Ubuntu Muslim Edition 10.04 (Sabily)
Booting & Login
The bootsplash and login screens have been nicely customized for Sabily’s Muslim user base.
The bootsplash features some Arabic with English translations. The login screen has the same, and both have a light green background.
The login screen also has what looks like minarets in the background wallpaper. It all makes these two screens quite distinct from other versions of Ubuntu.
The Sabily 10.04 bootsplash screen.
Sabily 10.04's login screen.
The Desktop
The Sabily desktop looks like no other, you know from the moment you boot into it that it’s for Muslims. At the top of the wallpaper is a quote from the Quran. The theme used is HumanME and it provides a beautiful green color scheme, with a customized Islamic Ubuntu logo. It’s quite pretty to look at, it rather reminds me of a religious version of Linux Mint.
The panel at the top has the Islamic Ubuntu logo, along with the usual Applications, Places, System menus. You’ll also find icons for some of the Islamic applications (more on those in the software section) including Minbar Prayer Times, Calendar, and Monajat.
The Sabily 10.04 desktop.
The desktop is completely uncluttered, there are no icons strewn about all over the place to spoil the Islamic atmosphere generated by the wallpaper.
One very interesting thing about Sabily 10.04 is its screensavers. There are some that are formal and what you would expect from an Islamic distribution. However, the developers have also westernized them a bit, so you’ll see excerpts from the Quran combined with photos from thing such as the game Monopoly. Other screensavers are simply quite beautiful to look at; I must give the Sabily developers credit where credit is due.
The Quran and the game Monopoly...an interesting choice for a screensaver.
A more formal screensaver.
A less formal screensaver.
On the next page, I’ll look at the software bundled with this distro, and the tools used to manage it.
(6 votes, average: 3.67 out of 5)
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I’m not Muslim, but I’m pretty sure the Qur’an isn’t supposed to be translated, as it would be altering the word of Allah. Saying that a non-Arabic Qur’an should be included is somewhat like saying the desktop should feature a picture of Mohammad and Allah.
hi
first i want to thank the author for his review :)
second i am a muslim, u can find quran translation in zekr program, also english recitations are available
the distribution is really nice , also there is another distro called ojuba really nice = fedora based
finally thx for r review, i hope u can change that youtube video , thanks again
Basically Sabily is Ubuntu with a kind of Islamic straight-jacket. Personally I reckon software and the kind is religious free and in due consequence there is no need for a Christian, Islamic or satanic Ubuntu.
The good thing of Linux is that it allows people to do so and in that sense I am all for it. Can any of the above mentioned (Christian, Islamic and satanic) explain to me why they cannot use normal Ubuntu?
The next rhetorical question is: is there a Christian Ubuntu available in a so-called Islamic society? By the by, I know the answer already.
On another note, if the qu’ran cannot be translated into another language other than Arabic then Islam is supposed to be only for Arabic speakers. In that sense I don’t understand why they want to convert non Arabic speakers, just stay at home.
@ ductape
Qur’an was translated in many languages and will be translated in future too. From the linguistic point of view nothing matches the original work. Take for example, reading Shakespeare in German, is not the same as reading Shakespeare in English. So, the beauty, the wisdom of Qur’an will never fully be translated into any other language, only the basic, literal meaning of it. As is the case with other works too. I could elaborate on this more but I hope that I was clear.
@haytham2000
+ 1 on changing the video,
How is ojuba different from sabily except that it’s fedora based?
@max – It’s not the problem for me since I have a broadband connection and I know how to work in linux. So it’s basically ease of use.
For the second and third question this is not the place and time to discuss it. I can only advise you to visit a mosque or an islamic center nearby or find some Muslims (not the ones that do things you’ve read and know are forbidden in Islam) and ask them and talk with them. Of course with an open heart, without prejudice, and with sincere intention to understand (not just to provoke, and show off your “knowledge” as many do today).
Huh, sorry for the long comment on the comments. :)
Now to the review.
In Zekr you can change to a lot of different translations. Among them is English. Just go to View>Translations and choose the one you want. Or if they are not installed go to Synaptic and search for Zekr Translations and install the ones you are interested.
There is also a Firefox extension called Pray Times. It’s function is basically the same as that of Minbar application.
You can change the mouse pointer by right clicking on the desktop, then choose Change Desktop Background. Then go to the Theme tab> Customize>Pointer and choose the one that suits you. That’s what I do.
Now to the distro itself.
I absolutely agree that there is much room for improving and adding new translations.
@semko
ojuba is different in that it has a nice control center (which is not present in original fedora itself), also the developer is active in increasing the quality of the distro and tweaking unnecessary services, for ex u can view arabic in wine
thx for r comment :)
Thanks for the info. The problem is – translation. As I don’t know Arabic, the Sabily main page is great since it’s in English but when I go to Ojuba website it’s in Arabic. I have to guess that the Ojuba distro is completely localized to Arabic. hmmm. Correct me if I’m wrong. assalamu’alaikoom :)
its fedora based , so yes it is available in all languages supported by fedora , u choose the language during install
ok thanks
thank’s for your review…
Hello,
Thanks for the review on Sabily. I have a couple of comments:
1. Thawab is not a Qur’an study tool, I would rather call an Islamic literature study tools. It can be considered an e-book viewer for Islamic literature (like Qur’an exegesis books, arabic language books, Islamic jurisprudence,…)
2. I’m afraid that the video you demonstrated is not appropriate when reviewing a religious (wether Islamic or Christian or Jewish) distro.
Thanks