Mariam Nihal

Saudi Gazette

 

Ever wanted to visit the birthplace of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) in Makkah or the homes of his companions in Madinah? Well now you can. Introducing Ziyara (visit) GPS- that will guide you through the most important journey of your life.  During Haj and Umrah, millions of Muslims visit Saudi Arabia, most can only afford it once in their life and come seeking Islamic history to complete their spiritual journey. Each location in Ziyara GPS tells a different story and a different time in Islamic history. Not only does it open a world of unknown opportunities but it is also a fantastic way to educate our children and upcoming generations about Islamic history. Ziyara GPS has been tested globally and is available on both Apple’s iTunes store and Android’s Google Play store. Ziyara GPS is a 100% philanthropic initiative created to spread knowledge about the heritage and history, ancient and modern, of Islam.



‘Whom ever magnifies the Signs of Allah, then it is indeed from the piety of the hearts’  (Surah 22: The Hajj, Verse, 32).



Rana Ismail, Project Manager, Ziyara GPS spoke to Saudi Gazette about the app.



Hajis can use the app to visit significant historical venues in Makkah and Madinah.



“Each and every site in Ziyara GPS has a unique and important story. The Grand Mosque in Makkah and The Prophet’s Mosque in Madinah are naturally the most visited sites, but we actually go inside these sites in amazing detail with photos inside the Ka’aba itself as well as inside the Sacred Chamber of the Prophet’s Grave near the Rawdah. Those using the App are now also able to see how close they are to some amazing sites such as the birthplace of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) at the Makkah al-Mukarramah library or the houses of the companions in Madinah. That’s the beauty of Ziyara GPS - it makes you aware of your spiritual and religious heritage, makes you feel part of it and raises your conviction in Islam, inshallah, in a beautiful way.”



Ismail is currently the Project Manager for Ziyara GPS, working for UK-based company, Alpha1Travel International “who had a vision to launch an App which would be of the greatest benefit to Muslims globally and also be free”.



She said the idea resonated with her personally and professionally. “As an Alumnus from the American University of Cairo (AUC) my business marketing background has been very valuable in helping to launch Ziyara GPS, ensuring that it was positioned in the right way as per its religious and spiritual content, simultaneously ensuring that it was of high quality.”



She described her favorite route to take. “It is the very beginning of the Seerah of Prophet Muhammad, may the peace and blessings of Allah be upon him. We could start with the graves of the two parents of Prophet Muhammad, may the peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, where his mother, Syeda Amina, is buried in Abwa near Makkah and his father, Syed Abdullah, previously buried in Dar al-Nabigah in Madinah, is now buried in Jannat al-Baqi cemetery in Madinah. One could then go to the actual birthplace of Prophet Muhammad, may the peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, which is on the location of Makkah al-Mukarramah library, a short distance from Safa and Marwa. The next location to visit could be Bani Sa’ad, where Prophet Muhammad was raised as a baby by his wet-nurse Syeda Halima al-Sa’adiya, whose grave is also there.”



Children especially should be encouraged to visit these sites as they, as innocent children, will identify with the story of the child who became Allah’s Final Messenger. Al-Azhar Al-Sharif in Egypt, the oldest and most prestigious university of Sunni Islam, has authenticated all of these sites.



Discussing the extensive use of technology as a tool to inform and educate ourselves, Ismail said Ziyara GPS is an important part of that journey. Ismail believes it is important for App developers to remind users to use their mobile phones responsibly when visiting the Holy Sites, “which we try to do in our descriptions and by the lack of sound and beeps in current features”. 



She said Ziyara GPS has been specifically created to promote how Islam is practiced in the Holy Cities and globally in the fifteenth Islamic century and 21st Century AD. It aims to encourage Muslims to visit all the Holy Sites of Islam and enhance their own spirituality and knowledge by celebrating the heritage of their religion. We also expect there to be a revival of the renovation, preservation and rebuilding of these sites as demand to visit them increases. In addition, as Ziyara GPS can be downloaded anywhere globally and by any user, it also acts as a means of spreading an accurate and authentic expression of Islam around the world.



