Content Evaluation of Islamic Websites

The purpose of this study is to identify and explore the most important design features of Islamic websites that influence website use. Islamic websites serve as a medium for Islamic organizations, scholars, and individuals to contribute and participate in several online activities. The findings indicate that website attractiveness, functionality, navigation, organizational information, and security/privacy are the most important factors influencing the use of Islamic websites. The results of the study are valuable indicators for the direction of future research, and also suggest guidelines for the successful development and adoption of Islamic websites. Man's curiosity "to discover" "to explore" and "to know" has always remained one of unbridled since the dawn of civilization. For this endeavor, man established different institutions and schools of learning and reading of different fields in many hues with all capable infrastructures to full fill his needs and religious education wasn't an exception. For satisfying spiritual needs of the people, god sent down prophets, messengers etc. from time to time for guiding the humanity on the right path and with them sent down the Holy Scriptures, books etc.

2013 5th International Conference on Information and Communication Technology for the Muslim World (ICT4M), 2013

Website design features have been widely studied by researchers in various fields, most especially in e-commerce. Indeed, design features are widely regarded as vital tools that influence website use. However, few studies have devoted significant attention to Islamic website design features that influence website use. The purpose of this study is to identify and explore the most important design features of Islamic websites that influence website use. The study conducted a content analysis on selected Islamic website studies, in which 86 design features were identified, selected, modified, and categorized into six broad features (factors). Ann online survey of 89 Muslim users of Islamic websites was then conducted to rank the identified design features in terms of their importance to the users. The findings of the exploratory factor analysis provide evidence to suggest that only few design features are considered important by Islamic website users. These design features possess highly significant factor-loading and are grouped under "functionality", "navigation", "interactivity", "attractiveness", "organization", and "security/privacy". The study found the above design features to be significant in influencing Islamic website use.

2016

Islamic websites demand special attention due the nature of the content delivered to the users. To deliver satisfying online knowledge and practice for Muslim Ummah, it is important to identify and evaluate the overall features of Islamic website (Iweb). In this paper, we explore the literature on Islamic website and e-consumer and developed a conceptual model that identifies perceived Muslim user satisfaction. The paper examines three issues namely; features of Iweb user satisfaction, perceived dimensions of this satisfaction judgment, and consequence of Muslim user satisfaction with Iweb.

The Electronic Journal of Information Systems in Developing Countries, 2013

The growing availability of the Internet and advances in the use of technology among Muslims have led to an increase in the number of websites with an Islamic content. Currently, there is an emerging trend in the improvement of the design and quality of Islamic websites. Islamic websites serve as a medium for Islamic organizations, scholars, and individuals to contribute and participate in several online activities. This research is drawn from the deep understanding that website design is a major factor affecting the use of websites by Muslim users. We therefore investigate the most important design features that influence Muslims to use websites in learning about Islam, as an alternative to the traditional face-to-face learning from scholars and books. Website design is measured by functionality, navigation, interactivity, attractiveness, and organizational features, and website use by the extent to which frequent use is influenced by the website's design features. An online survey was conducted from November to December 2012. 89 usable responses were collected from faculty members and students at the International Islamic University Malaysia. The participants have experience in using Islamic websites. They were guided to the survey website via the faculty students' mailing list and Facebook group page. The findings indicate that website attractiveness, functionality, navigation, organizational information, and security/privacy are the most important factors influencing the use of Islamic websites. Interactivity design features were found to be least significant in influencing Muslim users to use Islamic websites for religious purposes. The majority of the Muslim users visit Islamic websites to search for information, seek for scholars' opinions regarding personal issues/problems (Q&A), and learn about Quran and Hadith. The results of the study are valuable indicators for the direction of future research, and also suggest guidelines for the successful development and adoption of Islamic websites.

Muslim scholars and organisations use the Internet through various websites to spread Islam globally. The presence of many websites providing Islamic contents online makes it necessary to examine their Islamic features and the factors that influence Muslims to use Islamic websites. This paper empirically investigates the Islamic features that influence the use of Islamic websites by Muslim users. The identified Islamic factors were grouped under five factors: beliefs, ethics, services, symbols, and values. A survey of 246 Muslim Islamic website users was conducted between November and December 2012 at the International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM). The study develops and tests a path measurement model to confirm the psychometric properties of the five identified factors. The study found that Islamic features significantly influence Muslims to use Islamic websites. The measurement model and empirical results provide valuable indicators for the direction of future research and also suggest guidelines for developing Islamic websites that will easily influence many Internet users to visit them in order to learn about Islamic teachings and practices. The findings are also of considerable importance as they contribute to the present body of knowledge on Islamic websites' evaluation and for practice in designing and developing quality Islamic websites.

