Apps to get you through the month of Ramzan

NEW DELHI: Banker Mohammed Manzar who works in Gurugram says all he needed was an app that could tell him the qibla (direction of Kaaba), local prayer timings and a calendar that has both Hijri and Gregorian calendar. He was told about the Ramadan 2018 app that could update him about important timings, had a compass for qibla, a calendar converter and important duas for the month. Having installed it, he says even though he can’t make it to a mosque for namaaz, he isn’t missing any prayer or iftar.
Apps dedicated to Ramzan are the new way for working Muslim professionals to know local namaaz, iftar and sehri timings, and also be informed about Hadith, a record of sayings and traditions of Prophet Muhammad, and stories about his life. Earlier, one would get printed timetables from a local mosque before Ramzan. Today, with many Muslim professionals living away from home and working long shifts at places that are not necessarily close to a mosque, these apps have been a huge help in balancing their religious and professional duties.

A search for Ramzan or Ramadan on App store or Google Play will show thousands of apps such as Islamic Pro, Muslim Pro, Hadith of the Day, Hadith Sahih Bukhari, Ramzan 2018, Ramadan GIFs, Ramadan Dua etc. These are among the most searched applications across platforms and each app has seen a spike in downloads in recent days.

While prayers and sermons at any mosque would usually advise people against over usage of smartphones and clerics would usually be scornful about them, these apps have actually become very handy for many Muslims, especially travellers and professionals, to carry out their religious duties on the go.

Naved Wahab, an ad professional, says along with knowing the traffic, he has now started using Google Maps to know the nearest mosque. “At least in Ramzan I try and pray five times a day at the mosque. I know the rewards for religious duty are manifold this month and I don’t want to miss that. These apps come in handy in letting me know the prayer timing and nearest mosque in between my meetings,” he says.

For many retired employees such as Tarique Obaid, these apps are an ideal way to keep their family and grandkids informed about the importance of the month of Ramzan and also share important scriptures such as Sahih-al-Bukhari—a compilation of the Hadith by renowned Persian Islamic scholar Muhammad al Bukhari—in English through messaging services with family members.

There are other uses of these apps too. College student Farha Bilal uses them for creating customised Ramzan greetings. Shama and Arif, a young couple, use them to decide furniture placement in their house in such a way that their feet do not point towards Kaaba. “For every little thing, one had to rush to the local mosque and seek guidance. These apps instantly answer questions about wuzu, techniques of praying to what is permitted as per Islam,” Shama says.

Arif, though, added a word of caution. He always goes through the rating of an app and reads the feedback and reviews before deciding on one. “I crosschecked the teachings shared on the app with a local imam before following it. Since the reviews and the local cleric approved of it, I decided to use it extensively,” he says.