Summary: | The convenience of the Internet in providing access to a vast amount of information
about Islam is no longer deniable even among students and faculties in Islamic
Studies. The Internet has been regularly used by this category of people to find
information about Islam. On the other hand, the issue pertaining to the quality of the
information made available on the Internet is very transparent. In Islam, it is indeed
very important that any fatwa and any scholarly works on Islam should be based on
original and reliable sources of information. The question is if the Internet is
continued to be one of the major source of information and reference for Islamic
Scholars, how do they assess its quality? How do they justify its use? In what
manner do they utilize the information? Using a case study approach with
qualitative data gathering technique, this study was conducted to understand the
use, perceptions, and opinions of several postgraduate students and faculty members
in a faculty of Islamic Studies at one of the public university in Malaysia, pertaining
to information about Hadith on the Internet. The findings indicated that almost all
participants have referred to the Internet to get information about Hadith. The
analysis of the interviews has revealed the purpose of use, method of assessment
used and the underlying issues involved as perceived by the participants.
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