ABSTRACT
Since the late-1990s, the communications field has seen a growing body of research on computer-mediated human interaction that has focused on the role and importance of emoticons.1 Since the early-2000s, the fields of Middle Eastern and Islamic studies have seen a growing corpus of research on the role and importance of the Internet for Muslim life in the 21st century—whether for personal communications, work, piety, or learning. Yet there has been little crossover between these fields—partic-ularly surprising given Middle East and Islamic studies' research focus on web boards and chat forums. The major scholars in the field, Gary Bunt and Jon Anderson, have said almost nothing about the smiley faces, modified smileys, and text-based icons that pepper forum discussions.2 Even scholars who include emoticons in the transcripts of their research, as Roxanne Marcotte has done in her studies of online Australian Muslim communities, of er few comments either about their meaning or the work they do within the forum discussion.3
