3 rd International Conference on Islamic Applications in Computer Science And Technology (IMAN 2015) 1-3 October 2015 Konya, Turkey Easy Hajj applications Track & Educate Pilgrims Malak Osman 1 , Adnan Shaout 2 , M. Mohandes 3 1 Sudan University of Science and Information, Technology 2 The University of Michigan – Dearborn, 3 King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals 1 angel_osman@yahoo.com; 2 shaout@umich.edu; 3 mohandes@kfupm.edu.sa Keywords: Educating pilgrims, Tracking and identifying pilgrims, Crowd management system, Quranic translation text Abstract Hajj (pilgrimage) is one of five main pillars of Islam. Every capable Muslim is obliged to perform Hajj at least once in his lifetime. The practice includes many rules and procedures (rituals), however many pilgrims lack the knowledge about the Hajj rituals. It is a challenge for a pilgrim to remember all these rituals and prayers with their timings. In the old days when less number of pilgrims used to perform Hajj every year, a guide (Mutawif) used to be with a group of pilgrims to teach them and remind them of each activity at the right time. However, with the increased number of pilgrims this option is no longer possible. Technology can help in providing a step-by-step guide for pilgrims until the pilgrimage is completed. This should minimize pilgrims‟ need to request help from others. In this paper, we propose the use of Smartphone technology to develop the Easy Hajj application for pilgrims. Easy Hajj application is an intelligent system able to track pilgrims at any specified time and date. It is also capable of sending automatically SMS notifications and alerts to pilgrims at the right time and the right place (Arafah, Muzdalifah, or Mena) when needed. A simple text-based navigation module has been created for mobile phones that have image viewing capabilities. Hajj geographical area is composed of several sections such as Arafah, Muzdalifah or Mena. The stoning ritual instructions are sentaccording to the place and time. The target users of this application are the Hajj pilgrims. 1. Introduction Global Positioning System (GPS) enables the tracking of all kinds of mobile assets accurately and provide their real-time positions on a 24/7 basis over the GPRS/GSM link. While the GPS provides the latitude/longitude information of the mobile asset at a given time, this information can be transmitted to any place using the GPRS radio link. The technology and the cost of implementing this technology has come down drastically over the last few years making them very affordable to the general public. The system consists of three underlying technologies: Global Positioning System (GPS) [1], [2], Global System for Mobile communication (GSM) [3-5], General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) [6-9]. The objective of this research is educating pilgrims and volunteers in performing the Hajj rituals using suitable tools such as an intelligent personnel location system or device. To design an affordable and fast system the GM862 cellular quad band module is used. GM862 has GPS and GPRS integrated together to track and identify pilgrims moves