Ihsan
Developing
Community Project
Roles
Lead Product Designer
Timeline
1 year
Jun 2024 – Jun 2025
Tools
Figma
Help Launch Ihsan: An App to Inspire Daily Worship and Spiritual Excellence
We’re building Ihsan, a mobile app that helps Muslims turn everyday moments—like walking into a store, seeing the rain, or breaking fast — into opportunities for worship. Through personalized, GPS and context-based reminders, Ihsan makes it easy to engage in small but powerful acts of dhikr, du’a, and mindfulness. We’re crowdfunding to build and launch the first version of the app before the end of the year, starting with Dhul Hijjah — ten of the most blessed days to give.
Where are we right now?
We’re right at the finish line! After nearly two years of dedicated work, the Ihsan App is nearly complete. Guided by a growing team of over 10+ youth-led volunteers committed to bringing this mission to life, the app has been carefully built, tested, and refined. Ihsan is also a registered and incorporated nonprofit in Canada, and the app will be completely free for all users, with no advertisements. It is designed to serve as a means of sadaqah jariyah (ongoing charity), allowing supporters to share in ongoing rewards as the community benefits from its use.
Our preliminary research has demonstrated strong interest and demand for the app. With over 100 responses to our initial survey, 43% of candidates, ages 18-35, identified dua as their primary means of connecting with Allah and 50% had the willingness to implement more voluntary acts in their daily life. We also conducted a social media experiment testing participation in shared reminder initiatives, which engaged a growing group of 100+ participants from across Canada. These findings highlight significant community enthusiasm and a clear need for this solution. Through Ihsan, we hope to strengthen the individual units of our community until our Ummah, as a whole, is unshakeable.
With the generous support of our community and early investors, we have already raised $4.5K, but there is still a long way to go and funding is required to successfully launch, operate, and sustain both the application and our startup. With your support, we can bring Ihsan to life!
Dedicated to the kids at RISE (Rohingya Intellectual Skills and Excellence), for teaching us about what Ihsan looks like in practice <3.
Problem
For many Muslims in the West, faith is a central part of life. A Pew Research Center study (2023–2024) found that 60% of U.S. Muslim adults consider religion “very important.” Yet the realities of balancing work, family, and personal responsibilities often make acts of worship challenging to maintain, and striving for spiritual excellence even more so. Limited time, scarce resources, and emotional or physical exhaustion are all variables that impact consistent engagement in faith-based practices, which are essential for deepening spiritual connection, building resilience, and fostering a sense of purpose in daily life.
Research shows that for young Muslims, these challenges can feel even heavier. Many struggle with feelings of inadequacy or shame over their religious shortcomings, especially in secular environments where Islam is less visible. Without consistent ways to engage in acts of worship, it is easy to feel spiritually disconnected, discouraged, and emotionally burnt out. Evidently, this points to a clear need for practical tools and structured support that help Muslims integrate faith into their daily lives with greater ease.
The question then becomes: how can we make Allah’s presence tangible in daily life and support consistent spiritual development?
Solution
The Prophet ﷺ taught us that after the obligatory acts, nothing brings a servant closer to Allah than voluntary deeds (Hadith Qudsi, Bukhari). These nawāfil practices not only compensate for our shortcomings in obligatory worship but also strengthen our connection to Allah, drawing His love, mercy, and protection. Yet many Muslims struggle to sustain them in the midst of busy, modern lives.
The Ihsan App was built to address this need. It is not just another Islamic knowledge app, it is a practical tool designed to transform knowledge into action and bring faith alive in daily routines.
Our team has carefully identified the wide range of voluntary acts recommended in Islam and woven them into a unique digital experience that makes practicing them accessible and consistent. With features like:
- GPS-enabled reminders & personalized alarms for acts like Tahajjud, Qiyam, Salatul Duha, Dua for entering your House, Masjid, and Mall etc.
- Delivering contextual notifications for dua and dhikr based on real-time moments, locations, or situations – When events such as rain occur, a notification with a dua suggestion is sent to the user, guiding their thinking to naturally shift from “Oh, it’s raining” to “Oh, Allah sent this rain as a mercy, and now I have an increased opportunity for my duas to be accepted”
- Tasbih tracking with analytics, turning remembrance into measurable progress and motivation.
- Comprehensive guidance for all acts of worship, offering users the virtues and benefits of each recommended practice, clear instructions on how to perform them, and a habit-tracking system to help translate intention into action
In short, the Ihsan App bridges the gap between intention and action, helping users effortlessly observe beneficial voluntary acts of worship, or “times of excellence,” within the flow of everyday life.
This project can’t be posted online, but I would love to chat about it if you shoot me an email ✧