Recently, a group named Niqabiz contacted ProductMuslim about a hijab collection designed for children. Niqabiz seems to be a small personal business and currently does not have a web store available, however, some of their collection can be seen at http://niqabiz.blogspot.com and they receive orders via email at niqabiz@gmail.com.

I couldn’t help but post about this product. Each design looks well thought out with careful attention to detail. Even external parts of the hijab, such as the antenna and wings shown in the bee themed decorative hijab above, are well incorporated with the overall design. I can imagine any child looking adorable in one of these, if the above wasn’t enough to convince you then I present to you Ms. LadyBug Hijab and Miss Queen Hijab:

I think I’ve proven my point regarding the ‘cuteness’ factor of these decorative hijabs.

The question I pose now is if they’re appropriate? Unfortunately, in this world of misunderstanding, there are many, many misconceptions about the hijab. Muslims know that children of this age do not need to wear a head cover but most others do not. Heck, many non-Muslims still think our sisters shower with their hijabs on. Is this sort of image for children harmful towards others understanding the role of the hijab in Islam? Or is it a trivial issue of misunderstanding that could help start useful dialogue and discussion among people?

These decorative hijabs could also act as a great way for children to practice wearing a head cover at a young age. I’m not sure if girls ever practice wearing the hijab before wearing it full time but my thinking is that everyone needs to start somewhere, why not do so in a fun way?

Since I’m not a woman nor have any children of my own, I thought it would be best to ask others what they thought of the product? Would you dress your loved one in a children’s decorative hijab? Why or why not?

I was personally surprised hearing some of the responses from the iHijab article and so I’m excited to hear what everyone thinks of these.

Looking forward to everyone’s thoughts!

This nifty product is a great dua reminder for whenever you’re travelling in your car. PeaceTech’s “Invocation for the Journey with Other Supplications” is designed to be a simple plug and play device which fits into a car’s DC power out and recites duas from the Sunnah of the Prophet when the vehicle is turned on. In addition to performing its main purpose of reciting the duas, it has functions allowing the user to turn down the volume and switch to an alternate set of duas. The duas last about 40 seconds and the video demo can be seen to see and hear the device in action.

It has a pivot joint allowing for flexibility to fit in comfortably into the car’s power adapter. It slides in firmly but there is no light or LED to signal whether the device is plugged in fully so you might find yourself pushing down unnecessarily just be sure its in. Once its in place, turning the ignition, even if its just till the ‘A/C’ degree, the adapter is powered and begins the recitation of the duas. Consequently, if you go from the ‘A/C’ mode, to completing turning on the vehicle, it will re-recite the duas since there is a subtle break in power to the device as the car turns on.

Since there is no ‘ON’ or ‘OFF’ switch, the power it receives from the car battery acts as a trigger for the adapter. There is a slight delay, just a few seconds, after the car turns on before the first verses of the dua can be heard. I have found myself grabbing for the device, impatiently, to ensure its plugged in, but by the time I get to fiddle with it, the recitation would begin. I’ve learnt to give it, its time.

The device has no integration with the vehicle and is an independent accessory. This means that if the radio is on, or if you’re on the phone (via the car’s built-in mic or your own bluetooth headset), the device is completely unaware and does not stop or pause. The only way to turn it off is to pull it out of its jack.

Alternatively, the volume can be reduced. There are only two volume settings, Loud and Quiet. The two buttons on the side toggle between the settings.

The voice itself is monotone and slightly robotic in nature. I have noticed myself grow accustomed to it and sometimes zoning out whilst it plays and not pay attention to the dua or its meaning. This is where the alternate dua has helped change things a bit. If you grow weary of listening to exact same dua recited every time, theres a tiny toggle switch above the volume control buttons which will switch the dua to another one.

In terms of voice clarity though, the words are enunciated clearly so its easy to follow and very memorizable. I have on occasion heard it turn very static-y like the speakers weren’t getting enough power or there was a lot of noise in the signal. Removing and re-inserting the device solved the issue.

In all, I really like having this reminder in my car to make sure every drive starts off with a dua and with the remembrance of Allah swt. I would recommend this product to any drivers who have a tendency to forget or for those looking to learn the dua or teach it to family/kids.

The product will most likely be available at your local Islamic Books and Accessories store. We found one at the Islamic Books and Souvenirs store at the Gerrard India Bazaar in Toronto. Look for the packaging shown in the following photos:

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This article and video review was submitted by Mujtaba Jilani and Mahir Basheer. JazakAllah khair brothers for a fantastic review. Do you have a product you think is cool? Submit it to ProductMuslim!

I love when people come up with new and creative ways to fundraise and give dawah.

