Frequently Asked Questions

 

 
   


Page last updated:
06/29/11

 

English pages   click for arabic site


General Questions:
Enabling Arabic
Can I "Activate" on 3 Machines (or more)?  NEW
What features do I lose when my Serial Number expires / How do I renew it?  NEW
I forgot my Password / Serial Number   NEW
Deleting Offline Content (cache) when downloaded file seems corrupted
How can I get Help? I cannot find any "help" or "read me" file.
Asking us for Help by e-mail

Al Muhaddith Search Program:
Installation instructions for Al Muhaddith Search Program
Installation instructions for our Books (and indexes)
How to make YOUR books usable by our Search Program
Tips for searching large books

Prayer Times Program:
Installation instructions for Prayer Times program
Times for Fajr and Isha are too different from my locally published timings
How to chose my City for Prayer Times Program
Daylight Savings changed in my city but not in Prayer Times Program
I cannot hear your sound Files

 

Enabling Arabic:

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  • Win95/98:
    You must have the Arabic version of Win95/98 in order to view Arabic on these systems (or use Windows 2000 or windows XP as explained below). 

  • Problem:
    I have recently changed to a computer running Win 2000 or Win XP.
    Arabic Word runs fine, but my shortcuts to Al Muhaddith / Prayer Times, and the menus for these programs do not display Arabic.
    Can you help me fix this?

  • Solution (almost the same for both Win2K or WinXP):
    In order for you to see all required Arabic characters on Win2000 or WinXP, you should configure your system to do so, even if Microsoft's programs are working fine.
    Click here for step-by-step instructions

  • For Windows 7:
    Enable Arabic language on Windows 7.
    Click here for step-by-step instructions

Can I "Activate" on 3 Machines (or more)?   NEW

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  • Each Serial Number allows activating 3 Machines for one year:
    • Just follow the activation steps on each machine
    • Please note the difference between "Serial Number" and "EMail-Address-Verification-code":
      • The "Serial Number" is what you receive when you purchase the product (either by e-Mail or with the CD package), and you enter it in the second screen of the activation Process.
        This same "Serial Number" must be used to activate additional machines.
      • The "EMail-Address-Verification-code" is what you receive from us by eMail when you reach the third screen of the activation Process.
        Again, for each machine a different "EMail-Address-Verification-code" is sent to you, which can be used only on that specific machine.
  • What if I need to activate a FOURTH machine?
    This happens if you change your mind for example, or if you had to reformat one of the 3 machines.
    • When you try to activate the fourth machine, our program gives you a listing of the three machines that you already activated, and asks you to chose one of them for deletion. Once you do that (and follow the appropriate steps) you will be able to activate this fourth machine.
    • Example:
      I can activate
      (1) my Desktop PC at home in Dubai,
      (2) my Desktop PC at work in Dubai,
      (3) my Notebook.
      Now if I travel to Cairo and want to activate my Desktop there, I select to delete my home Desktop PC in Dubai, which now allows me to activate the Cairo Desktop. When I return to Dubai, I can reactivate my Desktop there (which necessitates deleting the Cairo Desktop).
      This can be done within some limits (to resist privacy) which will be mentioned to if when you exceed them. But re-deleting the same machines does not count against you (such as repeatedly deleting your Dubai Desktop and your Cairo Desktop due to your frequent travels); it is only the deletion of DIFFERENT machines that has limitations, to prevent the addition of numerous different machines.
  • What if I have to reformat my drive?
    • Consider it as a new machine and activate it.
    • Once you reach the maximum of three machines, and you need to "delete" one machine, select the old name of the drive before it was reformatted.
    • What if you make a mistake? Or do not remember which of the names listed belong to the formatted machine?
      Well just try again and reactivate the machine that you need, until you get it right.
  • What if I have more than one Serial Number?
    • Each Serial Number allows to activate 3 machines for one year.
    • So when you use the second Serial Number, you will be adding another year to your subscription, which will be effective for the 3 machines already activated.
  • My subscription is over, can I still activate?
    • Yes.
      Since you already purchased the program, you can still activate any machine you chose. All above mentioned operations remain possible to you.
    • When your subscription ends, you only lose the ability to download new Items through LiveUpdate, and any other features available only to active members.
    • Currently all items are enabled for you even after the end of your subscription (thus allowing you to purchase only the upgrade CD without the Serial Number).
    • Please note that some items added insha'allaah in the future may not be enabled unless your subscription is up to date. The appropriate details will be provided when necessary insha'allaah.
What features do I lose when my Serial Number expires / How do I renew it? Top of Page
  • The "Basic Features" of Al Muhaddith Search Program include the ability to search in all the books that were available to members until your expiration, in addition to the LiveUpdate of the Main Program itself.
    The "Basic Features" of Prayer Times Program are 2 Azhans, in addition to the LiveUpdate of the Main Program itself.
    Once you purchase one of our programs ("Muhaddith Search" or "Prayer Times") by purchasing its Serial Number, you gain the rights to use basic features of the program as long as you own it (even after expiration of your Serial Number, also called "Membership Expiration").
  • What do I lose when my Serial Number (or "Membership") expires?
    • You DO NOT lose the "basic features" explained above.
    • You lose the additional features that are available only for members (and their LiveUpdate), as well as Technical Support.
    • For Al Muhaddith Search Program, you will not be able to search or download books that become available to members after your expiration date (you may find our program more "permissive" on these issues, depending on its version number).
    • Fro Prayer Times Program, you will not be able to usee or download the azhans available only for members (you may find our program more "permissive" on these issues, depending on its version number).
  • How do I renew my Subscription?
    • Purchase a new Serial Number (click here).
    • Run the program then select: Help / Activate, and enter the Serial Number in the appropriate screen.
I forgot my Password / Serial Number   NEW Top of Page
  • You never purchased:
    Please click here to purchase.
  • You purchased but NEVER activated the program successfully before:
    Please send us an eMail from the account that you purchased with.
    We release information ONLY to the email address that was used for the purchase.
  • You purchased AND successfully activated the program previously:
    1. First make sure you have the latest version of the program from: http://www.muhaddith.org/pub/beta
    2. Click Help / Activate (from the program's main menu).
    3. In the first "activation" screen, you can request your password (if you forgot it).
      Extremely important: You must use the same email that you originally used originally to activate the program with.
    4. In the second screen, you can request your Serial Number, it will be emailed to you. You need the latest version of the program for this operation to always succeed: http://www.muhaddith.org/pub/beta.
Deleting Offline Content (cache) when downloaded file seems corrupted

