With the onset of the holy month of Ramadan people usually look for charts for Sehri (pre-dawn meal) and Iftar (evening meal to break daily fast) timings. To facilitate people, 23-year-old software engineer Haider Ali Punjabi from Srinagar has come up with a Ramadan app which works both in online and offline modes.
The app includes supplications related to Iftar and Sehri and contains a prayer chart (Meeqat-us-Salah) of several schools of thought.
Haider Ali, who hails from Nishat area of Srinagar, told Rising Kashmir that the app ‘Iftarkar’ is also available on the Google Play Store and has a multilingual facility to cater to a large number of users.
He said the plan came to his mind during the peak of the Covid pandemic when it was difficult for people to reach markets to fetch Iftar charts.
“I developed this app in the year 2020 when pandemic was prevalent and precautionary measures were imposed strictly. There were little means available as most of the newspapers, magazines and other print media modes had limited subscribers. I thought about it for a while and came up with Iftarkar.com,” Haider Ali said while speaking with Rising Kashmir.
He asserted the app has been designed in such a way so that it will function both in online and offline modes.
“The app is the best to use as it runs in the absence of the internet as well,” he added.
“It is built using the latest web development technologies and will run smoothly on slow internet and supports offline use as well," he said.
“Though the app had been launched years ago, it is back on track with some new modifications aimed to facilitate every school of thought,” he said.
He added the app has good ratings on Google Play Store and is available in Kashmiri, Urdu and English languages.
“There was a lack of Ramadhan specific app and the absence of countdown timers that are common in Muslim countries, I felt the need to fill the void and that’s how Iftarkar.com shaped up”, he said.
To a query, he said before a month volume of people had browsed his app which prompted him to come up with more updates.
“The website and the app are also filled with daily reminders and prayers which has made it more popular among the users. “Owing to its unique interface and following, I have started an Instagram account that will not only post Islamic reminders but also provide constructive tips,” he added.
Haider Ali is also the owner of his start-up ‘Hackesta’.
“Hackesta is working on many other initiatives and is an emerging name in Kashmir’s software programming community,” he said.
The 23-year-old, who is pursuing an integrated course in MCA from Cluster University Srinagar, seems optimistic for future endeavours.
“The app is just a beginning. Whenever and wherever I find my need in developing further apps, I will surely try my best”, Haider Ali added.