Ummah.com
Encyclopedia
The Islamic website Ummah.com, formerly the Islamic Gateway, is best known for the Ummah Forum, a large English
Muslim
internet forum
. Ummah.com is based in the UK, as are the majority of its voluntary contributors and active forum users. It is fully owned by Waha Media Limited, and is financed entirely through donations.
student with a shared hosting account from the now-defunct UK-based web host Virtual-PC. By posting the FTP
username and password for their hosting account on several Muslim mailing lists, the Islamic Gateway encouraged users to put their own Islamic content online, effectively providing free web hosting without adverts. This proved extremely popular, and the Islamic Gateway soon became a focal point for Islamic content online.
in late 2001, Waha Media Limited, a not-for-profit company formed by the administrators of the Islamic Gateway, decided to rebrand
the site as Ummah.com. A new homepage was designed from scratch, making use of a bespoke content management system
programmed
using PHP
and mySQL
.
for as long as its Internet forum
. After the move to a dedicated server, the chat room ran on the Java application DigiChat. The chat room was closed in late 2005 due to a lack of server resources caused by the popularity of the Ummah Forum.
, it has, due to the insistence of its system administrator
, always used FreeBSD
as its operating system
. It did, however, operate a second webserver running Red Hat Linux
, hosted by the Europe
an firm 1&1, for a brief period in 2002. The Ummah Forum was moved to the second webserver as Ummah.com's primary webserver at the time was unable to handle its large number of visitors. The second webserver was retired later in the year, when Ummah.com leased a more powerful dedicated server.
based on the then-popular Perl
CGI
script DCForum. DCForum was replaced with phpBB
when the site moved to a dedicated server. As the forum grew, phpBB was replaced with vBulletin
when the latter was requested by the forum's voluntary moderators for its ease-of-use and functionality.
station, was launched in early 2006 by Ummah.com. The majority of the station's presenters are supplied by Ummah.com. Listeners, who contribute via the Ummah Forum, have considerable say in the running of the station. The majority of airtime is taken by Nasheeds, Qur'an
audio and talk shows.
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
internet forum
Internet forum
An Internet forum, or message board, is an online discussion site where people can hold conversations in the form of posted messages. They differ from chat rooms in that messages are at least temporarily archived...
. Ummah.com is based in the UK, as are the majority of its voluntary contributors and active forum users. It is fully owned by Waha Media Limited, and is financed entirely through donations.
Islamic Gateway
The Islamic Gateway, as Ummah.com was then called, was founded in 1996 by a high schoolHigh school
High school is a term used in parts of the English speaking world to describe institutions which provide all or part of secondary education. The term is often incorporated into the name of such institutions....
student with a shared hosting account from the now-defunct UK-based web host Virtual-PC. By posting the FTP
File Transfer Protocol
File Transfer Protocol is a standard network protocol used to transfer files from one host to another host over a TCP-based network, such as the Internet. FTP is built on a client-server architecture and utilizes separate control and data connections between the client and server...
username and password for their hosting account on several Muslim mailing lists, the Islamic Gateway encouraged users to put their own Islamic content online, effectively providing free web hosting without adverts. This proved extremely popular, and the Islamic Gateway soon became a focal point for Islamic content online.
Rebranding as Ummah.com
After obtaining the Ummah.com domain nameDomain name
A domain name is an identification string that defines a realm of administrative autonomy, authority, or control in the Internet. Domain names are formed by the rules and procedures of the Domain Name System ....
in late 2001, Waha Media Limited, a not-for-profit company formed by the administrators of the Islamic Gateway, decided to rebrand
Brand
The American Marketing Association defines a brand as a "Name, term, design, symbol, or any other feature that identifies one seller's good or service as distinct from those of other sellers."...
the site as Ummah.com. A new homepage was designed from scratch, making use of a bespoke content management system
Content management system
A content management system is a system providing a collection of procedures used to manage work flow in a collaborative environment. These procedures can be manual or computer-based...
programmed
Computer program
A computer program is a sequence of instructions written to perform a specified task with a computer. A computer requires programs to function, typically executing the program's instructions in a central processor. The program has an executable form that the computer can use directly to execute...
using PHP
PHP
PHP is a general-purpose server-side scripting language originally designed for web development to produce dynamic web pages. For this purpose, PHP code is embedded into the HTML source document and interpreted by a web server with a PHP processor module, which generates the web page document...
and mySQL
MySQL
MySQL officially, but also commonly "My Sequel") is a relational database management system that runs as a server providing multi-user access to a number of databases. It is named after developer Michael Widenius' daughter, My...
