Air Travel Prayer Time Calculator on Facebook now!

Since the launch of our Air Travel Prayer Time Calculator, we have been getting some great feedback from the Muslim Travelers. Many of them have requested us to include some Airports which are not currently not in the Calc. We will continue to add them so that most major international Airports are covered.

It was probably sometime in 2008, that I first thought we needed to find a way to make it easier to know the Prayer times while flying. From that time to Alhamdulillah, the the launch of Crescentrating's Air Travel Prayer Time Calculator last week, there were many who had contributed in many ways to make this project a success.

With American Muslim Consumers spending approaching USD 125 billion, for businesses not to take a serious look at this segment, will not be in the best interest of their shareholders.

This was pretty evident at the 3rd edition of the American Muslim Consumers Conference (AMCC). It was also obvious that AMCC is on a pioneering path to build itself as the premier platform to bring all stakeholders to facilitate the development of this segment in the US.

Last week, during my trip to Bangkok , I came across a couple of Halal Friendly facilities and services, which I think are worth sharing! It is really great to see how finally, travel industry service providers are beginning to acknowledge the needs of the Muslim travelers.

Having been a frequent flyer for the last 28 years for business and leisure, I have got used to accepting all levels of service quality (good and bad!) from Airline staff. I also very quickly forget them. However there have been a couple of instances that I will not forget and can recall as truly memorable experiences - and one of them was last week on a Sri Lankan Airlines flight from Singapore to Colombo.

Knowing the rules related to Salaath and Wudhu, and having a few things in the travel bag, will go a long way for a traveler to ensure that they do not miss Salaath while traveling.

Marina Mandarin became the latest Crescentrated Hotel in Singapore to get the kitchen and food stations serving one of their restaurants (Aquamarine) Halal certified by MUIS. This meant that their Crescentrating was upgraded to 5 from 3.

The last few months has seen Azhar, Shahnaz, Zulkifl and Inaam joining Crescentrating. Young and dynamic, they will Insha Allah help make Crescentrating's aggressive plans of launching new services and products a reality. All of them are passionately committed to making it easier for Muslim's travelers to explore the world with peace of mind.

Crescentrating | Enabling Muslims to Explore the World with Peace of Mind

Muslims have a very unique attribute when it comes to travel: from the time they understand the 5 basic pillars of Islam, they develop the lifelong desire to travel and perform Hajj. This has not only inspired many Muslims to become some of the most pioneering explorers of the world, but also gave rise to a whole genre of travel writing. Some of the foremost Muslim explorers like Ibn Jubair, and Ibn Batutta left their home towns with the intention of performing Hajj and eventually set out on fascinating journeys exploring different lands and cultures.

1800 km by car across the Balkans (Part 1)

Part 1- My stay in Bled in Slovenia

On the 28th of May I arrived in Lubjiana for what was the first stop in a series of workshops on "Halal Friendly Travel" to the Travel & Hospitality industry of Slovenia, Montenegro and Bosnia & Herzegovina.

With the city overview of Mardin in Turkey, published by us today, we have just come to the end of the second phase of the Journeyed Cities of Ibn Battuta. From Mardin he went back to perform Hajj and in fact stayed there for more than three years before embarking on his next travels. The next phase was probably the most adventurous phase of his travels! If you have not done so yet, grab a translation of his "Rihla", it is really worth reading.

Here is our list of 10 Halal Friendly destinations to explore in 2011. From great beaches, shopping, theme parks.. to Islamic heritage, these 10 destinations offer everything you need to plan your next holiday. From the Crescentrating team we wish you all have great Halal Friendly holidays in the coming year.

Afew weeks ago I was travelling to Karachi to attend the first Global Halal Congress. Since I was taking Sri Lankan airline I had to transit through Colombo. At the Colombo Airport, I went to the familiar prayer room that I knew from my previous travels to Colombo. To my surprise, the room was closed. On inquiring from the officer there, I was told that it had been moved to a new location at the other corner of the 1st floor. There I was pleasantly surprised to find a much bigger and well kept room for males and I assume the female prayer room which was next to it was as big and clean.

Here is our new approach to publishing the next series of city guides; "The Journeyed Cities".

Our next series of city guides, Insha Allah will follow the path of great travellers and scholars of earlier times. We hope this will also encourage us to read the fascinating stories of these travellers.