PETALING JAYA: Mohd Akhtaar Abdul Ghani was looking for a mindfulness app that could help him calm down, but among the thousands available to download, there was none designed according to Islamic principles.
So Mohd Akhtar decided to develop one and launched Mindful Muslim in March 2020.
He was working as a director of a digital marketing agency in Singapore in 2017. It was an exacting job as he was practically working round the clock.
“I was looking for an app to calm myself down. There were thousands of meditation apps for non-Muslims but there was none that catered for Muslims,” he told theSun.
Since mobile users spent US$195 million (RM808 million) in meditation apps last year, he decided to build one that is tailored for Muslims. Within a year, the Mindful Muslim app has 47,000 users from all over the world and is getting 10,000 new members monthly. The app can cater for 1.8 billion Muslims worldwide.
Females between the age of 20 and 40 make up many of the users.
The app, which uses English as the main language, has 4.8 rating out of five on Google Play Store with over 1,900 reviews.
The app features the ability to build a playlist of supplications, nature sounds and Islamic talks. It aims to help relieve stress, make users feel calmer and reduce anxiety by listening to stories from the Quran and Hadith.
Mohd Akhtaar said it was developed to help improve users’ mental and emotional well-being through audio content.
“Reverts love the app as it helps to draw Muslims closer to their faith.
“The app can be downloaded for free but there will be a monthly charge of S$1.90 (RM3.07) soon,” he added.
