News

Sajdah Is The World’s First Smart Rug That Helps You Perfect Your Prayers

Sajdah features a built-in LED display, a speaker, and rechargeable batteries, allowing it to display the text of the Holy Quran and play voice prompts to guide you as you pray.

Published

5 years ago

May 6, 2021

Joanna Melki

Sajdah

The Middle East has always had a passion for technology and innovative solutions in general. When the coronavirus pandemic first hit, private businesses and public organizations in the region quickly implemented digital solutions to overcome the challenges presented to them.

While global vaccination efforts are accelerating and paving the way for the eventual transition to normalcy, it will still take a lot of time for the last social distancing measure to be lifted. Until then, millions of Muslims around the world will continue praying at home, not always being sure how to pray without directions.

Qatar-based Thakaa Technologies is now trying to solve this problem with their first-ever smart educational prayer rug, called Sajdah. The rug is available exclusively on LaunchGood, and you can get it with a discount of nearly 50 percent if you hurry up.

“Technology is entering every part of our lives. We’re using technology to communicate, learn, socialize, exercise, and organize our life,” said Abdulrahman Saleh Khamis, CEO and co-founder of Thakaa Technologies. “We hope everyone is as excited as we are and urge our Muslim brothers and sisters to log on to LaunchGood and pre-order Sajdah,” added Abdul Ali, the co-founder and Chief Growth Officer of Thakaa Technologies.

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Sajdah features a built-in LED display, a speaker, and rechargeable batteries, allowing it to display the text of the Holy Quran and play voice prompts to guide you as you pray. You can pair the rug with your smartphone through the Sajdah mobile app and use the app to pre-program the parts of the Quran you want to display during your prayer, control the speed of the prayer, and a whole lot more.

At the moment, prayer guides and Quran verses can be displayed in English and Arabic, but Thakaa Technologies promises to add support for more languages with future updates to Sajdah.

News

NEOPAY Wants To Follow Merchants Across Channels And Borders

A controlling 65% stake in noon payments would give NEOPAY access to marketplace sellers, online merchants and the payment flows they generate.

Published

1 day ago

October 5, 2026

Nour Nasir

neopay wants to follow merchants across channels and borders

It’s been a long time since checkouts were single defined places. A merchant might take payments at a physical register, on its own website and through an online marketplace, sometimes in more than one country. NEOPAY wants to follow those transactions wherever they happen.

The UAE payments company has entered into an agreement to acquire a 65% controlling stake in noon payments. NEOPAY already runs the acquiring infrastructure that lets merchants accept card payments, along with omnichannel acceptance and a merchant services platform. This new deal would add noon payments’ embedded payments platform, e-commerce gateway and merchant network across the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Egypt. That would considerably expand both NEOPAY’s digital commerce capabilities and its regional reach.

For merchants, the attraction is a single provider for online and in-store payments, plus faster settlements, data and analytics, and value-added financial services.

“Payments should be simple, reliable, and built for the markets they serve,” said Faraz Khalid, CEO of noon. His counterpart at NEOPAY, Vibhor Mundhada, added: “We have built a strong payments business in the UAE, and our ambition is now to take that capability across the region”. The acquisition, Mundhada added, would “expand our footprint into Saudi Arabia and Egypt” while reinforcing NEOPAY’s position at home.

Also Read: In Kuwait, Your Surgeon Might Be Operating From Another Country

NEOPAY is also keen to point out potential payment volume increases. The company says noon payments’ integrations with marketplace sellers and online merchants create high transaction density in some of the region’s fastest-growing digital commerce segments. It also believes control of the business would give it access to those merchant relationships and payment flows, and speed up the rollout of alternative payment methods and installment options.

The combined roadmap targets faster merchant onboarding, better payment performance, tighter fraud controls and embedded financial services. The deal could also strengthen cross-border payments and settlement along key regional commerce corridors.