Designing for Interconnected Islamic Learning: A Qualitative Study of Muslim Women's Experiences with Qur'an, Hadith, and Seerah Apps
Source: arXiv:2606.19745 · Published 2026-06-18 · By Ishrat Jahan Easha, Nabil Mosharraf Hossain, Araf Mohammad Mahbub, Fairoze Bint Abu Hassan, Zunaid Aslam, Yemin Sajid et al.
TL;DR
This qualitative study investigates how Muslim women engage with digital Islamic learning tools, particularly apps focusing on the Qur'an, Hadith, and Seerah. The problem identified is the fragmentation of these interconnected sources across multiple apps and sites, which disrupts the holistic and contextualized nature of Islamic learning. Through semi-structured interviews with five Muslim women from diverse backgrounds, the study surfaces nuanced user needs around trustworthy, seamless, and flexible integration of these religious texts. The main contribution is the concept of "layered contextuality," which captures the need for optional, authentic contextual expansions that preserve the devotional reading flow and continuity across devices and study modes.
The study finds that Muslim women learners want digital interfaces that present Qur’an-Hadith-Seerah content cohesively to support interpretive understanding, reduce trust verification labor, avoid interface clutter, support both devotional and scholarly use patterns, and provide guidance features like planners and quizzes. The results emphasize that integration must be subtle and user-controllable to respect spiritual focus. The research highlights the importance of epistemic trust, gendered digital religion perspectives, and seamless cross-device learning in designing Islamic educational technologies.
Key findings
- Participants emphasize interconnected learning as contextual and practical, wanting Qur’an, Hadith, and Seerah content linked to provide holistic interpretation, not just convenience (e.g. P2: 'holistic picture', P4: 'more holistic context').
- Trust is central: users prefer authentic, curated content that minimizes verification efforts (P1: 'trust with our eyes closed'; P5 distrusts Google search but verifies content).
- Seamless integration favored over app-hopping: users want contextual links, expandable commentary within one interface, but without clutter or interruptive popups (P4 warns against feature overload and ads).
- Layered contextuality emerged, where core reading flow is preserved and extra information is optionally accessible to avoid cognitive overload (P3 warns frequent hadith inserts 'destroy the flow').
- Two primary use modes identified: lightweight devotional use on mobile versus deeper study workflows on laptops/web requiring text copying, commenting, and more detailed search support.
- Participants desire guidance and habit support features such as planners, progress tracking, quizzes, and reflective prompts to scaffold religious learning (e.g. P2’s personal goal board, P3’s Umrah itinerary planner).
- The study sample comprises 5 Muslim women, mostly UK-based postgraduates, illustrative of diverse app use habits from casual to advanced study.
- Thematic analysis used gendered digital religion, epistemic trust, and seamless learning as sensitizing frameworks to interpret data and identify core design tensions.
Threat model
Not a security-focused paper. The ‘threat’ considered is fragmentation, mistrust, and cognitive friction arising from disjointed Islamic digital resources potentially causing misunderstanding or requiring burdensome verification by learners. Adversarial capabilities such as content tampering are not addressed.
Methodology — deep read
The study employs a qualitative HCI approach with semi-structured interviews to probe Muslim women's experiences using Qur’an, Hadith, and Seerah apps. The threat model is indirect: the adversary is not a malicious attacker but challenges arise from digital fragmentation and trustworthiness deficits in Islamic learning tools. Data derives from five in-depth online interviews with Muslim women aged 30-40+ recruited from a WhatsApp group linked to an online Islamic studies course. Participants include learners and teachers, mostly UK based with one from Bangladesh, all Sunni and postgraduates.
The interview protocol covered current app usage, conceptualizations of interconnected learning, trust judgments, and feedback on design probes including embedded links, expandable commentary, planners, quizzes, and prompts. Interviews lasted 30-45 minutes, were audio recorded, transcribed verbatim, and analyzed in English, preserving domain terms for accuracy.
