Muxlim Pal is a rather Habbo Hotel-like shared world open to all Muxlim members. Although superficially just a shared virtual space, Muxlim Pal does look as though it has at least nominal game elements as each avatar has “happiness, fitness, knowledge and spirituality” ratings that can change according to what the user does in the virtual space.

“We are not a religious site, we are a site that is focused on the lifestyle,” said Muxlim.com founder Mohamed El-Fatatry, “From what we have seen from our market research is that most Muslims have a lifestyle that is not so different from everybody else. They all share the core values which are from Islam then beyond that they actually have made identities, they have many interests.”

Virtual world for Muslims debuts [BBC]

Internet access in many Arab countries often employs filters that prevent access to online games or sites that are considered offensive to Islam or Arab culture. Muxlim’s as yet untitled ‘Second Life style’ MMO aims to provide an environment that is acceptable to such restrictions while still being a fun place to hang out.

According to Muxlim, users will have “the opportunity to wear a hijab, and go to prayer rooms.” Which may not sound like that much fun but, when you have seen the kind of tedious stuff they get up to in actual Second Life, starts to seem fairly reasonable.

Muxlim plans Muslim world’s first virtual world [TechCrunch]