Two years after its launch, the website of Prophet Mohammed has reached 70 million visitors and ranked first in a regional competition.
The website, called The Prophet of God, was launched in 2008 in the wake of the Danish cartoons that sparked outrage all over the Muslim world, said site manager Mohammed Ashour.
"We wanted to respond to insults with mercy," he told Al Arabiya. "And we made sure that the website does not end up as a temporary reaction to a specific incident. It has been going on since then and visitors reached 70 million."
The website rasoulallah.net, whose slogan is 'We Preserved your Memory', contains the biography and teachings of the prophet in 11 languages.
"We are currently working on a Turkish version and will soon launch Persian and Japanese versions as soon as we hire professional translators."
Ashour added that the website got first place in the Sheikh Salem al-Sabah information technology competition in Kuwait and was awarded the title Best Technical Website in the Arab world.
According to Ashour, all those who work in the website are volunteers and their numbers have been increasing over the past two years.
"When we announced launching the website, countless volunteers expressed their interest to work with us. Now, their number has reached 30,000."
When asked about the funding of the website, Ashour added that it is basically marketing and donations while most expenses go to translations.
"We make sure that translations are done by professional individuals and companies and we spend a lot on that since we have so many languages."
Content accuracy
The feedback the website got was extremely positive, said Ashour. Religious scholars and visitors from all over the Muslim world lauded the initiative.
"We have this praise written on the website and all visitors are given the chance to say what they think about the content. We strongly encourage interaction on the website."
To guarantee the accuracy of the content, the website administration has formed a scholarly committee that is in charge of conducting research in the sunna (prophet's teachings) and presenting it in a way that suites the cultures addressed.
"The website aims at introducing people to Islam and the prophet and that is why we address each culture with its language."
Despite the increasing number of visitors from both Muslim and non-Muslim countries, Ashour said that the website has not yet reached the target for which it was launched.
"I was very sad when I saw a presenter asking passers by in Brazil about the prophet and they say they know nothing about him. This made feel we still need to introduce the world to who the prophet is."
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