iQu'ran - 114 Surahs In Your Pocket

The word Qu'ran almost literally translates as recital; in order to perform the five daily prayers, Muslims recite certain shorter passages of the Qu'ran from memory. Those who can recite the complete Qu'ran, called Hafiz, are held in high regard, though simply listening to recitations is considered a form of worship; indeed skilled reciters are often melodic, giving readings a soulful and sometimes operatic quality.

I spent last weekend dilligently downloading and tagging a recitation of the Qu'ran by Sheikh Abdul Rahman Al-Sudais, one of the most eminent imams of Mecca's Masjid al Haram. This recitation is widely available on CD and various websites, in this case a Malaysian site called Mannga. I'm not sure of the legalities, but the original efforts to record the Qu'ran as text (by Zayd ibn Thabit) was the original open source initiative - I think I'm not infringing on anyone; though the Creative Commons license could look something like this!

My iPod now contains all 114 surahs, or chapters, of the Qu'ran. 22.4 hours of recitation, neatly tagged and encoded as 16kbps, 11.025khz MP3 files...to paraphrase Apple, I guess you could say I have '114 surahs in my pocket'...let me know if you would like a copy :)

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I use many technologies to make life more convenient, entertaining and productive - alarm clocks, phonecams, PVRs, mobile phones, iPods, laptops, broadband and my humble watch. Yet, other than some paper timetables, I have nothing that can remind me of my five daily prayers, nothing to tell me when it is Eid, when I can break my fasting in Ramadan, nothing to indicate the Qibla (direction of prayer) in an unfamiliar place...indeed for the most demanding and significant part of my life - the spiritual - I have little assistance.

I recently read a brief Trendwatching.com article on the potential of technologies specific to the world's Muslim population...there is a solid market for such innovations and indeed an entire range of 'life services' to support the daily existence of the Ummah:

• Salat - Alerts for optional and obligatory prayer times, delivered according to location
• Hadith - random sayings of the prophet, delivered by SMS, forwarded to friends & family
• Eid - moon sightings, delivered as MMS, to indicate when Eid should be celebrated
• Tasbih - Somewhere to track & store your daily rosary :)
• Calendar - a Gregorian/Hijri calendar convertor

Some of these tools, products and services already exist, but there is no Apple-like company that has packaged them a cohesive iLife+iPod-like experience...a life services provider for Muslims in the 21st century.

I would love to see a beautifully designed spiritual communicator, that tethers me to my Islamic responsibilities, expands my religious knowledge and tangilbly connects me to the Ummah, perhaps even helping to raise awareness amongst non-Muslims and healing some of the contentions within Islam. Perhaps this the technologically-determinist utopian fantasy of a sci-fi immersed Muslim technologist, but there is a certain role for technology to play in the social, political and spiritual lives of modern Muslims.

In the meantime I might just use the 114 surahs in my pocket to launch a guerilla iPod Qu'ran Special Edition - green iPod minis preloaded with recitations by leading imams, wrapped in a iPod-style 'Thou Shalt Not Steal' cellophane wrapper :)

Comments

[i]

okay, I love the "I'm listening to" Kylie in the side there.. much respect.

[Imran Ali]

LOL - ok, the Qu'ran and Kylie is perhaps an odd juxtaposition of East and West...but then I do exist in both worlds :)

[matt]

Hi Imran... have you been following the work of Genevieve Bell? She's an anthropologist that works for Intel, who as been looking at 'auspicious computing' - the spirtual application of technology.

Also: seen this?

http://www.kortasoft.com/symbian/mathan/s60/default.htm

[Sameer Khan]

Assalamualaikum,

I am in the process of compiling a CD containing all soorahs of the Quraan (MP3) in the voice of sudais. I also looked at some Cds available in Oman. But all of them seem to be a combo of Sudais & SHuraim.

then I came across Mangga which seems to have all in the voice of Sudais (no other site which I visited has it although some do advertise it). But on downloading I found that some soorahs came across as bad zip files or part of multi disc sets.

I badly need Soorahs 10, 24,26,28,30,40,48,58.

When I read on your blog that you have downloaded all the soorahs . well I felt that you could perhaps help me out. I sent a message to the site administrators but no response.