The global explosion of the Internet and its continued use by individuals, Islamic organisations and scholars to spread their teachings and activities has witnessed massive growth over the years. However, it appears that online Islamic content and activities may lack credibility and authority, since the websites are anonymous and uncontrolled in comparison to the traditional face-to-face method of seeking Islamic knowledge. This paper empirically investigates the content and Islamic factors that influence use of Islamic websites by Muslim users and consequently the positive impact of those websites on their behaviour. The study examines the perception of online Muslim users on the impact of various content and Islamic factors on the use of Islamic websites and its subsequent effect on user behaviour. An exploratory factor analysis was conducted using SmartPLS 2.0; this produced seven factors, namely: content credibility, content objectivity, content reliability, Islamic identity, Islamic services, Islamic symbols, and Islamic ethical values. The findings of the study suggest that both Islamic and content factors are significant indicators for influencing Islamic website use. On the other hand, the findings show that out of the seven factors extracted, only the content reliability factor and Islamic ethical values factor have a weak influence on the use of Islamic websites. In summary, the study indicates that the use of Islamic websites has a positive impact on users towards being better practising Muslims. Finally, the research model and empirical results provide valuable indicators for the direction of future research and also suggest guidelines for developing Islamic websites that will successfully meet users' needs and expectations.

2016

In line with the advancement of internet technology, e-Tourism has become an important platform for promotional, marketing and product development of tourism products and services. It provides a way to perform relevant transactions as well as mechanism to interact with potential tourists. E-Tourism has become popular among Muslim tourists since they are also referring to the websites to search for travelling information. As a Muslim, the travelling information that they seek should comply with the need of the religion such as Halal food, prayer time, religious places etc. However it is still difficult to find a specific and comprehensive website that provide necessary information to the Muslim tourists due to the lacking in the knowledge about information quality. Information quality is an important element in e-commerce which is one of the Information System (IS) success factors dimension based on IS success Model introduced by [1]. Companies that sell products or services online must ensure that the information provided on their website has certain criteria of information quality which may influence the purchasing decision of the customers. 138 respondents amongst Muslim tourists participated in the survey that was conducted both online and offline, which the data was then analyzed using SPSS software. This paper will discuss, (i) The information that is expected by Muslim tourists available on Islamic e-Tourism websites; and (ii) The relationship between information quality with usefulness and information satisfaction. The result has proven that Islamic content, timeliness, legitimacy, relevancy, reliability, Islamic design, consistency, accessibility and security are significant in predicting usefulness whereas for information satisfaction, only relevancy, Islamic design and security and privacy are significant. This study will benefit Islamic e-Tourism businesses, website owners, developers and designers by providing a guideline on the expected information that should be available on the website that serve Muslim tourists and how to make sure that the website fulfill the requirements needed by them.

Asia-Pacific Journal of Information Technology and Multimedia, 2013

The global explosion of the Internet and its continued use by individuals, Islamic organisations and scholars to spread their teachings and activities has witnessed massive growth over the years. However, it appears that online Islamic content and activities may lack credibility and authority, since the websites are anonymous and uncontrolled in comparison to the traditional face-to-face method of seeking Islamic knowledge. This paper empirically investigates the content and Islamic factors that influence use of Islamic websites by Muslim users and consequently the positive impact of those websites on their behaviour. The study examines the perception of online Muslim users on the impact of various content and Islamic factors on the use of Islamic websites and its subsequent effect on user behaviour. An exploratory factor analysis was conducted using SmartPLS 2.0; this produced seven factors, namely: content credibility, content objectivity, content reliability, Islamic identity, Islamic services, Islamic symbols, and Islamic ethical values. The findings of the study suggest that both Islamic and content factors are significant indicators for influencing Islamic website use. On the other hand, the findings show that out of the seven factors extracted, only the content reliability factor and Islamic ethical values factor have a weak influence on the use of Islamic websites. In summary, the study indicates that the use of Islamic websites has a positive impact on users towards being better practising Muslims. Finally, the research model and empirical results provide valuable indicators for the direction of future research and also suggest guidelines for developing Islamic websites that will successfully meet users' needs and expectations.

International Journal of Online Marketing, 2012

Presently almost anyone can publish a website. The interest in using the Web as a competitive weapon by individuals, businesses, and governments is increasing as well. Little has addressed the applicability and implementation of several published website evaluation criteria. This work is an attempt to develop a comprehensive set of evaluation criteria for general websites in line with international standards for website design. The proposed evaluation criteria are used to analyze the top 10 websites in UAE in order to measure their compliance with the developed criteria. The proposed criteria can be used as a benchmark of website quality and compliance.