Friday, January 6, 2012

A Prayer App Idea

I had this idea for an app the other day, I think it'd be cool if someone made it. 


In Fiqh us Sunnah, we are told that the entire world is a masjid to us. A hadith was quoted which goes:


"Abu Zharr asked the Prophet, "What was the first mosque on the earth?" He said: "The Masjid al-Haram [in Makkah]." Abu Zharr asked: "which is the next oldest mosque?" The Prophet sallallahu alehi wassalam said: "The al-Aqsa Mosque." Abu Zharr asked: "How much time was there between [the building of the two]." The Prophet sallallahu alehi wasallam replied: "Forty years." Then, he said: "Wherever you may be, at the time of salah, you may pray for it [the earth] is all a mosque." This is related by the group."


Also, there's hadith floating around that say that the earth will testify against us. A quote I found supporting this goes:


Al-Tabarani narrated on the authority of Rabi'ah al-Jarashi: "Protect [yourselves] from the earth for it is your mother and there is no one who does any act, good or eveil, except that it will tell about [it]."


(from http://www.sunniforum.com/forum/showthread.php?14744-Why-do-pray-sunnah-in-a-diiferent-spot-from-where-we-prayed-fard&s=d76dc9d354a714958718a7281924cd8a)


So we can pray anywhere (as long as the area meets the cleanliness requirements), and the very ground we prayed on will testify that we have prayed there. So my idea was for an app that allows a person to save the coordinates of the place they prayed, a picture of the place, and a note about it (which prayer they did at what time and so on) and put it in an album that can be shared online! They'll be able to see (in Google Maps or such) all the places they prayed and (when sharing) all the places that other users have prayed. That way they can work together to cover the world in prayer, and find places that they haven't prayed in before. 


I think it's kinda neat too because it'll encourage people to pray in really unique places. I think the strangest place I ever prayed was on top of a watermill out in the countryside in the middle east. It was such a serene little building. Props to the person who prays at the north pole! :D