I had the pleasure of meeting Brother Qadeer Abdul this year at MuslimFest 2010 where he showed me his Ramadan lawn sign fundraising campaign. He is selling $10 Ramadan signs that are designed to be placed on lawns and other grassy areas. All proceeds from the signs go directly to his local masjid.

It’s a simple idea with a simple message; “Happy Ramadan – Charity, Humanity, Peace”.  What a great way to share the cornerstones of Ramadan with neighbhours. The physical design of the product is even simpler than its message. The sign is made using a thin sheet of plastic that is held up with a metal rod, very similar to those used for political campaigns.

Dawah and fundraising in a simple yet effective form. I love it! The only suggestion for improvement I have is for future signs to include the link to a website rather than an email address. The website could allow people to purchase the signs online or could be one that provides dawah related resources.

I happily bought one for myself and I look forward to putting it on my lawn for Ramadan. If you would like to order your own Ramadan lawn sign, please contact Qadeer Abdul at islamicsigns@gmail.com.

Would you consider purchasing one? What do you think of this product, is it effective? Does the design affect your decision? Any improvements you can suggest?

More photos of the Ramadan lawn sign from MuslimFest 2010 below, click to see full size:

iTaskinator Pro is an iPhone/iPod Touch application developed by ProductiveMuslim.com to help Muslims better manage their time. The application uses a method of task management called “time-blocking” to help users organize how long to spend on tasks and in what order to get them finished.

What is time-blocking exactly? Keith Rosen from AllBusiness.com describes “time-blocking” as:

Now there are many task management and time management mobile applications available, what makes iTaskinator Pro so special? It’s custom made for Muslims. The iTunes application description of iTaskinator Pro describes it best:

Pretty cool idea to integrate prayer times along with task and time management. The best way to describe the look and feel of the application is through video, here’s the official demo from ProductiveMuslim.com’s YouTube channel:

Application Strengths

• Great idea to automatically include prayer times into the user’s schedule. I really like how the application uses the phone’s GPS to find prayer times for the area that the person is currently in.
• I really like the progress bar on the home screen that shows overall progress through tasks.
• I like the drop down menu that allows the user to switch between different areas of focus on the ‘Schedule’ page

Areas for Improvement

• I’ll be honest, I don’t like the name ‘iTaskinator’. It may not seem like a big deal but the name of the application represents its brand and how people perceive it, perhaps it is just me, but ‘iTaskinator’ just doesn’t feel professional.
• The logo on the home screen for iTaskinator doesn’t serve a purpose and takes up valuable real estate on the screen. Perhaps use that area to list the next 3 to 4 upcoming tasks? Or remove the home screen all together and have the ‘New Task’ and ‘Random Thoughts’ buttons on a toolbar on the ‘Schedule’ page.
• Adding a new task could be faster. Once a user presses the ‘New Task’ button, the keyboard should pop up immediately. Also, the drop down menus used to set the ‘When’ and ‘Duration’ are uncomfortable to use, perhaps use the standard Apple user interface elements that people are accustomed to setting.
• There should be a way to change the prayer times from within the app rather than having to go to the Settings area on the iPhone
• There should be some way to sync the task data from iTaskinator with an online service or a desktop application.

Overall

A great start to an application with a neat idea, I look forward to seeing improvements on the application.
Overall Rating – 3/5

To learn more about iTaskinator, please visit their official website. Click here to download the application from iTunes. Also, make sure to check out all the great projects that ProductiveMuslim.com are working on at their website at http://www.productivemuslim.com/.

This is ProductMuslim.com’s first review on e-Alim Digital Quran.

The device is really cool (I actually ended up buying two of them). Very handy for taking on public transport as well as courses and lectures. Aside from Quran, Tafseer and Hadith Books, it also contains some useful extras like Riyadh-us-Saaliheen and Hisn-ul-Muslim. Makes a great gift. Look forward to your comments!

Design – 4/5 Stars
Usability – 3/5 Stars
Content – 4/5 Stars
Price – 3/5 Stars
Overall – 3.5/5 Stars

For more on e-Alim visit: www.moon-tech.com

When Marshal Mcluhan said “Medium is the message” he was wrong! It’s not what it is, it’s what you do with it. And if you don’t believe me, I can always throw the rusty knife example (no pun intended) at you. It goes like this: A knife is bad if you kill someone with it, but it’s good if you cut an apple with it.

So why am I ranting about something that makes no sense? Maybe because I want to start converting aluminum cigar holders into fancy Miswak Holders with Arabic calligraphy on them. Now that I’m getting emails and phone calls from all around the world, saying “Haram brother!” “Bida brother!” you understand why I had to give such a lengthy and defensive introduction to this concept.

