MyAdhan Blog

Update: We are giving away another 50 FREE Hajj and Umrah pocket guide books.

Hajj Mubarak to all who have completed their Hajj and Eid Mubarak for Eid al-Adha to all Muslims. MyAdhan hopes Muslims can gain the wonderful blessings of this day. MyAdhan would also like to thank its partners, subscribers and users for their continued support.

In celebration of Hajj we are giving away 50 FREE Pocket Hajj and Umrah Guide Books to the first people who text there name and address to 60066, making sure you start your text message with the word MYADHAN e.g. “MYADHAN Imran Iqbal, 40 Wordsworth Drive, East Didsbury, Birmingham, B1 2GF“.

The competition will be open to UK residents only and can only be entered by text message. Standard network sending charges apply. All winners will be notified by text if they have won. No response means that you’ve been unsuccessful. All winners will be announced by 1st March 2008. Good luck.

The last London night was the only opportunity I had to attend the Allah Made Me Funny tour. It was a wet Wednesday evening in West London but the mood was still great. The Riverside Studios was the venue for the last London date of the AMMF tour. Before the start of the evenings festivities I got a chance to go back stage to meet the comedians. I’ve had the pleasure of meeting Preacher Moss in the past and it was great to catch up with him. I also met Azhar Usman who was fired up and ready to do his part in the evenings entertainment. New to the team was Mohammed Amer, it was a pleasure to meet this brother who I had never seen before.

The event started a little late with Azhar leading the charge. I had seen Azhar in the past and was wondering how he had developed his act since I last saw him. I half expected the same jokes but was seemingly surprised with the new material and impressed with his ability to bring the audience to tears from his talents. Next up was Mohammed Amer. What an amazing comedian. I was in stitches throughout his set and wondered why he hadn’t already made aname for himself. Maybe it’s because he’s based in the US.

Finally, Preacher Moss graced the stage. I actually met Preacher way back in 2004 when he did his first UK tour. I was fortunate enough to spend a 7 day road trip with him and a bunch of Nasheed artists including the Flecher Valve Drummers. Preacher, the pioneer and creator of the “Allah Made Me Funny” tour ended a fabulous evening with another collection of witty observations and anecdotes that made me realise that humour is something that Muslims desperately need. Don’t get me wrong Muslims do need to be serious but I think we are often perceived as being too serious. That being said laughing, should be in moderation or someone will have to call an ambulance for me!

Great work guys, see you in the new year for another tour Inshallah.

MyAdhan has recently published its November 2007 Newsletter.

We took a short break from our monthly emails but are now back. You can check out our previous mailing list emails here.

If you didn’t already know MyAdhan is sponsoring the Allah Made Me Funny Tour. There are still tickets available for the tour that will go through all UK major cities including London, Birmingham, Bradford, Manchester, Glasgow, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Dundee, Leicester and Reading. Look out for us as co-sponsor Muslim Aid are using MyAdhan to collect charity donations by SMS.

MyAdhan has also done an interview in the latest edition of EMEL Magazine. Be sure to pick up a copy as the article talks about to how MyAdhan started and it’s plan for the future. EMEL is available in most good magazine outlets like WHSmith, Borders, Tesco and ASDA.

Finally, with Facebook fever currently taking over the Internet, MyAdhan decided to set up a Facebook Group to allow MyAdhan subscribers and supporters to collaborate. Be sure to add this group if you are a Facebook user.

MyAdhan is proud to be sponsoring the Allah Made Me Funny Tour 2007. The event will go up and down the country for the whole month of November and take its unique Islamic brand of humour to new heights.

MyAdhan will also be assisting Muslim Aid, who are also sponsors of the event, in providing it’s SMS charity donation platform to the show’s attendees to make live pledges with their mobile phones. The tour will go through all UK major cities including London, Birmingham, Bradford, Manchester, Glasgow, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Dundee, Leicester and Reading. To book tickets you can click here or call 0871 855 3069.

You can download the flyer for the tour by clicking the image on the right. You will need Adobe Acrobat PDF Reader to read the leafet.

