UniversMurid

The Khassida, the spiritual poems of Cheikh Ahmadou Bamba, founder of the Mouride brotherhood in Senegal, are read and listened to every day by the community. Yet the recordings and texts circulate in a scattered way: shared files, videos and documents that are hard to find on a phone.

The aim was to bring this religious content together in a free app that respects its spiritual character, is easy to use for people of all ages, and is available in French, Arabic and Wolof. The app also had to support daily life at prayer time, with reliable prayer times for wherever the user happens to be.

BarkelTech developed UniversMurid, a mobile app for iOS and Android. A library brings the Khassida together, with search, filters and a highlight on new additions. A full audio player lets users listen to the Khassida and the Adhan: play and pause, next or previous track, a progress bar, repeat and shuffle.

The app also includes prayer times calculated from the user's location, a countdown to the next prayer, notifications and the direction of Mecca (Qibla). The visual identity is restrained and spiritual: soft colours, Arabic calligraphy in the background and subtle animations. The interface is available in French, Arabic and Wolof.

The app is organised into five tabs: Home, Khassida, Listen, Prayer and Languages. The home screen features a portrait of Cheikh Ahmadou Bamba, a quotation, shortcuts to the content and links to social media. The tabs respond to touch with gentle haptic feedback, and a single codebase built with Expo and React Native serves both iPhone and Android.