You have to admit it will be pretty useful. I’ve seen brothers carry their Miswak in their dirty pockets, dashboards, mouths and other places which might not pass the censors – have some concern for hygiene ikhwati fillah!

Comment and let me know:

(1) How this idea flies with you?

(2) How much you would pay for it, with or without Miswak inside?

(3) Would you get it as a gift for someone else?

I personally find the mobile software space to be fascinating, especially the iPhone’s app store. There are new innovative Islamically centered applications released on the app store every day that can considerably improve Muslim lifestyles. Sophisticated applications like iQuran and iHadith may be the best and most effective ways to read our religious texts digitally. iPray is the easiest way to check prayer times and find the direction of qibla, it even uses the iPhone’s GPS and compass capabilities to customize timings and direction specifically for where you are.  Zabihah Halal uses GPS to display nearby masjids, halal groceries and halal restaurants with reviews and ratings from thousands of users. It’s a very exciting time in the mobile industry and the best applications are yet to come. To make sure I’m always up to date, I always browse through the iPhone app store to see what’s new.

When I came upon iHijab while browsing for new applications I was immediately intrigued and installed it to check it out. The application allows you to choose different styles of hijab that you can place on top of pictures from your photo library. You can zoom and move around the picture you choose so that the person’s face fits the hijab, it’s not perfect but it’s pretty close to faking the look of a hijab. The creators of the application, Fishbone Consultancy, describe the app on their website as follows:

The hijab selection screen, shown to the right, shows the different types of hijabs you can choose. This is where I started to become suspicious, I had no mixed feelings about the application up until I saw this screen. As you can see, some of the photos have ridiculous facial expressions and odd backdrops. Is this making fun of Muslims? I tried to give them the benefit of the doubt but I couldn’t get over some of the thumbnails for hijab selection. Take for example, the one with the White House in the background on the far left in the second row. What is the purpose of this picture? It shows the man in the hijab clearly mocking the camera while in front of the White House of the United States. Is this implying that Muslims criticize the U.S. government? And what about the hijab selection in the top right where the man is under a camel?

Okay Tareq, slow down. I realized I might have been over reacting and I looked for others opinion. I brought the application to my Mother, explained it to her, how to use it and asked her what she thought. “This is so stupid” she said. I asked “Why? Do you find it offensive?”. She replied “Yes, it’s just stupid”. “I asked what if it were an application showing cowboy hats? There are many people around the world that wear them as a part of their culture.” She still felt uncomfortable about the application but couldn’t specifically say why.

I then brought it to my sister, I showed her the application and let her use it. In minutes there was a picture of me in a hijab and giggles all around. She loved it! She didn’t find the application offensive and took it as a joke, she saw no considerable attempts at real mockery.

What started to really intrigue me was not the application itself but rather how people viewed the symbol of the hijab. The application description said nothing about Muslims or Islam, was it really targeting us at all? Is the hijab not much more than a piece of clothing but a sign of modesty and respect? This application could simply be a look into a world that is unknown to many people, it could be seen equivalent as an application that dresses one in a Japanese kimono or an Inuit snow jacket. Would that be offensive? Then again, the hijab is also a very prominent symbol to represent Islam. It is used in marketing to symbolize and stereotype Muslims as much as long black beards and salwars are.

I wanted to see more views on the application so I started looking at customer reviews and ratings on the app store. The average rating was 2.5 stars of 5 star with most ratings being 1 star. Here are some of the reviews:

Again, mixed thoughts. I was still confused and I didn’t know whether I found this application offensive or not. I guess there is nothing wrong with the idea but the selection screen really bothered me. I left the application on my to-do list to review for ProductMuslim and decided I should give it some more thought. The next time I opened the app store I noticed there was an update for it. The description of the update was: “new hijab overview screen”. I installed it and the only change was the selection screen now with attractive women with normal smiling facial expressions. Now why did they do this? It was the only change in the update so they must have considered it significant enough to alter.

The selection screen has changed, shouldn’t my mind now be at ease? I still don’t know. As I mentioned, evaluating my view on this application has more to do with the hijab than the app itself. I realized I’m trying to understand what the symbol means to me. Is it offensive because I’m being defensive? Would I raise this question if it was a religious symbol from something other than islam?

What do you think? Do you find this application offensive? If so, why? Ask others around you, I think you’ll be surprised to hear so many mixed reviews.

Looking forward to hearing what you all think!

I had the opportunity to interview Baba Ali this past summer at MuslimFest 2009.

