This morning, the Islamic Affairs and Charitable Activities Department in Dubai held the “Introductory Forum” for the launch of the global application for prayer times (Dulook DXB). The application has been recently launched by the Department, in the presence of a number of scholars and specialists in astronomy, the Hijri calendar, and Islamic Sharia.
The forum was attended by H.E. Ahmed Darwish Al Muhairi, Director General of the Department, Mr. Butti Abdullah Al Jumairi, Executive Director of the Corporate Support Sector, H.E. Khalfan Al Nuaimi, President of the International Astronomy Centre, President of the Emirates Astronomy Society, Eng. Muhammad Shawkat Odeh, Director of the International Astronomy Centre in Abu Dhabi, and a group of department directors, specialists, muftis and preachers, the department’s employees, and an elite group of Sharia scholars and astronomers.
The forum hosted, via video conference, scientists specialized in astronomy and preparing Hijri calendars from Arab countries and countries on the European continent. They talked about benefiting from the global application and its advantages in European and other countries. Such as Professor Dr. Abdullah Al-Misnad, an astronomical expert from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Sheikh Al-Khimar Al-Bakali, President of the Association of Imams in the Netherlands, and Sheikh Abdelhamid Belqasimi, Secretary-General of the Association of Imams in the Netherlands.
H.E. the Director General stated that the “Dulook DXB” application, launched on the “Apple” and “Android” stores, is the first global application issued by a specialized Shari’a government institution; the Islamic Affairs and Charitable Activities Department in Dubai, in cooperation with the International Astronomy Centre. He pointed out that the application is characterized by high accuracy that is not found in other applications. It displays accurate and reliable prayer times, identical or very close to the official times in most Islamic countries, and highly accurate for other countries of the Islamic world. It also calculates alternative prayer times in Europe and the northern hemisphere where there are no signs for prayer times. For that, the application uses multiple alternative methods officially approved by Shari’a bodies in European countries such as Germany and the Netherlands.
He pointed out that the Department of Islamic Affairs and Charitable Activities in Dubai is keen to emphasize its societal role and the responsibility entrusted to it to achieve a pioneering position and a tolerant Islamic approach, through achieving its vision to be the best globally, Islamically and charitably. This is by innovating and developing new means that help Muslims in various parts of the world. The Director General of the Department thanked those responsible for implementing the application, including scientists and specialists in astronomy inside and outside the Department for their efforts so that their works sees the light of day. He wished them continued success and prosperity in serving our true religion.
At the forum, the head of Prayer Timings and Crescent Sighting Section in the Department, Hamad Muhammad Saleh, gave a comprehensive explanation of how to use this application. Also, the explanation of the word “Dulook” in the language: with the diacritic (Dhammah) over the letter “Dal,”. It is a name for the time of sunset, or its decline from the centre of the sky to the west. This marks the beginning of the time for the Dhuhr prayer. It was also said the time of the Maghrib prayer. As Almighty’s says: (Establish prayer at the decline of the sun) Surat Al-Isra 78. Accordingly: The word “Dulook” is closely connected to the times of prayer. Thus, this application was given the name of “Dulook”.
The application is characterised by short screens in various shapes and sizes. It supports all operating systems for phones and tablets in Arabic and English. “Dulook DXB” also displays the direction of Qibla in multiple ways. Such as a compass, augmented reality, and a 360-degree image of the Holy Kaaba, and through the map as well.
The application can also determine the user’s geographical location accurately and automatically. It chooses the name of the city stored in it, from among about 50,000 cities belonging to 190 countries, or by the place you specify on the world map. The application issues alerts for the times of the call to prayer (Athan) and Iqama, and other alerts before the time of the call to prayer. It also provides the feature of converting between the Hijri and Gregorian dates, in reference to the calendar of the beginnings of Hijri months. This application agrees with the selected country times in an extremely accurate manner.