Digital Qur'an players (Iqra'a and similar devices)

Digital Qur'an players are electronic devices dedicated to showing the text of the Qur'an and playing recorded recitations in step with the text on screen, with navigation by sura and verse and, often, translations into other languages. ¹ They followed Qur'an software on CD-ROM from the early 1990s and Qur'an texts on Islamic websites from the 2000s. ¹

In September 2007 Reuters reported from Jakarta that the "digital Koran" had become popular in Indonesia, the most populous Muslim country, selling especially well in Ramadan. The device, the size of a music player, carried the full Arabic text with an Indonesian translation and its recitation; a seller said he sold about fifty a day, and that many pilgrims carried one for the prayers of the Hajj. ² The most popular voice on them was that of Abd al-Rahman al-Sudais, imam of the Masjid al-Haram. ²

Reuters said many of the players sold in Indonesia were made by a South Korean company that also marketed them in the Middle East, Britain and the United States, under the brand Iqra'a, priced from 900,000 rupiah (about $98) to 1.9 million rupiah, a month's salary for many Indonesians. The newest model looked like an iPod, with a colour screen and video player, translations into nine languages, hadith, prayers, prayer times and the qibla. ² Wikipedia adds that such devices were mass-produced cheaply in China and names the Korean company Penman Corporation. ¹

There has been debate on the etiquette of a digital mushaf: whether ritual purity and the qibla apply to it as to a printed copy. The scholar Kristina Myrvold cites an Askimam fatwa holding that purity matters while the Qur'anic text is actually displayed. ¹ A Malaysian study of more than two hundred students in 2014 found Qur'an apps well received and helpful for recitation and memorisation, though many were unsure of the rules of recitation when using them. ¹ The authenticity of digital texts is also discussed, with proposals such as watermarks and digital signatures. ¹

With smartphones, attention moved from dedicated devices to Qur'an software for phones, among them Tarteel and Muslim Pro in the museum. ¹

• Reuters, "Indonesians tune in to digital Koran", as carried by CIOL, 20 September 2007. ²
• English Wikipedia, "Digital Quran", revision 1342274341. ¹