My So-Called Second Life

Bismillahi Rahmani Rahim

Salaam Alaikum wa Rahmatullah

I joined Second Life a few months ago, and I have to say I am addicted. I created an avatar named Noorah Haalan. She is Muslim also and wears the abaya and hijab. You can go to SL and be the same as you are in real life, only moreso, or you can go to SL to create a completely different persona who doesn’t necessarily share your values or lifestyle. SL is much like real life in that there are many, many places to go to see things that would shock the senses of modest folk. Sex in all its real life forms and many forms not found in the real world is readily available. People dress their avatars in everything from ballgowns to warrior princess leathers. And that’s some of the guys. I chose to stay true to myself and be a Muslim avatar. So I wear an abaya, black or white or green or any other color, and I stay out of r-rated SIMs. Fortunately, there are a couple of Islamic SIMs on Sl. There is Ummah of Noor, which I have as my home teleporting spot, and islamonline.net, which includes an edcuational virtual hajj that ROCKS! I find Muslims there every day. The number is small relative to the whole population of SL, but growing. I figure my job is to grab the ones who are curious before they get involved in the bad areas.

Today was a good day in SL. A univeristy teacher or professor had a class who wanted to talk to Muslim women and discuss how it is to be a Muslimah in today’s world. The teacher was inworld with us and had her students watching her computer. We had six or seven ladies chatting with her, and inshAllah we were able to chip away at some stereotypes. I only wish it had been voice chat and not typing, because my fingers are really getting tired! May Allah give the hedayah.

I’m just a computer junkie. In addition to Second Life, I am twittering. I am now tweeting everything I eat, and I mean everything. It is amazing how much easier it is to resist a bit of junk food when you know you are going to confess to it. Okay, so I only have six people following me right now, but the tweets post to my FaceBook page so all my contacts see it too. I am so connected it’s scary! Blog, twitter, FaceBook, SL. I have a Myspace page, too, but only because my nieces have them and it helps me keep up with what they are doing.

Time for me to go. My baby is squalling in her playpen. I’ve set her down four times today for naps and she’s woken up within five minutes each time. Bedtime is NOT looking good.