The app developers expect that with the increasing numbers of Muslims actually visiting these sites using books, maps and Apps like Ziyara GPS, the Kingdom’s Supreme Commission of Tourism and Antiquities (SCTA), led by HRH Prince Sultan bin Salman Al Saud, will be allocated greater authority and increased budgets by the Custodian of Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, to build the soft and hard infrastructure needed to accommodate the greater number of visits to these sites, which are being documented at a daily basis.



Imagine a pilgrim standing in front of the Ka’aba today, who wonders what the inside of the Ka’aba looks like. They can now open Ziyara GPS and see nearly 30 photos of the Ka’aba itself as well as a video.



“In the Holy Qur’an, Allah The Almighty instructs Prophet Muhammad (PBUH): ‘Say: “Travel through the Earth …”’ (Surah 29: The Spider, Verse 20). Prophet Muhammad(PBUH) also did Ziyara from Makkah during the al-‘Isra wal-Mi’raj (‘The Night Journey and Ascension’), visiting Madinah, Madyan, Mount Sinai, Bethlehem and Jerusalem before he ascended to the Heavens. Even Islam’s calendar starts from a milestone journey, the Hijra (Emigration) from Makkah to Madinah. So, Muslims who are able to travel are adhering to this religious counsel. We believe that religious knowledge in the Islamic world is also governed by supply and demand, where the middle path is most desired, and the demand for Islamic knowledge about the religious sites in the Holy Cities has far outstripped the supply of authentic and accurate sources of information for too long. In the year 2000, a typical visitor to Jannat al-Baqi Cemetery would have had to rely primarily on other visitors, especially the Turks, as to which grave belonged to which person, as they were often carrying guides adapted from Ottoman works about the locations of graves in the Holy Cemetery. Today, books such as ‘The History of Al-Baqi’ are being published in Saudi Arabia itself, registered with the Kingdom’s official repository at the King Fahd National Library, have the same information and can now be found in a number of languages in the bookshops of Madinah. Ziyara GPS is another development in the journey to provide pilgrims with a guide to the Holy Cities, with the difference that far more people globally can now access this information, through a smartphone or tablet device in their hands.”



The app developers have released Ziyara GPS in English, which helps with more accurate results and search. “We hope to translate the App into Arabic and Urdu, the other official languages of Makkah and Madinah, followed by a host of global languages. For the App, we are pursuing accreditation by Al-Azhar Al-Sharif, Sunni Islam’s oldest and most prestigious seat of learning, with the view that its perspective can be regarded as the most authentic and accurate on a global basis. As technology improves, we hope that it will be possible to accommodate more languages on the App.”



How to use Ziyara GPS



On the home page, the province in or near which they are located to categorizes all Islamic sites. Makkah and Madinah are currently the two main sections listed with navigations tabs for easy accessibility. Under each section, are various categories such as in Makkah, it would be the ‘The Grand Mosque of Makkah’, which then has sub-categories such as ‘Inside the Ka’aba’.



At the base of the App, are six main navigation tabs: “Home,” “Favorites,” “Makkah,” “Madinah,” “Map,” and “Updates” allowing users to access those instantly and there is also a search option to look up a specific site in mind.



Once a site is selected, the user can read a brief description about its history, view different photos of the site and even get directions if they would like to visit it, an estimate of how long it would take to reach there as well as the distance.  Users are also able to mark the sites they would like to visit as favorites, which will store them in the “Favorites” tab and make it easily accessible.



There is also the “Map” navigation tab that enables users to view sites by their location, which would be useful if a user wants to filter out nearby sites to visit those are close to their current location. Finally, there is the “Updates” tab that enables users to check that they are up to date with Ziyara GPS’s new additions.