Ubuntu Muslim Edition 10.04 (Sabily)
Sound and Multimedia
The sound worked fine in Sabily, I first tested it by firing up the Zekr Quanic study tool and listening to some of the audio by a reciter. YouTube videos also worked fine, I fired up Lady GaGa’s “Bad Romance” video and it worked fine in Firefox.
Problems & Headaches
One thing you’ll notice is that, as you move the cursor around the desktop, there are Arabic words attached to it. This is quite nice if you read Arabic, but if English is your native language then this can become quickly annoying. I looked for a way to turn on a translation or to turn it off, but I could not find any way to do it. The developers really need to integrate an English translation (as well as other languages) or make it easy to turn it off.
Another thing I found irritating is the Othman Quran Browser is by default in Arabic. Again, not everybody reads Arabic so it would be helpful to have a translation.
Another translation issue popped up when I listed to some audio in Zekr. I had no idea what the heck the guy was saying. I guess it’s nice the audio is in there but, unless you speak Arabic, you won’t know what is being said.
Beyond that, there wasn’t much to complain about. Since Sabily 10.04 is based on Ubuntu, it worked very well for me. I didn’t see stability or speed problems with it.
Next, I’ll show you where to get help, and I’ll share my final thoughts.
Related Posts:
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- Ubuntu Linux Netbook Edition 10.04 (Lucid Lynx)
- Ubuntu Satanic Edition 10.04 (Lucifer’s Legion)
- Ubuntu 10.10
- Ubuntu 11.04



(6 votes, average: 3.67 out of 5)




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