Qatari innovator and entrepreneur, engineer Abdulrahman Saleh Khamis, has won the Arab Youth Excellence Award 2023 in the artificial intelligence sector. The prestigious award came for his innovative smart educational prayer rug "Sajdah”.Khamis received the award from Egypt’s Minister of Youth and Sports Ashraf Sobhy at a function, held at the headquarters of the League of Arab States (LAS) in Cairo."The Arab Youth Excellence Award 2023 in the field of Artificial Intelligence aims to highlight the distinguished efforts of Arab youth to achieve leadership in all different fields, demonstrate the distinguished performance of Arab youth, enhance competitiveness among them, frame it scientifically, share their success stories, encourage their distinguished initiatives and honour the creative and distinguished among them,” Khamis told GulfTimes in a statement thanking everyone who supported him. Khamis is the CEO and co-founder of Qatari startup Thakaa Technologies, the company that markets Sajdah.Described as the first of its kind, the rug helps new Muslims and children learn to pray with the help of technology while guiding prayer training and helping recite the Holy Qur’an. With a built-in LED display, Sajdah supports Arabic, English, and transliterated Arabic.The text of the Holy Qur’an is displayed while a speaker helps the worshipper hear the voice of recitation and prayer while guiding him to the next action. Through the Sajdah mobile app the rug could be paired with smartphones and Apple Watch. Parts of the Holy Qur’an that the worshipper wants to display during the prayer could be set.Khamis conceptualised the idea as he was driven by the desire to help worshippers easily and fairly perform prayers. The idea was selected by Qatar Foundation (QF)’s Qatar Science and Technology Park (QSTP) which supported Khamis to materialise his dream. It was displayed on QF’s edutainment TV show Stars of Science. Khamis was one of the finalists of the show.Also, Sajdah has so far several awards. These include Best Mobile App of the Year 2021 by the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT) and gold medals in the International Invention Fair in the Middle East in Kuwait 2023, International Exhibition of Inventions Geneva 2023 and ITEX 2024 in Malaysia.
July 25, 2024 | 09:53 AM