Adeel Malik
The internet brings an avalanche of information – good, bad and in between. For Muslims around the globe, there is a societal need to preserve good values through positive online experiences as reported by various media including Digital News Media.
Inspired by this, SalamWeb Technologies MY Sdn Bhd (SalamWeb) launched an Islamic based suite of services endorsed by Amanie Shariah Supervisory Board, in conformity with Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation’s (MDEC’s) Islamic Digital Economy Guide.
The suite includes the SalamWeb Browser, SalamNews, SalamChat and SalamSadaqah for Muslims to discover, connect and contribute in a free, safe online environment.
Norhizam, managing director of fashion brand Mimpikita commented: “The launch of this new suite of services is aligned with the Government’s spirit of inspiring an Islamic digital ecosystem, one that fosters the positive sharing of Islamic values.
This will help play a part in building an Islamic Digital Economy with a balance between technology and maintaining a practical understanding of Malaysia’s needs.”
According to Hasni, a vanilla version of SalamWeb was launched in 2016 and has since been enhanced to the current version.
“One of the biggest challenge we faced was having no benchmark to compare ourselves to or to learn from.
Together with our advisors, we had to figure out how best to integrate Shariah compliance with technology. We did not have any direct reference.”
What does SalamWeb have to offer?
Designed to optimise the Islamic way of life, the SalamWeb Browser features Qibla (prayer direction) compass, prayer timings, Salam News which is a custom news feed aggregated from verified news sources, and SalamChat, a localised chat function to connect like-minded individuals.
The browser includes SalamProtect, a content filter that alerts users on inappropriate content providing them with an option to either continue ahead or withdraw from content that could potentially be explicit, offensive or fraudulent.
With questionable content being a universal concern beyond the Muslim community, Hasni believes SalamWeb can be beneficial to all.
“Ethical browsing is something people want for themselves and their kids. Though there are features such as prayer timing and compass that Muslims use, in general, this tool is applicable and useful to all of us.”
Users are also allowed to assign a SalamTag to a website to flag it as appropriate, neutral or inappropriate. Each tag is reviewed against SalamWeb’s internal processes and guidelines.
“Users’ input will be channeled to our backend and if there is a certain amount of feedback received that flags suspicious content, our team will investigate,” shared Faisal Khalil, marketing director of SalamWeb.
Through the SalamTag feature, the browser delivers curated content that matches the tags by users. The more webpages a user tags, the better SalamWeb’s content aggregator works.
He emphasises, “Technology alone will not help. The community plays a huge part in the success of SalamWeb.”
To incentivise users, the browser also incorporates the Islamic practice of voluntary charity through SalamSadaqah. Each web search or content report made by users, will be matched to a donation amount made by SalamWeb.
“You are already using the internet. The only difference with SalamWeb is you continue doing what you’re doing but every single action you take actually contributes to the progress of the donation campaigns,” explained Faisal.
Launched in Malaysia, SalamWeb products are available worldwide to anyone, anywhere and can be downloaded here.