The concept of the tour is to make a comprehensive effort to provide effective, significant and appropriate comedy from an Islamic perspective, which is both mainstream and cross-cultural. The idea is to provide an atmosphere whereby Muslims and non-Muslims can feel safe, relevant and inclusive through an experience where humour is used to bridge gaps of bias, intolerance, and other social ills that are pre and post 9/11 relevant.

www.ammftour.com

Due to the mercy of Allah MyAdhan has had an exceptional year. To round off the year, EMEL magazine invited the Founder and CEO of MyAdhan.com, Nasser Ahmed, for an interview on how and why MyAdhan.com was created. You can read the full article in the current issue of EMEL which is available in all most good magazine outlets like WHSmith, Borders and Tesco.

You can also download the article by clicking the image on the right. You will need Adobe Acrobat PDF Reader to read the leafet. Here is an extract:

“Mobile phones have tremendous potential to be used for the purposes of increasing the awareness of Islam and MyAdhan hopes that the services it provides can help Muslims develop their faith by using technology.” says Nasser a Computer Science graduate who with his audacious nature and enthusiasm recognised a gap in the industry and launched his company in 2004. “There was a massive opportunity to help Muslims nurture their Islamic responsibilities using a prayer alert service. MyAdhan’s focus is on using technology to make it easier to apply Islam in everyday life, allowing each individual to go at his or her pace in the development of their faith.” The tying of faith in God with modern technology is something Nasser clearly feels strongly about. “We have to try using different techniques and approaches to revive our faith in ourselves, families. communities and beyond” he states passionately. “We should be proud to be Muslims and make the intention to do something about our faith today.”

Nasser Ahmed, Founder and CEO, MyAdhan.com

It was only a matter of time before MyAdhan decided to set up a Facebook group to allow MyAdhan subscribers and supporters to collaborate. The Facebook group is also the place to keep up to date with what’s happening at MyAdhan.

If you have a Facebook account please add the MyAdhan Facebook Group. We’ll be updating the MyAdhan Facebook group with some special offers and events so add the group and keep yourself updated.

Facebook is a social utility that connects people with friends and others who work, study and live around them. People use Facebook to keep up with friends, upload an unlimited number of photos, share links and videos, and learn more about the people they meet.

www.facebook.com

IslamChannel recently launched a brand new show dedicated to find the best Mosque in the United Kingdom, Model Mosque. Each week two Mosques will battle it out and qualify for each heat which will lead to a two mosque final at the final at the Global Peace and Unity 2007.

MyAdhan will provide the SMS text message voting platform to allow viewers the ability to vote for their Mosque to help progress it to the final. MyAdhan is excited to be working with such an exciting ground-breaking programme which is raising the standards of Mosques up and down the country.

“Model Mosque is a national competition to find the best mosque in the UK. The ultimate aims of the show are to improve standards within UK mosques and to share best practice amongst mosques. The show has nothing to do with the size, layout or architecture of a mosque. It has everything to do with the services the mosque provides for its local community and how well the mosque manages relations with the local host community”.

IslamChannel Model Mosque Website

Earlier this year MyAdhan first piloted a new scheme to allow TV charity appeal pledges to be collected via SMS at no cost to mobile phone users using our 80800 shortcode and DONATE keyword. We also reported on our that we had been working very closely with Channel S and more recently IslamChannel on this scheme.

We can now report that at the end of Ramadhan MyAdhan has helped raise over £2 million for UK Islamic charities, which is a phenominal achievement. One appeal alone generated over £160,000 worth of donations during the whole month.

MyAdhan hopes to continue to work with UK charities to help them use SMS text messaging as a way for donors to interact with charities.

With Ramadhan fast approaching it makes sense to have a battle plan to ensure you get the best out of the month. Here is a short list of activities that will ensure you make the most out of Ramadhan.

Update: Hat’s off to the people at Sound Vision where this was taken from.

