Teaching Prayers for the Guidance of Mu’allaf (Newly Riveted Muslim): An Android Application Design and Development Research

Abstract

Mu'allaf is a call for non-Muslims who hope to convert to Islam or inherited Islam whose faith still needs to be supported and strengthened. It is the responsibility of Muslims to give support and strength to Mu'allaf who are now considered brothers in religion, especially in the form of welfare, moral, financial, and learning assistance. When a non-Muslim has entered the religion of Islam, he must learn the ritual of prayer and perform it to the best of his ability as a person who has just learned Islam. However, interpreting these prayers with a guidebook alone is insufficient; considering that they need additional help in terms of words and actions. The Prayers Learning Application is a new method to learn prayers that are taught digitally using the portable platform of Android. Thus, the purpose of this study is to design and develop an android application for teaching prayers for the guidance of Mu’allaf. This android application includes multimedia elements to attract and help users better understand delivering prayers. The study's methodology was based on design and development research (DDR) and Waterfall Model was used as a guide in developing this android application. Adobe Animate 2021 was chosen as a development platform, using Action Script 3.0 as the programming language to develop this android application. This application consists of four modules which are Prayer Note, Prayer Time, Simply Prayer, and Prayer Videos. Three experts from a local higher education institution were appointed to evaluate this android application in terms of its functionality through content, interface, and interaction design. The data analysis is acquired in the form of frequency and percentage. Results revealed that this android application is suitable for new learners, which is the mu'allaf community to learn about prayers. In addition, this android application is expected to provide a positive impact in terms of functionality and usability in the future, especially in teaching prayers for the guidance of Mu’allaf. The application of mobile learning is indeed providing a very useful opportunity to deliver Islamic knowledge widely