The social media has fans and critics alike. If this medium is appreciated for making the world more aware, it is also criticized for letting certain ideologies dictating the terms arbitrarily. As such, in an interesting move, a Malaysian startup has decided to launch a web browser that will not only cater to the demands of the users but also promises to correct the wrongs usually prevalent on other social media sites like Google Chrome, Twitter, Facebook etc. Nice concept, no? The catch – this web browser will be Islamic friendly!
Yes, let that sink in clearly. A web browser has been launched by the Malaysian startup that will offer only Halal Internet, i.e. browsing experience that is completely Islamic friendly. This is a mobile application, which offers messaging services, news as well as other features, and initially aims to cater to the masses of Malaysia and Indonesia, as quoted by Miss Hasna Zarina Mohammed Khan, who is also the Managing Director at the Salam Web Technologies.
According to her, Salam Web aims to capture the attention of at least 10 percent of the 1.8 billion strong Islamic population throughout the world. To quote her statement to the press, “We want to make the Internet a better place. We know the Internet has the good and the bad, so SalamWeb offers you a tool to create this window that lets you go to the Internet to see the good.”
She further added, “We’re promoting universal values – although SalamWeb is targeted to Muslims, it can be used by anyone. The Internet can be a harmful place. It’s obvious that we need an alternative.”
This is not all. SalamWeb will also offer services such as community-specific content filters that will decide what content is pro-Islamic and what isn’t. It will also warn users when they approach sites such as gambling and pornography, which are characterized as un-Islamic. This app also has Muslim specific functions, such as indicators for the Islamic prayers and Qibla, apart from telling the right direction that a Muslim must choose while praying.
The products shall be deemed compliant by the Amanie Shariah Supervisory Board and are built on the open source Chromium software, which is also the base for the Google Chrome web browser. Long story short, the stage is set for a Sharia-approved web browser, which wasn’t the case otherwise with sites like Google, Facebook, Twitter etc., as these sites do not have such restrictions.
