The Arab American News
RAMADAN 2011
12
By Hajer Naili
E
duca ng people and figh ng misconcep ons
about Islam is the challenge taken up by
Amanda Quraishi, who developed a new smart
phone applica on, Muslim365.
Muslim365 provides daily facts about Islam, in-
cluding verses from the Qur'an, ahadith and expla-
na ons of Arabic words, tradi ons, beliefs as well as
historical anecdotes.
On her blog, Quraishi, an American Muslim who
embraced Islam 12 years ago, writes “Rather than
argue with people who simply want to believe that
Muslims are all violent, misogynis c, religious lu-
na cs, I thought the best thing to do would be to
communicate genuinely with moderate, intelligent
folks who really want to get to know more about
us…That’s when I came up with the idea of a smart-
phone app that serves up a daily fact about Muslims
and Islam in an engaging and entertaining way.”
With a sense of humor, she told the Aus n State-
man.com that the applica on will not cause you to
be "converted, indoctrinated, hypno zed, browbeat,
jihad-ed, or added to an FBI watch list."
The 37-year-old
Web administrator
hopes that the ap-
plica on
will
mainly help people
clear their miscon-
cep ons of Islam
and get answers to
ques ons. "For a
lot of Westerners,
Islam can seem re-
ally in mida ng,"
she says.
Quraishi, a mother of 8-year-old twins, describes
herself as a "flaming liberal progressive Muslim-
American feminist.” She is well-known for being a
passionate supporter of interfaith dialogue. She con-
tributes to a Jewish blog and took a job last month
as Web administrator at the Catholic-founded char-
ity Mobile Loaves & Fishes.
The new applica on is already available free for
iPhones, iPads and iPod Touches and soon will be
available for Android phones.
Illume Magazine
iMuslim: There's an
app for that!
In the midst of the Silicon Valley, Muslims are mak-
ing use of advanced technology to keep in prac ce
with their religion. With the development of the
iPad and various versions of iPods and iPhones,
more and more applica ons are being designed to
accommodate a diverse range of lifestyles.
Local Islamic applica on designer, Azmat
Tanauli, says, “Just like the Gutenberg Press back
when the Bible was being printed was a revolu-
onary item, the iPad is bringing the same revolu-
on to [our understanding of] the Qur'an.”
With applica ons dedicated to informing wor-
shippers of the daily prayer mes, giving deep in-
sight into Arabic root words within the Qur'an, and
even informing Muslims of local restaurants that
offer zabihah meat, prac cing individuals now
have access to an extensive amount of useful infor-
ma on just a touch away.
Similar applica ons are also becoming increas-
edly available on Blackberry and Android models.
Although there are number of applica ons spe-
cific to the Muslim faith, here is a list and short de-
scrip on of some of the most popular:
Zabihah: World's largest guide to halal restau-
rants and products
iQuran: Complete text of the Qur'an in both Ara-
bic and English with recita ons
iPray: Offers mes for five daily prayers depend-
ing on city of residence, also includes Qibla infor-
ma on
iQibla: Uses iPhone 3G’s GPS to iden fy the ac-
curate direc on of the Qibla
Izkar: Simula on of tasbeeh
(remembrance/Dhikr) beads
iZakah: Calculates the required amount of zakah
iEatHalal: A guide
that iden fies zabi-
hah food and
restaurants
For fica on of
the Muslim: A
collec on of
prayers and sup-
plica ons from
the Qur'an and
Sunnah
Mosques: A
quick mosque
finder to lo-
cate nearby
places of wor-
ship
iHadith: A
collec on of
some of the sayings of the
Prophet Muhammad.
New smart phone app to
understand Islam: Muslim 365
I S L A M & T E C H N O L O G Y
Halal Scanner
Halal Scanner is an innova ve one-of-a-kind Islamic
iPhone app that scans ingredient labels on food prod-
ucts and automa cally determines the halal status of
food addi ves contained within the product.
Simply point your iPhone 3GS camera at the ingredi-
ents label of a food product and the scanner will cap-
ture and check the food addi ve numbers it finds in
our halal database to determine whether or not the
addi ves are halal.
Halal Scanner also allows you to search through a
halal database when you need to look up addi ves in
a hurry or if you are using an iPod Touch, iPhone 2G
or 3G, or an iPad.
Visit
for full details.
• Scan ingredient labels and automa cally
determine halal status of food addi ves.
• Search through food addi ves using the
keypad.
• Browse through an en re database of
food addi ves and their halal status.
• Customize the start page of the app for
easy access to your favorite feature.
