Prayer, tasbih and Ramadan tools
How do I make a prayer time table or a tasbih counter app?
A prayer time table, a tasbih counter, a Ramadan sehri and iftar schedule and a dua collection can all be built, and they run on a phone without internet. Built from the "Prayer times" card on the apps page, the app calculates the five daily times itself for all 64 districts of Bangladesh; give the Ramadan list its times yourself. Check them against your local mosque before you share it.
What you are making
Small helpers for daily worship are easy to build here, and everyone from your own household to the whole neighbourhood can use them. Once built they can sit on a phone home screen and open without internet, which is a real help in a mosque or in a village.
These are the ones people build most:
- A prayer time table: pick a district and see today's five prayers and sunrise, which one is next and how long is left. The app calculates the times itself.
- A tasbih counter: a big area you tap to count up, with a signal at 33 and at 100.
- A sehri and iftar schedule: the times for each of the 30 days of Ramadan, with today's row in its own colour.
- A dua collection: the Arabic, the Bangla pronunciation and the meaning, arranged by topic and searchable.
- The qibla direction: the direction for your district shown as a picture and in degrees, with a note on how to use it.
- A Ramadan record book: how each day went for fasting, taraweeh and charity, kept for yourself.
Step by step
Step 1: For a prayer time table, do not write the request yourself; start from the ready card. Among the templates on the apps page, under "Handy tools", press the Prayer times card. In the box, write only your district and the name of your mosque, then send.
Step 2: Built from this card, the app calculates the times itself, in the phone's browser, even without internet. Any of the 64 districts of Bangladesh can be picked, and the app remembers the one chosen. The method is the University of Islamic Sciences, Karachi (Fajr and Isha at 18 degrees), Asr by the Hanafi school, Maghrib at sunset. You never type in new times, daily or monthly.
District Sylhet. The mosque is Baitul Aman Jame Masjid, shown large at the top. Green and white, with text big enough for older people to read.
Step 3: When the first result comes, compare it with your own mosque's times. If the mosque is a minute or two apart, match it with the one-minute earlier and later buttons beside each prayer, and the app remembers that too. Never skip this checking step.
Step 4: Now the comfort and the polish. Ask for large text, a dark screen for night, and the ability to sit on the home screen. Assume older people will use it and ask for the text to stay big.
Make a tasbih counter app. A big round area in the middle of the screen that adds one to the count each time it is tapped. At 33 and at 100 the phone gives a light buzz and the colour changes. A reset button below, and three separate counts: Subhanallah, Alhamdulillah, Allahu Akbar. If the app is closed and opened again the count should still be there. It should work without internet and be able to sit on the home screen.
Step 5: When you are happy, press Share and pass the link to your family, your neighbourhood or the mosque committee. Print the QR code and put it on the mosque notice board and anyone can open it by pointing a camera at it.
Tricks that make it better
- Let the source of the times be stated. An app built from the card says at its foot, by itself, which method calculated the times. For anything you enter yourself, like a Ramadan list, say underneath where it came from and on what date it was entered.
- Keep a note of caution. The single line "please check against your local mosque" is both good manners and good responsibility. Congregation times shift by a few minutes from mosque to mosque.
- Keep hand-entered lists separate. For times you give yourself, such as sehri and iftar, ask for them to sit in a separate list file. Next year you simply hand over the new list and say "put this in", instead of rebuilding the whole app.
- Care with the Arabic. In a dua collection, ask for the Arabic to be large and clear with the Bangla pronunciation and meaning below. Take the texts from a reliable source and read them yourself before putting them in.
- The Ramadan list on paper too. Add a button that downloads the whole sehri and iftar schedule as a PDF. People print it for the wall and send it on WhatsApp.
Mistakes many people make
- Building it from your own words instead of the card. Send "make a prayer time table" yourself and the AI writes its own code, which may put guessed times in. The tested code that calculates the times only comes with a build started from the Prayer times card.
- Letting the AI supply sehri and iftar times. The prayer card does not calculate sehri, taraweeh or congregation times. Give the Ramadan list's times yourself from the Islamic Foundation calendar; say "you fill in the times" and guessed numbers may appear, and guesswork has no place in matters of worship.
- One district's times for everyone. Dhaka times do not match Sylhet or Chattogram exactly. The card's app has the district picker built in; on a list you fill in yourself, state the district in large text.
- Promising the call to prayer or alerts. Do not promise that a closed app will sound an alert or the azan on its phone. While the app is open it can count down and show a signal, and that is all you should claim.
What to do next
Once one tool stands up you can join the rest behind the same link as tabs, with the schedule, the tasbih and the duas on one page. Build the sehri and iftar schedule well before Ramadan, and show it to your mosque committee, who will happily put the QR code on the notice board. Remember that when you change times you entered yourself you must press "Update live site" again, otherwise the link keeps showing the old ones; the card's prayer times change every day by themselves. And with any religious text, it is always best to have someone knowledgeable look it over before you publish.
Beginner questions
Are the prayer times reliable?
Built from the Prayer times card, the app calculates the times itself, for the 64 districts of Bangladesh, by the Karachi method with Asr by the Hanafi school, and that calculation was tested against a separate, well known one. Your mosque may still be a minute or two apart, so compare once and, if needed, move a prayer a minute earlier or later with the buttons beside it.
Do I have to enter new times every month?
Not in an app built from the card. When the day changes the app calculates the new day's times itself, even without internet. For a list you entered yourself, such as the Ramadan one, just give the new list and put it live again.
Can it make a Ramadan schedule too?
Yes, a full Ramadan calendar with sehri and iftar times in one prompt. Give the times yourself from the Islamic Foundation calendar.
Is it safe to put Quran verses in the app?
Verses and translations can be placed, but check the spelling against a reliable copy or a scholar before publishing, it is also a matter of adab.