To PrayAnywhere.com Team and my Management Information Systems Students:
Assalam Alycome,
I am working on an App and wondering if you want me to have the PrayAnywhere Logo and if you want to host it. It is under development and I might have a working test app in days.
Background:
You probably remember UConn’s MSA approach last year practicing Athan in the middle of campus to get reward for congregated Salat, which has many other benefits of spreading Islamic Awareness much more easier than any approach as you can see in those humble videos that documented it in www.youtube.com/3izza2 channel and a facebook page called FreeAthan.
We also had an old Facebook page that was to facilitate planning of congragted salats for Students called UConn Salat Planner, which is currently in active.
Mission:
I am going along with the mission I posted along time ago around spreading awareness by involvement, hearing Athan and seeing Salat.
The Problem:
Muslims around the US usually pray alone, in malls, campuses, rooms, labs, and around parking lots etc.. They miss the value and reward of congregated prayer. It is rare that you would be joined with a Muslim to pray with you, especially when the Iqamah (Time and Place) are unknown, eg when you are shopping,, or switching between classes!
The idea:
It would be a nice solution to have an App that would facilitate finding people around you who would want to pray for Dhohor, for example, around you at a specific time.
The approach:
Using Smart phones facilities like GPS/Map and internet technologies. We probably can have a way to do it with ease. We would need a server where the App can search for people who have shown interest to pray at a specific time near you. The Server needed should be temporal, meaning we do not need to search for people prayed last week, for obvious reasons! The service helps you post plans and search plans, and possibly some reward mechanism which can be discussed later.
What I used:
The App currently is using the Twitter API, for reasons:
1- The Twitter Server is temporal,
2- it facilitate searching by location.
3- We can define new random places in twitter,
4- It is free
5- It helps with Islamic Awareness: as even if you do not have the software, people who follow you in twitter, would notice people praying.) if you do not want to be followed you can just create a dummy account!
6- It Helps spreading the program faster as many people use twitter, and any related hashtags! like #PrayAnywhere, I suppose!
7- Many People are used to tweet! Program would be user friendly.
8- The App would actually be a protocol, not a special software, In other words, any software can be built to access the same service! The PrayAnywhere protocol can actually be part of most or all Athan software out there, where each Athan software can have their oown customization.
9- It is not another Athan software, it is more of an Iqamah locator, which can be seen as a new concept in the Islamic tools!
This is a glimpse of some of the advantages. There are other usages of this service, but I will keep it for future discussions.
How it works? Scenario Based:
Intention: Ali can be at a mall shopping… It is 1200 pm and time for Dhohor, Ali wants to pray in Jama3ah any time between 1200 and 200. he is flexible.
Action: Ali opens the software, the software pops a display that shows people who intend to pray Dhohor at a specific time near him. Ali reads in a tweet that Mohammad will pray at lunch time 1230 in his Shop name or number. Some description of map info to reach the place of meeting. He makes his decision to meet Mohammad at 1230.
Intention 2: Yousif works at his lab, It is 300 pm, and usually pray at the lobby Aser at 3:30 alone every Tuesday. He wants Jama3ah,
Action: Yousif opens the software, and with one click posts that he would pray aser at a predefined location (the lobby) at a specfic time 330 for iqamah. Abobakr might show up, or someone or no one!
Intention3: I am at Times square, it is crowded, I want to pray.
Action: I open the software and with one click sets that I want to pray at My Location in 30 minutes! I might get people around me, using the software or not!
Intention4: Even though no one will pray with me, I will tell the world that I am praying.. by tweeting #PrayAnywhere!
I guess you get the idea!
Discussion:
Just to keep you posted, I might share some updates from now and then, in the mean time, I appreciate your opinion on. Also, update me if you think it should hold the prayanywhere Logo.
Programming: Currently I am learning Andriod API, google API, twitter API. Does anyone want to join in? Do any of you know how to program in iOS Apple phones? or Microsoft? I guess the first version will be in Andriod devices. Also, Please udpate me if you want to be part of the Beta testing. Do you have an advanced Andriod Device?
Walakom Assalam Hussam,
Thanks for the update, how are things? it is been a long time.
I see that your are busy with PrayAnywhere app, hope it turns out good for you.
The idea is new and it is technically achievable, however, my only concern is from religious point of view.
We know that the Intention of doing a prayer is a must but also it has to be in the heart.
So, I am asking if you checked the Islamic point of view before starting the project?
Regarding the religious point of view, there is no contradiction between making an intention and publisizing that you will make Salat, infact the 5 Salat are public events, unlike Salat Qiyam which is generally private. Like Sadaqah which is both a private and a public event, both are acceptable in Islam,
Also, Like Athan, Athan is a public event as the Mothin is calling all to pray with him and reminding them. Actually one name for the name was to call it electric Athan, but PrayAnywhere is part of an on going project with http://www.prayanywhere.com which focuses on reviving the Sunnah of making Salat and Athan everywhere, here is a sample of some youtube videos on Athan in the US http://www.youtube.com/3izza2
Like always, be sure to update me with anything, also, update me if I did not understand your question!
Jamaan, nice to hear from you, let us see you if you are around! Still in Dhahran?!