REMEMBER the time when you had to google the nearest mosque, or open multiple apps just to find the qibla or prayer times?
Today, with advancements in smartphone applications, getting all this information is very easy.
TheNoor app, for example, is created for the convenience of Muslims in adhering to their faith.
HOW IT BEGAN
Co-founder Izzairi Yamin said he was inspired to design an app without any interruptive sales pitch after seeing many free Islamic app users being forced to watch 10-second advertisements.
"Whenever I see ads popping up on the users' phones, especially those that are not syariah-compliant, I feel uncomfortable. One day, while I was praying at a mosque in Cyberjaya, I saw an elderly man opening an Islamic app to check the next prayer time.
"A non-syariah compliant ad suddenly popped up for 10 seconds and he became quite embarrassed. He looked left and right hoping that people around him wouldn't notice it. I understood he was using a free app, but I wondered why there's no Islamic app developed without having to see those unsuitable ads," he said.
Hence, the idea to create TheNoor (meaning, the light).
Besides, Izzairi said, many Islamic apps in the market covered only basic features and they existed separately. This raises another question: "Why isn't there a single app that does everything?"
Knowing how getting new products into the market requires a lot of money, Izzairi decided to rope in a celebrity, who is both influential and entrepreneurial.
And he found all those characteristics in Noor Neelofa Mohd Noor, who is a successful businesswoman and a pious Muslim. Izzairi took the initiative to approach her to develop TheNoor.
"After sharing my views with Neelofa, we decided to take up the challenge and build an app in 2020 that includes all the important elements that every Muslim needs," he added.
MUSLIM & NON-MUSLIM FRIENDLY
Izzairi said TheNoor does not contain only core features, such as prayer times, a qiblah compass, Quran and hadith, but also complementary ones like zakat, will and faraid services, as well as active gears for tracking the solah.
It also contains fitness trackers like calorie burn, heart rate and total minutes of activity, which non-Muslims can use.
"We're not trying to reinvent the wheel, but we want to build the best Islamic app that people can use every day. What we've done so far is more to research and engineering, as well as understanding users' behaviour and how they use an Islamic app," he said.
For instance, the Quran feature lets users listen to verses read by various reciters and play the voice-over translation in five languages (Bahasa Indonesia by Teuku Wisnu, English by Dr Idris Sulaiman, Tamil by Dr Seyed Ibrahim, Mandarin by Dr Solahuddin and Bahasa Melayu by Neelofa).
Transliteration is also included for beginners or converts who want to improve their pronunciation of Islamic verses.
"We are very open about who can download and use TheNoor. We have multiple language translations, voice-over and transliteration for those who want to learn Islam and read about the religion on their own," explained Izzairi.
He added that the app has been downloaded by users from the United Kingdom, Germany, the United States and Australia.
When it comes to business, not many foreigners know Malaysian Muslim brands on e-commerce platforms like Shopee and Lazada.
Therefore, Izzairi decided to include NoorCommerce in the app, so users from all over the world can buy Islamic items such as sajadah (prayer mat) and bakhoor (scented wood chips) at their fingertips.
He has also roped in companies like Hewlett-Packard, GoPro and Fippl to sell their products on the app.
CHALLENGES
Izzairi said creating the app was not easy. Finding team members with a similar mindset and vision was a challenge.
"Most start-ups face problems related to talent, market penetration, and funding at the early stage. We had to slowly build the team from only 14 members, but now we have up to 22. We look forward to expanding the team so that we can deliver more features and do more partnerships internationally," Izzairi said.
Aside from resolving technical issues and glitches in the Auto Locate Masjid feature, they also had to contend with high charges for being in the No.1 spot in the Apple App store for four months since the app was launched in January this year.
"TheNoor recorded 5.9 million downloads and 2.8 million registered users. The more people download your app, the more you'll be charged by Apple," he said.
STANDING ON ITS OWN
Due to Neelofa's influence, online reception has been overwhelming; numbers soared in the first three days after its launch.
Considering the numerous downloads overseas, the app creators are confident of what it brings to the table.
"Although some users from Germany or Australia are fans of Neelofa, the app is starting to be known by word of mouth. People may search for a syariah-compliant app and ours happens to pop up prominently in the search engine. It's becoming more universal rather than staying only among 'Neelofa-centric' followers," he added.