ResearchPod Summary
Islamic religious learning often requires the simultaneous study of the Qur'an, Hadith (Prophetic traditions), and Seerah (biography of the Prophet). However, current digital ecosystems are highly fragmented, forcing users to switch between different apps and platforms to synthesize these sources. This study investigates this fragmentation as a human-computer interaction (HCI) problem by conducting semi-structured interviews with five Muslim women. The researchers aimed to understand how these users navigate religious learning, how they define 'interconnected' study, and what design features they find helpful versus disruptive.
The study introduces the concept of 'layered contextuality' to describe the ideal design for Islamic learning apps. Participants emphasized that while they value deep contextual information, they are highly sensitive to interface clutter and interruptions during their devotional practice. Layered contextuality suggests that apps should provide:
For designers of religious and educational technology, this research highlights that 'interconnection' is not merely a technical task of linking data. Instead, it is a pedagogical and spiritual design challenge. Because religious learning is often voluntary and reflective, even minor interface friction or perceived lack of trustworthiness can discourage engagement. By centering the perspectives of Muslim women—a group often overlooked in broader HCI studies—the authors demonstrate that effective design must respect the user's agency, the sanctity of the reading experience, and the need for scholarly rigor within a digital environment.
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