1. Make Duaa (supplication) - Ask Allah to make this the most awesome, spiritually uplifting Ramadhan you’ve ever had. Only He can make it happen and relying on Him completely is the key to getting the best out of Ramadhan. Make Duaa for yourself, your family. your neighbourhood, your community and the Ummah. Ask Allah to forgive your your past, present and future sins and finally make Duaa for all the poor and unfortunate people in this world.
2. Quiet your mind, turn off the… TV, Internet, radio, mobile phone, iPod, etc. No, not all day, but for at least 10 minutes a day. Find a quiet place, close your eyes and connect with God. At first, your mind will swirl with the useless and not-so-useless info in your head. But force it to think of three things in these few minutes, Allah, your purpose in life, are you living your life on purpose? Do this every day of Ramadhan if you can. If that’s not possible, try it at least three times a week.

Continue reading…

What is QibSat?
QibSat is a handheld GPS (Global Positioning Satelite) device that you can use to get an accurate direction of Qiblah (direction towards Mecca to pray) and sunrise/sunset times anywhere in the world.

What’s in the box?

• QibSat GPS Device
• USB cable (there is no mains adapter)
• Soft Carry Case
• Instruction manual

My experience
After receiving my QibSat in the post, I was presented with a neatly packed package which was padded and well protected. Once open, I was presented with a watch like box containing all the bits of the product. The outer case along with the innner box was QibSat branded which really impressed me in the sense that the product looks properly presented and packaged.

Once the inner box is open the QibSat device sat one side of the inner box in a velvet holder and the USB charger and instruction manual on the other side under and hidden flap. This wasn’t too obvious when I first opened the box but that’s nothing major.

My first instinct was to grab the QibSat device to see what it looked like. The device was a little larger than expected, about the same size a thinnish flip phone. I expected it to be the same size as a cigerette lighter or key chain. None the less QibSat is thin and as light as a box of matches and can neatly sit in a trouser or shirt pocket. The device doesn’t have an screen like a convensional SatNav but more of an LCD interface much like a watch.

In short, the device was very easy to use. There are some settings to choose (laser on/off, sound on/off, Great Circle line/ Rhumb line direction, time zone, sunrise alarm) and you do need to get a GPS fix before use. In short this meant taking the device outside the building I was in to get a clear GPS signal. The point of this was to ensure the GPS system knew its location. Obviously out of the box this may have been correct for where it was physically built but it may be different for my geographic location. To get a GPS fix I just pressed the power button for a few seconds and waited for the outer compass LED light display to flash in a circle.

I needed to use my QibSat on three occasions while on the road as my work means I have to travel up and down the country to new places. Each use was inside a hotel room to locate Qiblah so I needed to get a GPS fix outside first. The process to locate Qiblah was simple and I just followed the instructions in the manual:

1. Place the QibSat on a flat surface or hold it horizontal.
2. Press the power button breifly.
3. The device calculates the Qiblah form the GPS location and indicates its approximate direction with a lit segment arounds the outer compass LED light display.

The cool thing about locating Qiblah with QibSat is that when you rotate the device to pinpoint the direction you get an audible tone telling you are close to the accurate direction. When you face the correct absolute direction the device a red laser point is emitted from the top of QibSat. The instruction manual mentions magnetic intereference when you are inside buildings and way the device lets you know if there is too much interference but I never really experienced any problems like this. The result of this interference is that it will consiquently give you an inaccurate Qiblah direction.

Battery Life
On a full charge the battery should last about a 4-6 weeks, given that you use the device reasonably regularly.

Accessories
There is a mains charger available so that the device can be charged if you don’t have a computer USB port.

Positives

• Excellent Qiblah accuracy.
• Decent form factor and weight.
• Excellent battery life.
• Shows and alerts Sunrise and Sunset times.

Negatives

• Needs to get a GPS fix when you change town or country.
• If you don’t travel much you may only end up using this device once to find Qiblah for your home.
• A little pricey at £99.99 + £5.00 postage.

Review Score

  4 out of 5, QibSat would have got a 5 if the price was a little lower.

Exclusive Offer
MyAdhan subscribers can get a special offer on Qibsats and you can see more details on this offer on the MyAdhan Website.

If you would like us to review your product please contact us.