The analytic approach was reflexive thematic analysis following Braun and Clarke’s guidelines: iterative familiarization, open coding focused on app use patterns, trust, contextuality, and design needs; formation and refinement of themes through team memoing. Theoretical lenses drawn from gendered digital religion, epistemic trust literature, and seamless learning concepts shaped interpretation.
A concrete example: P3 described wanting optional hadith and Seerah context accessible via summary links rather than forced full-text popups, to support reading flow during in-app Seerah reading without disruption. This user insight supported the emergent layered contextuality model.
Recruitment purposive and small sample size aimed for 'information power' given specificity of user group and focused questions, not saturation. Reflexivity and researcher positionality were acknowledged as the interviewers were culturally aligned female researchers.
Evaluation was qualitative without quantitative metrics or adversarial testing. No code or dataset release as data was confidential interview transcripts. Overall, a culturally sensitive, interpretive design study focused on lived user experience rather than system building or empirical benchmarking.
Technical innovations
- Proposes 'layered contextuality' as an HCI design concept for Islamic learning apps, balancing contextual expansion with preserving devotional reading flow and interpretive accountability.
- Illuminates epistemic trust dynamics in Islamic digital learning, distinguishing source authenticity from interpretive trust in app design.
- Highlights gendered digital religion perspectives as a core analytic lens, centering Muslim women’s situated experiences in HCI design research.
- Connects interconnected Islamic learning to seamless cross-device and context learning challenges rather than treating sources as isolated content silos.
Datasets
- n/a (qualitative interview transcripts with five Muslim women from an online Islamic studies community, not publicly shared)
Limitations
- Small, specific sample (five Muslim women from particular socio-educational backgrounds) limits generalizability.
- No quantitative or large-scale user study to validate prevalence of identified themes or preferences.
- Lacks adversarial analysis of trustworthiness features or security implications of digital Islamic learning tools.
- No implementation or prototype evaluated — findings are design insights rather than validated solutions.
- Single cultural/denominational focus (Sunni women), possible omission of other Islamic perspectives or male viewpoints.
- Reliance on self-reported data may be affected by social desirability or participant interpretation biases.
Open questions / follow-ons
- How can layered contextuality be effectively operationalized in interactive Islamic learning app designs?
- What quantitative impact do integrated, trustworthy contextual features have on learning outcomes and user retention across diverse Muslim populations?
- How do men and users from other Islamic traditions or demographics experience interconnected learning and trust in digital religious tools?
- What are the security or privacy implications of integrating multiple Islamic content sources and user study data across devices?
Why it matters for bot defense
For bot-defense and CAPTCHA practitioners focusing on digital religious or cultural spaces, this paper underscores the importance of trust and user experience nuances in highly sensitive domains. Islamic learning apps serve communities with strong epistemic trust demands and fragmented content ecosystems, illustrating how usability, trust signals, and contextual clarity directly impact user engagement and credibility perception.
While the study is not about bot attacks or security, it implies that interventions or defenses in digital religious platforms must respect deep contextual needs and avoid disrupting user flow or spiritual intent. Bot-defense approaches in such apps should therefore account for the unique balance between seamless user interaction and verified authenticity, ensuring security measures do not degrade this trust. Moreover, the cross-device and layered content aspects highlighted here may inform design of friction points or continuity checks relevant to bot detection without impairing user experience.
Cite
@article{arxiv2606_19745,
title={ Designing for Interconnected Islamic Learning: A Qualitative Study of Muslim Women's Experiences with Qur'an, Hadith, and Seerah Apps },
author={ Ishrat Jahan Easha and Nabil Mosharraf Hossain and Araf Mohammad Mahbub and Fairoze Bint Abu Hassan and Zunaid Aslam and Yemin Sajid and Riasat Islam },
journal={arXiv preprint arXiv:2606.19745},
year={ 2026 },
url={https://arxiv.org/abs/2606.19745}
}