SalamWeb (browser)

SalamWeb was a Chromium-based web browser developed by a Malaysian start-up, Salam Web Technologies, and designed to give a "Muslim-friendly" web experience. It was launched in January 2019 for Windows, macOS, Android and iOS; English Wikipedia now describes it as discontinued, its domain no longer reachable. ¹

The browser used a three-layer system it called SalamWebProtect to filter what it deemed haram content, products and services, offensive to Muslims or harmful to children: built-in filters, AI image recognition and flags raised by users. ¹ Its tools included prayer times, a qibla compass, daily quotes, "Mosques Near Me" and SalamSadaqah, through which the company committed to a donation to a charitable project, with the charity Global Sadaqah, each time the browser was used. ¹ Release 4.4 added SalamWebTalks, a widget for commenting on and rating any page, and an online magazine, SalamToday, appeared alongside it, in eight languages by July 2020. ¹ Built on Chromium, it could run Google Chrome extensions. ¹

The article mentions an earlier "Salam" browser tested by Tech Wire Asia in May 2016, which the Straits Times reported as a sharia-compliant browser launched in Malaysia. ¹ Salaam Gateway, carrying a Reuters report, said the Dubai parent company would put up $15 million to develop the browser and other digital products. ¹

Bloomberg saw it in 2019 as a sign of demand for a browser compliant with Islamic values at a time of growing concern over privacy, bias and online abuse; Financial Management magazine reported that it had gained popularity as an alternative for Muslims who prefer such content; and reviews on Asian sites found it mostly effective at blocking what it considered haram. ¹ It was the first browser certified by the private Amanie Shariah Supervisory Board, and the Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation endorsed it as compliant with the Islamic Digital Economy Guide (Mi'yar). ¹

The article says the browser was discontinued in 2021 for unknown reasons, without a source for the date, and the salamweb.com domain is no longer accessible; the Internet Archive keeps its pages. ¹ It has articles in eight Wikipedia editions, among them Arabic, Bengali, Hausa, Indonesian, Malay and Turkish. ²

• English Wikipedia, "SalamWeb", revision 1356405252. ¹
• Wikidata Q61194756. ²