LOS ANGELES: An American Muslim woman has developed an application for smart phones that will help those interested in the often misunderstood religion to learn more about the faith. Amanda Quraishi is the brains behind the new app and on the 365muslim website she is both humorous and intellectual, battling some of many people's perceptions, or misperceptions, of Islam. In an interview with The Statesman, she said downloading the application will not lead to the reader to be “converted, indoctrinated, hypnotized, browbeat, jihad-ed, or added to an FBI watch list.” On her website, she is straightforward about her cause. She converted to Islam 12 years ago and identifies herself as a professional writer and activist living in Austin, Texas. “Rather than argue with people who simply want to believe that Muslims are all violent, misogynistic, religious lunatics I thought the best thing to do would be to communicate genuinely with with moderate, intelligent folks who really want to get to know more about us,” she writes. “That's when I came up with the idea of a smartphone app that serves up a daily fact about Muslims and Islam in an engaging and entertaining way.” An example, The Statesman gives: “Prophet Muhammad said, ‘There is no man who kills even a sparrow or anything smaller without its deserving it, but Allah will question him about it on the judgment day.' Yes that means the spider on your windshield, too!” The new application is available free for iPhones, iPads and iPod Touches. She is currently developing the technology so it will function on Android phones. Users can even share the information through their Facebook pages. American Muslims appear to be excited about the new endeavor and they hope the application will be downloaded by non-Muslims in the United States and elsewhere to help battle Islam's perception. “I hope people understand that this is not something to get people to convert, but instead something where they can go and learn,” began Yussif Kadry, an Egyptian-American undergraduate at UCLA. He hopes that people will ask questions and then find 365muslim a place to get their answers. Even he has found it useful. “Growing up in the US, I was pretty against Islam, and wouldn't even say that today I am very much a practicioner of the religion, but I do want to know more about the faith and I believe this app will be great for people,” he added. For now, the naysayers will at least have a body of information to go up against. For Kadry, the millions of American Muslims and those wanting to know more about the faith, they now have an app they can send their friends to in order to learn about one of the world's largest religions. BM
