ABSTRACT
Online religious authority remains a broad and still rather undefined concept. Yet, it remains an important characteristic of quite a few religious practices online. Nowadays, though, not only are individuals putting up opinions and fatwa's on their websites, but so are local, national and transnational Muslim organizations some putting up online fatwa collections, databases or fatwa banks, which Muslims from all over the world can browse. Many websites enable petitioners to email their questions and queries to religious scholars and to receive, online or offline, a scholarly reply. The Internet enables European cyber-muftis to deal with elements of Islamic law and European legal systems that may conflict, and to propose, quite often, harmonizing interpretations. The Internet not only enables greater visibility for new religious interpreters, but also functions as a cyber-mufti for younger Muslims who live in the diaspora by bringing Islamic values and customs to Europe, as well as facilitating identity consumption in Muslim America.