.
Ummah Chat
Ummah.com has had a chat roomChat room
The term chat room, or chatroom, is primarily used by mass media to describe any form of synchronous conferencing, occasionally even asynchronous conferencing...
for as long as its Internet forum
Internet forum
An Internet forum, or message board, is an online discussion site where people can hold conversations in the form of posted messages. They differ from chat rooms in that messages are at least temporarily archived...
. After the move to a dedicated server, the chat room ran on the Java application DigiChat. The chat room was closed in late 2005 due to a lack of server resources caused by the popularity of the Ummah Forum.
Use of FreeBSD
Although Ummah.com has been through several changes of webserver hardwareComputer hardware
Personal computer hardware are component devices which are typically installed into or peripheral to a computer case to create a personal computer upon which system software is installed including a firmware interface such as a BIOS and an operating system which supports application software that...
, it has, due to the insistence of its system administrator
System administrator
A system administrator, IT systems administrator, systems administrator, or sysadmin is a person employed to maintain and operate a computer system and/or network...
, always used FreeBSD
FreeBSD
FreeBSD is a free Unix-like operating system descended from AT&T UNIX via BSD UNIX. Although for legal reasons FreeBSD cannot be called “UNIX”, as the direct descendant of BSD UNIX , FreeBSD’s internals and system APIs are UNIX-compliant...
as its operating system
Operating system
An operating system is a set of programs that manage computer hardware resources and provide common services for application software. The operating system is the most important type of system software in a computer system...
. It did, however, operate a second webserver running Red Hat Linux
Red Hat Linux
Red Hat Linux, assembled by the company Red Hat, was a popular Linux based operating system until its discontinuation in 2004.Red Hat Linux 1.0 was released on November 3, 1994...
, hosted by the Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
an firm 1&1, for a brief period in 2002. The Ummah Forum was moved to the second webserver as Ummah.com's primary webserver at the time was unable to handle its large number of visitors. The second webserver was retired later in the year, when Ummah.com leased a more powerful dedicated server.
Ummah Forum
Soon after the launch of Islamic Gateway, the site's administrators opened a forumInternet forum
An Internet forum, or message board, is an online discussion site where people can hold conversations in the form of posted messages. They differ from chat rooms in that messages are at least temporarily archived...
based on the then-popular Perl
Perl
Perl is a high-level, general-purpose, interpreted, dynamic programming language. Perl was originally developed by Larry Wall in 1987 as a general-purpose Unix scripting language to make report processing easier. Since then, it has undergone many changes and revisions and become widely popular...
CGI
Common Gateway Interface
The Common Gateway Interface is a standard method for web servers software to delegate the generation of web pages to executable files...
script DCForum. DCForum was replaced with phpBB
PhpBB
phpBB is a popular Internet forum package written in the PHP scripting language. The name "phpBB" is an abbreviation of PHP Bulletin Board...
when the site moved to a dedicated server. As the forum grew, phpBB was replaced with vBulletin
VBulletin
vBulletin is a proprietary Internet forum software produced by Jelsoft Enterprises and vBulletin Solutions, both subsidiaries of Internet Brands. It is written in PHP and uses a MySQL database server.-History:...
when the latter was requested by the forum's voluntary moderators for its ease-of-use and functionality.
Ummah Radio
Ummah Radio, an Internet radioInternet radio
Internet radio is an audio service transmitted via the Internet...
station, was launched in early 2006 by Ummah.com. The majority of the station's presenters are supplied by Ummah.com. Listeners, who contribute via the Ummah Forum, have considerable say in the running of the station. The majority of airtime is taken by Nasheeds, Qur'an
Qur'an
The Quran , also transliterated Qur'an, Koran, Alcoran, Qur’ān, Coran, Kuran, and al-Qur’ān, is the central religious text of Islam, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God . It is regarded widely as the finest piece of literature in the Arabic language...
audio and talk shows.