Reading the Qur’an Pages Electronically ©
First Published: April 2020 – Updated: April 2022
Summary:
The objective of this project is to design an electronic device to display the Muslims’ holy book (the Qur’an) and allow the reader (reciter) to move to the next page, the previous page, or jump to a specific page using a small remote control.
Muslims perform obligatory prayers (fardh salah) every day plus additional optional prayers (sunnah salah).
Details of Muslims’ salah and how it is performed can be found in this article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salah
In the prayers (salah), the Muslim recites the first chapter of the holy book (the Qur’an) followed by other passages (verses) from the holy book (the Qur’an).
The first chapter of the Qur’an is called Al-Fatihah (Arabic: ٱلْفَاتِحَة, al-Fātiḥah, meaning “The Opening”).
In the obligatory (compulsory) salah, the Muslim must recite memorized verses from the Quran (and not allowed to carry anything during the salah).
However, in the additional optional prayers (sunnah salah), the Muslim recites the verses that follow the first chapter (Al-Fatihah) from a printed version or an electronic version of the holy book (the Qur’an). This means the Muslim can carry the holy book and flick its pages during the salah. This is proven to be difficult especially if he/she wants to recite multiple pages.
This project eliminates the need to carry the holy book (either printed or electronic) or flick through its pages. This is done with the help of a small remote control with button(s) to display the pages of the holy book moving forward or backward with a push of a button during the prayer.
This will improve the quality of the salah and help the Muslim to concentrate and elevate his/her spiritual experience during the salah.
The first prototype was built in early 2019 and used it every day during my optional prayers. It is now finished and some prototypes were given to friends for use and testing.
With the start of 2020 and the declaration of the Corona Virus (COVID-19) Pandemic, I thought that this project would have been very useful during the lockdown rules and the closing of Mosques and not able to do prayers in congregation.
More importantly in Ramadan the voluntary/optional prayers are increased. This project would have been a great aid to get Muslims to do these optional prayers at home, especially for those many people that do not memorise the Quraan.
Definition
The holy book (the Qur’an) is available in many forms, in printed forms, on computers, on smart phones, on tablets, etc. However, not all forms are easy to use during the salah. Finding the best way to solve this problem took some thinking especially when the aim is to reduce any distractions during performing the salah.
All forms of the Qur’an must be authenticated to make sure that it is exact text as the original Quraan.
Research showed that no technology was available that resembles this design approach. This made it worthwhile to pursue this project to find solutions for the challenges facing the project.
Some of these challenges were:
- Which Single Board Computer (SBC) to use?
- Where to get the Qur’an pages?
- Which file format to use (PDF, images, presentation, word, etc.)?
- How to display the pages?
- How to control the pages?
- Which remote control to use?
- How to make it economical (low cost) to produce?
- Can this be mass produced?
- Cost benefit Analysis.
- Who is the target audience for this paper? And what action if any do you want them to take ?
Design description
After reviewing the available Single-Board Computers (SBC), The Raspberry Pi (Rpi) was found to be the best choice as it has Linux operating system, USB ports, HDMI port, Wi-Fi, enough memory and python programming language which is relatively easy to use.


The design is based on 4 main components: The CPU, the remote control, the power supply and a display (screen):
- The CPU is based on a small Single-Board Computer (SBC) Raspberry Pi Zero (for low-cost version) or version 3 model or higher.
- The display can be an old computer monitor, a TV, or a projector with an HDMI port. The quality of the HDMI cable depends on the monitor type.
- The remote control can be a single button (for advancing pages forward only), 2-button remote control (for “Next” and “Previous” page control), or a 4 button remote control to allow for ON/OFF display button and a button to enter a specific page number or shut down.
- The DC power supply provides the DC voltage suitable for both the SBC and the remote control.
The following block diagrams show the circuit components and connections.


The pages of the holy Qur’an were based on “Mushaf-Almadina” that is published by the kingdom of Saudi Arabia and is widely used all over the Muslim world.
