I came across this earlier today and I am not sure what to say. Initially I thought excellent, the mix of technology and deen done right. Then I saw some images and thought again..then I saw the price…. then I wrote this…
Brother\Sister who ever is behind this kickstarter project, believe me when I say I love technology, I am around it all day and love the stuff. Believe me when I say I love my Deen, no real explanation required there. Those within the community here know how I feel about Kickstarter projects, infact I wrote an article aptly named “Kickstarter, the greatest scam of 2012“. Its not because I dont want to support up and coming entrenepeurs or that I have something against a great idea. Its becuase 99.99% of the stuff on Kickstarter is asking me to give someone else money so they can live their dream out, fund their idea, buy them that dream house they always wanted, and I get a digital PDF that says thankyou in return. Works for some I guess, but I prefer WMD style of funding projects unless there is a real benefit to the greater community.
I hoped this was different, I hoped this was going to be me swallowing my pride and eating my words, “EL Sajjadah” was going to be the first time I was going to fund a Kickstarter Project. I eagerly went to the El Sajjadah Kickstarter page to find out more.
So what is El Sajjadah? Well apparently
The ‘EL’ stands for ‘Electro Luminescent’ and ‘Sajjadah’ means ‘Prayer Mat’. EL Sajjadah is thin and flexible. You can roll it and carry it around in its special case.
- EL Sajjadah is an illuminating prayer mat that lights up when facing Mecca.
- ‘EL’ stands for ‘Electro Luminescent’ and ‘Sajjadah’ means ‘Prayer Mat’. EL Sajjadah is thin and flexible. You can roll it and carry it around in its special case.
- EL Sajjadah is not only a functional / practical product but also a unique art piece that you can hang on the wall as a night light.
EL Sajjadah shows the right direction to pray by lighting up the patterns on its surface when facing Mecca, so that the interface becomes the prayer mat surface itself. Two pieces of information are required in order to do this:
- where north is, which is provided by a built-in digital compass,
- where we are in the world, which is manually input by the user via the ‘city selection button’.
EL Sajjadah operates on:
- mains power,
- or rechargeable batteries.
Ok sounds good again, a digital compass is in there so I know im going to be praying to the right direction. I already have this on my phone but hey, its a good talking point so why not have my sajjadah light up when im pointing in the right direction. Not everyone can afford a whiz bang phone so for them this might be perfect.
The Kickstarter page then goes on about the coverage it has received so far,
- The New York Times
- Engadget
- Gizmodo
- Huffington Post
- Core77
- The Independent
- I.D. Magazine
- Art Review
- T3 Magazine
Excellent, some good coverage about Muslims for once, cant complain there. So how much does this cost brother, how can I support you? $20, $50, $100? How about $625….
Thats right brothers and sisters, for a measly $625 you too can have a light up Sajjadah! Back anything lower than that and you get a Thankyou to an A3 print. So dont worry about just buying a $20 sajjadah and then donating to those in Syria that are hungry this Ramadhan! Support this for $500 and have a whiz bang light up night light\sajjadah\ artistic prayer rug!
I like your idea mate, but I think my money can be better spent on something else this Ramadhan.
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