'One Day in the Haram'

Review of 'One Day in the Haram':

Leslie Felperin, Guardian, One Day in the Haram review – a fascinating glimpse inside Islam's holiest site, 6 Sep 2018

"A trip to the mosque’s social media office offers an insight into how modern technology is used to service ancient traditions, and that tension between old and new is woven throughout the movie, which is in itself an artefact representative of that duality."

I discuss the issue of social media and pilgrimage in 'Hashtag Islam'.

I'm looking forward to seeing this. As it stands in the UK, it is only available on Amazon Prime at present. I'm hoping that a DVD release is imminent.

Tawaf on Segway board: Opinions differ on whether it is Islamic

arabnews.com, Tawaf on Segway board: Opinions differ on whether it is Islamic, 1 Sep 2015 "A short video showing a pilgrim, draped in the two pieces of seamless cloth called ihram, circumambulating the Kaaba in Makkah using a Segway board, has gone viral on social media." This is an interesting issue in relation to technology and pilgrimage.

Smart Phones for Ka`bah

Mustafa Abu Amsha, Islam Online, Smart Phones for Ka`bah, 17 Sep 09 "For millions of pilgrims who visit the holy sites in Saudi Arabia, the ultimate prize of the day is to get the closest to the Ka`bah and be able to hear the heavenly recitation of the Quran by the imam of Al Masjid al-Haram.

"But thanks to modern technology, every pilgrim, even those praying hundreds of meters away from the mosque itself, are enjoying the same through new start-of-the-art sound phones.

"“When you are some three hundred meters away from the imam, it’s very hard to hear the voice and follow him in the prayer,” Sheikh Mansour Al-Amer, manager of Hajj and `Umrah Gifts Foundation, told IslamOnline.net."