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Ikhwat

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Inspiration

This app was born out of an everyday problem faced by sisters new to Qatar. It's difficult to navigate through the different masaajid and find a tight knit circle where they can gain valuable friendships, seek knowledge, volunteer, etc. They scramble and make do with whatever resources they can find online, reaching out to masaajids and getting bits of information here and there, only to find that the timings don't match up, or that she can't attend the halaqah due to language barrier.

What it Does

The “Ikhwat” mobile app aims to bridge the gap between the non Arab muslim sisters and the islamic activities in and around Doha. It is an aggregator platform for Islamic Community Circles, Islamic Events and local scholars. It provides a simple and efficient way to browse for local events, join groups, and connect with like minded sisters.

The Process And Lessons Learned

Hackathons are generally 24 or 48 hours. This one was a little different in that it spanned multiple days. We had the chance to brainstorm - and although we arrived at our idea fairly quickly, we pivoted multiple times, adapting to the time left and the skills available. As we were building a mobile app, all of us tried our hands for the first time on flutter, a platform to build both android and ios apps simultaneously. We devoted some time to create the back end in flask and realised that we would require firebase to send push notifications to the users in the future. As building a product means wearing many hats, we handled the marketing side by using figma to build mockups of our app and also used offeo to create video demos. The hackathon was a great learning opportunity for us to work remotely with team members from different time zones, getting feedback and improving the product.

Challenges

As with any project, we shared a handful of ordeals we had to overcome along the way. Working out timings to work remotely & attend meetings was initially a hassle. Two of our members are located in Qatar while one is in Dallas, TX with a time gap of 8 hours between us. We solved this minor issue by finding common, overlapping timings and setting them as our regular meeting hours. Another challenge we faced was trying to prioritize our tasks and put it in context of the hackathon. Initially, we spent time working out the full scope of the app: backend, frontend, UX/UI, etc. Additionally, we had an extended list of features we wanted to incorporate in our app. Due to the time crunch, we had to make the arduous decision of selecting only key components. Adapting to our newfound plan, we shifted our focus on developing our app and polishing up the look/feel of it. Last but not least, our team members experienced a learning curve whilst exploring the potential and learning the ins and outs of flutter.

Architecture

What's Next

We hope to make this the go to app for all your islamic community needs. Some of the features that we are hoping to incorporate include

Create events and orgs
Post Events
Get Event recommendations
Receive Connection suggestions
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Built With

Submitted to

UmmaHacks
- Winner 3rd Place (Grand)

Created by

I had the opportunity of designing screens (UI) for Ikhwat. I also used flutter for the first time. Although I initially found it challenging to navigate and understand, I'm amazed by how powerful of a platform it is. Additionally, I used Offeo to create and edit our app demo.

Sameena Shaik
I worked on the back end initially. Placed some API calls to create new user profiles and authentication. Also tried my hand in flutter for the first time. Spent some time analyzing monetary aspects, the business models and the revenue streams. Figma was another tool that was introduced to me for the first time.

Ashhadul Islam
I worked on the UI for Ikhwat. It was my first time developing a mobile app and using Dart - Flutter. I am in absolute love with Flutter. I learnt a lot building Ikhwat and there is lot more to go. We have finished a few features to serve as MVP for the app. InshaAllah planning to keep contributing to Ikhwat as we believe it is the solution to ensure a Ukthi (sister) finds her Ikhwat (sisters) circle in Qatar.

Wafa Waheeda Syed