Back in 2018, the idea for a website struck Wan Azizul Wan Kamaruzaman when he saw his mum struggling to read the Quran on her mobile phone.
The app used the popular PDF format to display the Quran but didn’t allow her to enlarge the font or translate Arabic to Bahasa Malaysia.
“As my mum is an elderly person, it would have been better if she had the option to make the text bigger or look up the meaning of specific verses,” he said.
Wan Azizul, who has a Masters in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from Shibaura Institute of Technology in Tokyo, Japan, decided to get to work on building a better solution for his mum.
It didn’t take long for the full-time programmer to launch Tilawah.my, a website that allows users to read the Quran, translate verses to Bahasa Malaysia, adjust the font size and bookmark their progress.
The website also has an audio feature that pronounces the verses according to the tajwid (rules of recitation) and a colour code to help users learn to recite on their own.
“There are people who are too shy to get help because of their age. Typically, children will learn to recite the Quran from an ustaz or ustazah in religious classes.
“However, as some people get older, they may forget how to recite and Tilawah has an audio feature to help them relearn again,” he said.
Initially, Wan Azizul made the website especially for his mother and only allowed a limited number of other people to access it.
“My mum started telling more relatives and close friends about the website and I slowly opened it up to more people,” Wan Azizul said.
He then decided to develop an app that offers more personalisation features, including the option to select the voice of the speaker and a journal for penning thoughts.
The app is now available on both Google Play and Apple App Store.
“When it was launched, it got 300 downloads on the first day. Then we hit 100,000 downloads in another two days,” he said, adding it was due to the popularity of the website.
Wan Azizul funded the Tilawah – Quran & Mathurat app on his own as it’s his passion project, slogging after work and during weekends with a small team to ensure the app would be up to par.
“We spend hours programming and fixing bugs, and vetting the content to ensure we’re not providing the wrong information,” he said.
Wan Azizul did not expect users in Malaysia to pay to use an app. But as he received more feedback about Tilawah from users via email messages, he realised that users are willing to pay for features they find useful.
To help fund the site and app – and continue keeping them ad-free – he introduced an option for donation of any amount.
“I was surprised and touched to discover that some of our users are very passionate about the app. The most I’ve received has been RM1,000, from a user who wanted us to keep up the good work,” he said.
The app has up to 15,000 daily active users, he said, claiming that the figure tripled during Ramadan.
“We are encouraged to recite the Quran during Ramadan so we can feel closer to God,” he said.
One of the key factors he took into consideration when developing the app was ensuring it would work standalone and not require an Internet connection.
“That’s really important for me because the Internet connection in my mum’s area is not stable.
“When I got her a new phone, I made sure to download the app because that’s the first thing she would want. It’s a really nice feeling to see her using the app,” he said.
He also felt that localisation is important and one of the reasons apps from other countries don’t do very well here is because they include terms and instructions that Malaysians find difficult to understand.
He is now planning to add more features to the app, including a Qibla finder and prayer times.
“But they are secondary. I’m more focused on making sure the app is smooth and error-free,” he said.
A matter of record
Just like Wan Azizul, a personal family experience inspired app developer Ahmad Fairiz Jaafar to work on a better tech solution in 2016.
His son, who had just come back from school asked him how to recite a verse from the Quran according to the tajwid but he was unable to teach him.
“I was really embarrassed because I couldn’t help him. I didn’t know the answer,” he said.
Ahmad Fairiz realised that he was not alone as his peers shared the same concern, as they too had forgotten how to recite the Quran according to the tajwid.
Some said they were too embarrassed to seek help or attend classes, he said, citing being judged for the lack of knowledge as their main concern.
“The perception is that when you are older, you should already know the tajwid and be able to help your child or younger family members learn it as well.
“I guess we just let other aspects of our lives get in the way of what is an important part of being a Muslim,” he said.
This spurred Ahmad Fairiz to work on a solution that not only would help him but others too, which made him develop the app Recite.
