HTML and hadiths and aren't two words you typically hear in the same sentence. Translating ancient texts to make them part of the modern age, however, has been the mission of Riyadh-based Harf Information Technology since the late 1990s. The company began life in the mid-1980s, but it wasn't until the Internet boom that its product line was expanded from simple software to mobile applications - all with the aim of keeping upwardly mobile Muslims in line with their religious beliefs and obligations.
As any vernacular expert can verify, classical Arabic characters are immensely difficult to translate into a software program. As one Arab programmer says, "When you typically build software, it's based on rules. But the Arabic language defies all rules."
Harf's researchers admit that the toughest part of translating classical Koranic Arabic is the religion's insistence upon exact verbiage. In Islam, to mistranslate the Prophet's words in any way, shape or form is very strictly forbidden. "You do not have the luxury of [editing]," says one Harf employee. "This [rule] is very firm. No errors are accepted, and the applications are tested extremely thoroughly and revised many times before we can release them."
With financing from Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Islamic Affairs, Prince Saud bin Fahd bin Abdul Aziz, as well as big companies like Al-Alamiah (Universal) Electronics Co., The Kuwaiti Brokerage House and the Al-Kharafy Group, Harf can afford to be sticklers. Harf's products, which started out as software programs of reproduced text from the Koran and hadiths, or sayings of the Prophet, have grown to include applications for handheld devices, which in the Gulf region and much of the Middle East are hugely popular.
On a pocket PC, users can listen to Koranic recitations and learn difficult meanings of some of the most challenging hadiths - all in the language of their choice. Harf has also created the technology for the text to fit on a mobile phone. And, of course, all Harf software includes notification of prayer times.
To make life even more difficult for Harf's programmers, their target customers are not all computer-savvy. "Many of our target customers are not very adept when it comes using computers," says the company's head of marketing, Maged Hegazy. Harf's software is used not only by Arab Muslims but by Muslims who speak Urdu, Hawsa (used in parts of Africa) and Jawi (used in Malaysia). "This creates a huge challenge," says Hegazy. "User interface design is a big challenge in this regard."
Hegazy, who would not disclose sales figures, says the company is growing. But producing and marketing the software can't be easy. "There are no models," he says. "In most cases, we simply have to start from scratch."
Meanwhile, ilkone, a Sharjah-based technology firm, is already selling a range of mobile phones that can, the company says, "connect your spirits as you never experienced before. You can carry and have access to your beliefs whenever you want and wherever you need, as you progress through life." The ilkone i800, which retails on the Internet for $249.99, offers the complete text of the Koran in Arabic and English, with the translation approved by scholars at Al-Azhar University in Cairo, as well as a digital call to prayer and most of the other services offered by Harf.
Taking things one step further, Rifshen Enterprises, based in Union City, California, markets a wide range of similar products, including the ilkone i800 and a pen that can play six suras, or chapters of the Koran, while you write.
There are some traditionalists who are likely to balk at this kind of globalization, which takes a religion inherently rooted in the past straight into the world of 21st-century technology. But the fact that some of Harf's backers are major Islamic institutions shows that many in the region are willing to find a middle ground between the values of tradition and the necessity of modernity. If Islamic leaders want young Muslims around the world to stay connected to their religion, after all, they must find ways to keep it relevant. Apparently, if that means adapting these ancient teachings to high-tech gadgets, so be it.By Elizabeth Drachman Dubai
© Arabies Trends 2006