In Part 1 of the interview, Ali discusses how he started each of his projects from his board games to his YouTube channel. He explains how he got others involved and provides links to resources he utilized. In Part 2 of the interview, Ali provides some amazing advice and life lessons for any Muslim interested in business.

Takeaways

A truly inspiring and motivational interview! I would recommend watching both parts of the interview but, for convenience, I have summarized some of my favourite takeaways.

Ali encouraged Muslims to be more creative and original with their ideas rather than “Islamify” already existing ideas. He emphasized that with unique ideas we can inspire others and become the standard for high quality products.

Ali is convinced that if you make a high quality product the people will come to you. During MuslimFest 2009 he simply sat at his booth for Kalimaat and didn’t once call anyone over. People who were interested approached him and asked him what it was all about, he demoed it people to show them the quality of the product. Kalimaat sold itself.

When Baba Ali decided to make board games he didn’t know much if anything on how and where to start. In the interview he emphasizes that to learn, you must ask others for advice and help and become more knowledgeable about your field of work.

Failures can be tough to swallow but Ali advises to not let them keep you down. He mentions how every failure is an experience to learn from ones mistakes and then start over again. The experience teaches more than just how to avoid another negative scenario but rather humbles oneself.

I’d like to thank Ali Ardekani for his spending his time to chat with us and share advice from all his experiences. You can follow all the projects that Ali is involved with on his own blog, http://www.ummahfilms.com/

An automatic wudu washer? Seriously?

As ridiculous as it may sound, the product has some merit. I’ll be honest, the first time I watched the video I was very doubtful and simply labeled it as a ‘stupid gimmick’. Then I came to realize that their target demographic, Muslim majority countries, may need such a machine more than they think. Why? Well it enforces a simple lesson taught by our Prophet  (peace and blessings be upon him):

Anas (may Allah be pleased with him) said, “The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) used to perform ghusl (ritual bathing) with a sa` (around 4 mudds) of water, and he used to make wudu’ with one mudd of water” (Al-Bukhari and Muslim)

Note: A mudd is that amount of water which is held by the two hands cupped together.

As the video claims, the device actually conserves water usage. Now it doesn’t state whether the amount used is a mudd or not but I’m sure it could be configured to act as such.

Imagine if this was installed across all washrooms within a Muslim majority country, no doubt, there would be significant amounts of water saved. Clean water is a precious resource and as it becomes more valuable each day, with wide adoption, using this machine could be a significant mechanism used to save money. So it’s both economical and helps others follow the Prophet’s sunnah!? What’s not to like?? The fact that it’s not needed.

I’ve personally always tried keeping things simple. Our Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) used one mudd to make wudu with out the need for such a fancy contraption, can’t we learn to do the same? The sad fact is that many people won’t learn. I’m sure, just like I’ve seen, you’ve all witnessed the massacre of public washrooms by other Muslims. There is water all over the sink, puddles on the floor, and sometimes water even dripping from the ceiling (which to this day I still can’t rationally understand). The machine would help many people who are irresponsible when making wudu but that to me doesn’t justify its purchase, I’d rather teach others the importance of conservation rather than enforce it in just one situation.

Am being too hard? Perhaps since it seems expensive it doesn’t seem worth it, would it seem viable if it were affordable for the average consumer? Maybe I don’t like it because it’s a change to something that I’ve done for so many years? I’d love to hear what you think, what would (if anything) motivate you to purchase a wudu washer? Post your comments below!

Source

Stop rolling, start tapping!

Ever been really excited about something, and then your friend says:

“Isn’t that haram?”

Yeah it can be a real downer. I was telling my friend about our new found love for Monopoly and the epic games that had been taking place downtown Toronto, when he quoted a pretty solid hadith about the use of dice. It goes like this:

“He who plays with dice will be deemed as a person thrusting his hands in pig’s blood.” (Reported by Muslim on the authority of Buraydah)

http://www.islamonline.net/english/In_Depth/Religious/SportsinIslam/PlayingSports/Articles/05.shtml#ixzz0dGo4plqV

Yeah, I know all you super chilled out, Islam is love, peace and goodwill people are going “How extreeeeme! Dude, this is not what our deen is about!” However, the least we can do is to read the hadith a couple of times, let it sink in and get some scholarly opinions about it. OR, we can just go invent a Random Number Generator (RNG). This is one of the best things about the Shariah, it forces you to be creative and think outside the box. The RNC will not just be a bareboned LED Digital Clock (like some of you NON-creative people would have come with), it will actually be embedded in the middle of the boardgame (as shown in the picture). All you have to do is tap the interface and it will come up with a random number for you – Genius eh!

Anyone wishing to contribute to the development of this product, comment below with improvements and additions. It’s going to make millions!

Happy rolling, umm… tapping!