The pages of the holy Qur’an were extracted in image (JPG) format which was easier to display and manipulate than a PDF or any other format.
The Gregorian date and the Hijri (Lunar calendar) date are displayed at the bottom of the page for information. This is optional and can be removed if it distracts the reader.
The Hijri (Lunar) calendar is important for Muslims as it helps keeping track of important Islamic dates such as the beginning of Ramadan and Haj (Pilgrimage) dates, etc. In the first prototype a wireless door-bell circuit was dismantled and used as remote control, however a wireless 1 or 4 button remote control, readily available in the market was later used as it allows easy interface to the SBC
Parameters Configuration file:
Program parameters such has screen size, pages files location, Hijri date adjustment, dates display, were defined in the program itself
Configuration file (started with parameters definition in program file). Configuration parameters are currently stored in a configuration file which is edited outside the program.
The program uses Graphical User Interface (GUI) to enter parameters and change settings. The GUI also allow shutdown.
The program remembers the Current page to allow the readers to continue reading from where they stopped. The current page will not be lost if the program stopped or if there were an unexpected shutdown.
The device has the following features:
- 4 different Mushaf (Quraan) formats.
- Jump to any page, Juz’ (part) or Surah.
- Screen rotation to allow horizontal or vertical display.
- Up to 5 bookmarks that may allow up to 5 users to use the device.
- Display the Hijra and Gregorian calendar dates at the bottom of the screen
- Adjust Hijra date.
- Display Khatm Quraan Du’aa.
Wi-Fi connection setup, if available, to allow automatic date and time update.
Evaluation
The first prototype has been working for more than a year and was used every day.
Bugs were fixed when they appeared. Functionality and ease of use has been continually improving.
The second prototype was built using a lower cost part and was given out for field test. So far the feedback was excellent.
Packaging still to be finalized to find the best way to assemble all the components in a presentable, easy to install, and reliable box. The box was made using a 3D printer to lower the cost.
Some pointe worth explaining:
Cost Benefit:
A cost–benefit analysis is a process used by businesses to analyse decisions. The business or analyst sums the benefits of a situation or action and then subtracts the costs associated with taking that action.
The cost of the project is in an extended (Personal) document (including parts lists, cost of parts, cost of development, cost of testing, etc.) This will be used when or if it is going to go to mass production (see below).
However, at this stage, Cost benefit analysis may not be applied to this project. The Spiritual benefit is great but cannot be measured , and based on this fact, the monetary cost must be brought down to encourage many people to use it.
Can this be mass produced?
Yes. However, this is a stage that needs market research and estimate of possible sales per year, to be able to approach a manufacturer that is welling to produce it and make profit.
Roll out plan is one of the points that depend on the market research and the manufacturer’s capacity to meet the estimated demand.
Who is the target audience for this paper?
This paper is meant for everyone, the public, technical, non-technical, Muslims and non-Muslims.
Hopefully, it is not too technical for everyone to understand and have enough technical details to interest a technical person.
Future development:
Image projection, hologram, etc.
…………….
Copyright © 2018-2022, Mohammed A. Helal, all rights reserved
May Allah grant you all the Tawfiq!
Ameen
Hi Helal.. this is really good and valuable tool which can assist the muslim world in praying by reciting entire quran….. the same can be diversified to different languages to benefit across the globe…. There is a feasible mass production and success to this concept..
Thank you Mumtaz. I hope I can take it further inshaaAllah.
السلام عليكم ، الحمد لله الذى بفضله تتم الصالحات وهذه إنجازات رائعة ومشرفة وجزاك الله خيرا وأدام عليك وأهلك الصحة والعافية وكل عام وأنتم بخير وعافية
جزاك الله كل خير حاج فوزي و بارك الله فيك أنت و الحاجه نوال و حفظكم الله و ذريتكم من كل سوء إلى يوم الدين