In the holy month of Ramadan people tend to undergo a religious revival and obtain as much of Allah’s Blessings as possible. This week we have selected some sites that will prove helpful for those on a spiritual journey and will serve as their cyber guides.
www.Islamonline.net is probably one of the few big portals concentrating on Islam. It’s front page is extensive and contains many links pointing elsewhere in the site. The news is given on the front page, and services and other topics on the right and left sides.
The site has a section for people not acquainted with Islam. It gives them the basics of Islam and a brief glimpse of it’s teachings. In addition to a discussion forum, it also has a Shariah corner in which you can ask a scholar and see the Fatwa section. There are plenty sections to choose from. It also has a section for prayer timings and e-cards.
Probably one of the best things about this site is that it has an archive of old (as well as the latest) ‘Khutbas’ and lectures. Other audio files can be hunted for on the website. It is loaded with information, quick to open up as it’s not very image-intensive, and does the general purpose.
For moons, http://www.moonsighting.com is a place where you can do calculations pertaining to the moon. It’s similar to the Moon Calculator software (which can be downloaded from the net), but the site is focused more on Islamic issues such as the Ramadan calendar, Eid dates, etc. It also gives you a graphical layout of where you can see the moon on what days and other features. The site is not very big, and if you ever have any doubt about the announcements of the Ruet-i-Hilal committee, see this site.
http://www.Aswatalislam .com (Aswat Al-Islam) is another website that’s concerned with Islamic multimedia. It contains videos and audios. You can watch the Taraweeh from Saudi Arabia Live (discussed later) or you can watch recorded versions. It also has a section on Islamic lectures, Quran recitation and some Islam related movies. The site has been divided into two main categories — audio and video — for simplicity.
This website is probably one of the few smallest sites on Islam as it’s devoted to multimedia only. You can also watch the Islam Channel in the UK, live. And because of the recent Earthquake, you can donate to several charities through links provided here.
Many people here must have heard of the ever-so-popular Dr Zakir Naik (from the neighbouring India). His website is www.drzakirnaik.com. For those who don’t know him, he’s considered one of the few Islamic scholars in the world to have knowledge not only about Islam, but other religions too. His cassettes/CDs are available in the market and aired on television as well.
The site has a Q&A section on Islam, which is useful for those who are stuck on such reasons as why men can have more than one wife and women cannot, for instance.
You may buy books and videos online from the parent site (www.irf.net) as well as see other information. Alternatively, you can simply fly to India and attend a seminar (a list has been provided on the site). The website also has a link where you can search the Holy Quran, or if you wish, you can read or listen to it (the text is in English, and the audio is in Arabic, downloadable, for free).
The site also has a section, “Introduction to Islam”. Again, for those who do not quite know the proper meaning of Islam, they can come here and learn. You can also sign up to their newsletter as well for more. This site basically covers all the activities of Zakir Naik and teaches you as well. A discussion forum (which wasn’t working) is available.
Getting a Quranic verse or two, or maybe more in the email would be a good way to start the day. www.Quranbymail.com offers a free service, in which you can choose which Quranic chapters you wish to receive. In the daily mail you receive, there is a translated version of the corresponding Arabic sentence (you can choose from a variety of languages in your translation, however, Urdu isn’t available yet). Moreover, with each sentence, you get an audio link. All this is for free.
To add more to this, you can visit their sister site, www.Hadithbymail.com, which follows a similar practice. Again, this site offers a free daily mail to your inbox.
radioislam.org is a Chicago-based radio station, all based on Islam. You can listen to it live, via the internet, view their programming and other things. I found their site to be particularly unfriendly and a tad-bit slower. But the key thing — live internet radio. You can listen to the Quranic chapters too.
Now you can also watch the daily Taraweeh prayers live over the internet. The Saudi Embassy (www.saudiembassy.net) has set up a link which allows you to watch the Saudi TV live at any time of the day. For the Taraweeh prayers, simply point to www.saudiembassy.net/media/sauditv.asp. There is usually a delay of a couple of seconds before the images arrive on your screen, and if your connection hangs, you may not be able to rewind, as it’s being broadcasted live. With each broadcast, they have an English translation at the bottom of the screen. However, if you do not get through at first, it could be because of the traffic, so you may have to be patient. On the other hand, if you want, you can listen to the audio of the Taraweeh prayers from the site aswatalislam.net (mentioned before).
There aren’t many sites on the internet which are comprehensive in terms of content. Some websites charge you for content, others don’t. The ones discussed were only a handful of the websites on the internet. Other sites allow you to set Iftar and Sehr reminders. Some even allow you to have prayer reminders sent to your cell phone via text messaging.
Now let us get back to praying, not only for ourselves, but for those affected by the earthquake. It’s the month of blessings and it is more of a blessing if we pray for others.
In the holy month of Ramadan people tend to undergo a religious revival and obtain as much of Allah’s Blessings as possible. This week we have selected some sites that will prove helpful for those on a spiritual journey and will serve as their cyber guides.