It allows users to select a verse from the app, record their recitation and submit it for review by an ustaz or ustazah.
“You should be able to get a review as soon as three hours or within a day. You can save and refer to it when you need to,” Ahmad Fairiz said.
He claimed that Recite has a stringent process for selecting reviewers.
Applicants have to first sit through a three-minute test that involves 10 questions about the tajwid before submitting a recording of selected verses to be judged by the company’s panel.
In the last phase, the applicant will be presented with a series of pre-recorded recitations but with errors.
“Our panel wants to see how they correct the mistakes,” Ahmad Fairiz explained.
He said applicants should possess at least a teaching certification that has been recognised by the Darul Quran board under the Department of Islamic Development Malaysia.
In 2019, musician Syed Ahmad Syed Abdul Rahman Alhadad, better known as Altimet, joined the company as an investor after being introduced by a mutual friend.
He said: “A friend asked, ‘Do you want to meet another Ahmad?’ We met and I found the premise of Recite interesting as it’s helping two parties – one who wants to learn how to recite the Quran and the other who wants to provide a helping hand.”
Altimet explained that Recite is not trying to replace the roles of religious teachers who traditionally provide face-to-face Quran recitation classes.
Instead, he sees it as a means for religious teachers to provide their services to more people and earn extra income.
As users pay to have their recitation to be reviewed (from RM1.99 for three minutes), the reviewers are remunerated by Recite to provide feedback.
“Here is a chance for us to provide something similar to the gig economy for religious teachers in Malaysia.
“They are not limited by distance and have the flexibility of reviewing the audio at a time suitable for them,” Altimet said.
More importantly, the app helps to remove barriers for people who want to learn how to recite the Quran but have been held back by challenges, he added.
“What matters to us is helping people find their way to the Quran. With the app, it’s just you and your voice, and the religious teachers are ready to help you grow and relearn what you may have forgotten,” Ahmad Fairiz said.
The app is available on Google Play and Apple App Store, and a new version with more features and improved interface is expected to be released later this month, he added.
Constant companion
Though there are plenty of apps catered to Muslims, Mohd Izzairi Yamin felt that most only offered basic features.
“Sometime in 2019, I used one of the Muslim-focused apps and had to wait for at least 10 seconds for the ad to go away before I could start using the app,” he said.
Mohd Izzairi also felt that some of the ads that were displayed were not suitable for Muslims.
He talked about it with his colleagues at EleaNoor Bhd, which counts popular TV personality and entrepreneur Noor Neelofa Mohd Noor as executive director and CEO.
“We decided to take up the challenge of building an app that could offer a variety of solutions to Muslims. We pledged to come up with an app with premium features that will be free,” he said.
TheNoor – Azan, Al-Quran, Qiblah – launched last January – includes the Quran (with verses recited by prominent Muslim scholars), prayer times, Qibla finder and prayers for different occasions. As almost everyone owns a smartphone, more Muslims are using an app to fulfil their religious duties, he said.
“We’re going to roll out new features for Ramadan like Zakat payment and Tabarru’ (donation). Our partnership with Global Sadaqah will allow users to donate to international non-governmental organisations that have been vetted and verified.
“Another feature we are working on will tell you how many times you’ve prayed in a day and the amount of time spent and calories burnt for each prayer. We are now in the final phase of testing and optimising,” he said.
Mohd Izzairi said users can use all the features on the app without signing in and the app doesn’t include social media integration to protect privacy.
Neelofa, in a launch video for the app, said she sees a huge opportunity for dakwah (invitation to embrace religion) through the use of mobile apps among users today.
And TheNoor Kids, a version for children featuring an animated Neelofa, educational videos and related content will also be made available soon, said Mohd Izzairi, adding that “the team is working hard for it to be released this Ramadan”.
“Technology for good is not something forbidden in Islam. A lot of Muslim learning tools today use technology. And knowledge can be shared faster through technology,” he said.
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