dozen languages; has authored over a dozen books on Islamic topics; and has broadcast on TV and radio for the past 23 years. His app includes sermons, lectures, and more. His personal website boasts 20 different iTunes products. Furthermore, Al-Munajid has granted users Islamic legal permission to "jailbreak" the iPhone. Al-Munajid holds his jailbroken iPhone on TV; accessed July 10, 2012 Al-Munajid's main app, featuring sermons and other works, accessed June 26, 2012 Another of al-Munajid's apps offers Islamic advice, in 12 languages; accessed June 26, 2012. Sheikh Abd Al-Rahman Al-Sudayyis Well-known Saudi Islamist Sheikh Abd Al-Rahman Al-Sudayyis, Imam of the Grand Mosque in Mecca, also has iPhone apps. Al-Sudayyis's sermons, which carry significant weight across the Islamic world, are often confrontational towards non-Muslims; he calls Jews "the scum of the earth" and "monkeys and pigs" who should be "annihilated." Other enemies of Islam, he says, are "worshippers of the cross" and "idol-worshipping Hindus," whom he says should be fought. Al-Sudayyis has been consistent in calling for jihad in Kashmir and Chechnya, for the liberation of Jerusalem, and for fighting the "occupiers in Iraq." He often claims that Islamic culture is superior to Western culture. Al-Sudayyis was denied entry to Canada for his radical rhetoric in 2004. At the Grand Mosque in Mecca on February 1, 2004, Al-Sudayyis called on Muslims everywhere to unite "to defeat the world's occupiers and oppressors." Al-Sudayyis's Koranic recitations are available on iTunes as music purchases as well as in a personal app. Al-Sudayyis iPhone app, accessed July 12, 2012 Sheikh Salman Al-Ouda Saudi Sheikh Salman Al-'Ouda is a popular Islamist cleric who appears regularly on Arab television, and runs the website www.Islamtoday.com. During the early 1990s, he was associated with the Saudi Al-Sawha (Islamic Awakening) clerics who were highly critical of the Saudi monarchy for permitting the U.S. military to deploy troops in the Arabian Peninsula. Along with other Al-Sahwa clerics, he served a term in prison; since his release in the 1990s, he became more moderate. Although he once had a close relationship with Osama bin Laden, Al-Ouda has since denounced him. One of Al-Ouda's apps, with articles by him, accessed July 3, 2012 To read the full report, click here.