Mobiles helping Muslims to pray on time

Jakarta: Indonesian Muslims struggling to balance work with the holy fasting month of Ramadan are relying on special cellphones to help them keep the faith.

Islamic gadgets are especially popular in Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim country, during Ramadan.

This is the holy month for the followers of the Islamic faith when religious fervour is high and devout Muslims abstain from food, drink, profanities and sexual activities from dawn-to-dusk.

The green-and-white limited edition Hidayah phone, which means divine guidance in Arabic, sounds the "azan" call to prayer five times a day.

It also gives out the sounds of the bang of the traditional bedug drum used at sunset to signal the end of the fast.

It wakes Muslims up with religious songs before the dawn prayers so they can eat a final meal.

"At work, I missed praying sometimes because I lost track of time, and the city's noise buries the sound of the bedug. But with this phone I don't miss anything," said Donny Meirawan, a 35-year-old Muslim who works for a manufacturing firm.

The phone's wallpaper includes a picture of Jakarta's grand mosque and digital Koranic verses, as well as a qiblah, or an indicator that points the direction of the Kabaa in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, the black stone structure Muslims around the world turn to during prayer.

The phone is also embedded with software that enables users to download Islamic music and pictures in no time, said Sharif Lukman of Bakrie Telecom, the company that launched the product, adding that it does not require a tech-savvy user.

The phone, priced at an affordable 299,000 rupiah ($32), is a huge hit in cellphone-crazy Indonesia, where demand has pushed its price up to 380,000 rupiah in some shops.

Roughly converted, a US dollar would be about 9,206 Indonesian rupiah.

About 85 per cent of Indonesia's 226 million people are Muslim, and many observe Ramadan.

Over the past few years, an iPod-like music player that contained a digital Koran was especially popular during the holy month.

Office worker Meirawan says he's already picked up 19 Hidaya phones for his colleagues and friends.

"But I need to get at least four more, because people look at my phone and they are green with envy," he added.