Can you guide me as to how I can download them properly?

JazakAllaah

Sameer

[Muhammad Karolia]

i also downloaded from manga and have downloaded the full quraan using the software called flashget, i have in the voice of sudais and shuraim, i am not aware of a corrupt zip file all files are ok i think u should try again

ramadhan mubarak to all brothers and sisters out there

[zakariya]

brother i find it a shame that we can disrespect our noble quraan in this way. we can speak about music and musicians next to an article about quraan, yet we want to fight and wage war against the kuffar for displaying Caricatures of our beloved prophet. don't you have respect for our noble deen.
brother REPENT to ALLAH and ask his forgiveness, may ALLAH have mercy on you
ameen
jazakalla
zakariya

[Imran]

Zakariya, I think you fundamentally misunderstand the nature and intent of my post. In my suggestions I'm seeking to understand where technology and human invention can help to further the message of our faith.

I don't believe it is Haram or un-Islamic to add recitations of the Qu'ran to an iPod. This is not disrespectful.

The Qu'ran has been transmitted and preserved in human memory, on paper, cassette and now in digital form. If anything, it's our *responsibility* to ensure the Qu'ran remains available in all forms and to reach all those who wish to understand its message.

I want to use digital technologies, media, mobility and the web to help keep Islam close to us - if we can't speculate on what the nature of that may be, then our Faith will further stagnate. This is not Bid'ah, it is Dawa.

And please do not jump to conclusions about the quality of my faith...that's between me and Allah :)

[salaam]

hello brother, please send me the 114 surahs inshallah

[Hira]

assalamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh hu,

can you send me the surahs inshaAllah

jazakAllah Khair :]

[mubien]

assalamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh,brother
can you please send me the surahs.
i have been urgently looking for the complete quraan by Sheikh Sudais and other imaams.
can you recommend any sites to download other immams and translation
inshaAllah
jazakAllah

[Rahmet]

free download converter hijri-grigorian dates

[Nadia]

Asalamu Alakum Brothers And Sisters. I Am Trying To Find A Website I Can Download All 114 Surahs So I Can DOWNLOAD Them To My IPOD. Please Help Me, Its Very Important! I like Shaikh As Sodais Voice A Lot. Hes So Clear And Soothing. If You Can Help Me Out, Please Email Me As Soon As Possible! Thank You. Happy Ramadan And Asalamu Alakum!

[Sairah]

I would love it if you could send me the 114 surahs! Loving the cellophane, btw. =)

[ibi]

please send me all 114 surrahs

[Emir]

Assalamualaikum,

It would be awesome if you could send me the 114 surahs. Also if everyone can pray to Allah for my mother she recently got in a car accident and is in the hospital right now. She is currently pralyzed shoulders down. I pray and ask Allah everyday to give her good health, so I ask you to do the same. her name is Dzemila(Jamila)

Thanks
if you can send the surahs to emir.heco@uvm.edu that would be great

[takhlima]

salams could you please send me 114 surahs so i can download them to my ipod. thanks allafis

[Farhadz]

can u also please send my the 114 surahs in mp3 file format

[husna]

salam brothers and sisters. i will like to download all 114 surahs of the holy quran. so im looking for a website in where i can find all those. i like to hear as sudais

[Abu]

wag1. haw r u. hope ur all blessed. and also happy £!d mub@r@k to all my muslim brothers and sistaz.
i wuld like to download all 114 surahs

[tnaseem]

There seems to be a lot of demand for the Surah's, which is great.

Imran and I are currently working on an online Islamic service called Believr. As part of this service we will be releasing each Surah as a separate podcast.

So, please bear with us for a week or so until we go live with the first (alpha) version. :)

[Smr]

salam
can u plzz send me 114 surahs so i can put i on my ipod and inshallah try to memorize some jazakallah

allahafiz

[fozia]

plz can u send me the 114 suras?

thanks
ramadam mubark

[Shamim Rahman]

Salaam
Please can i have 114 surahs. I am a convert
and i woulld like a copy in english.
jazakllah

[zainab mohammed]

pls cn i hv 114 surah on my email addresss jazakallah

[Adan Mirza]

Plz Can i have the Quran Recitation oF Shaikh As Saudias on ma e mail id