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  • Deleting Offline Content:
    • Open Explorer
    • Tools
    • Internet Options
    • Delete Files
    • Delete OffLine Contents (x) yes, select it
    • Press OK
  • Explanation:
    • You need to use the above procedure when the following problem occurs:
      You just downloaded an installation file from our site (GOHADxxx.EXE GOPTWxxx.EXE), but somehow, this file fails to run at all: You do not see the installation window but instead, you just receive an error message from your Operating System.
      This means that the file was corrupted during the download process.
      In this case, you normally will fail if you try to download it again because the corrupted file has been stored on your hard disk; each time you request to download it from the internet, your system retrieves it back from the hard disk!!!
      Therefore before you try downloading the file again, you need to "Delete Offline Content" as described above.
    • The same solution (Deleting Offline Content) IS NOT NEEDED if you downloaded a "book" (or its indexes), or a sound file manually from our site, and followed our instructions: Do not alter the downloaded file, do not unzip it... just place it in C:\HAD\ and run the program: If our program (HAD.EXE or PTW.EXE) fails to unzip it, IT WILL AUTOMATICALLY DELETE THE CORRUPTED FILE from the offline contents.
    • If any file is downloaded through the automated LiveUpdate, and the program fails to install it, our program will recognize that it was corrupted during the download process, and will automatically delete the corrupted file from the offline contents.
Installation Instructions for Al Muhaddith Search Program:

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Click here to download latest version of Al Muhaddith Search Program
(the main program that allows searching within our books and dictionaries).
When performing the installation, it is NOT recommended to change the default installation directory (C:\HAD)
If you change that installation directory, it will make it extremely hard for us to assist you in case of technical problems.

Once you download and install the main program, Start the program on your PC, then run live update in order to view and select all books available for download:
Help / LiveUpdate.

  • If this is your first installation of Al Muhaddith:
    Just run this file GOHADxxx.EXE (double click it): It will guide you through the installation. To simplify this installation and future updates, answer "YES" to all questions. This will generate the Main Program (HAD.EXE).

  • If Al Muhaddith is already installed:
    You may use the above procedure (1), or the following procedure:
    Download that file (GOHAD---) in Al Muhaddith's main directory (C:\HAD\ or D:\HAD\) then just run Al-Muhaddith (click on HAD.EXE):
    It will recognize this new update file and will perform the update.
    The advantage of this procedure is just that, after the update, you will be informed that the downloaded file GOHADxxx.EXE has been safely moved to a temporary storage directory (\had\eraseme.tmp\).

  • Advice:
    For your next step, first download a SMALL book such as Al Iqnaa` and its Indexes and place them in Al Muhaddith's Main Directory (C:\HAD\ or D:\HAD\), then run the program (HAD.EXE) which will install that book.
    After that, you can get more adventurous by downloading larger files with their indexes, or several files, before running the program again in order to update them.
    This step is not necessary if you performed LiveUpdate as instructed above.

Installation Instructions for our Books:

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  • The easiest way to download and and install our books is through Live-Update, as explained above.

  • To Download any of our books from our site:

    • Click on the book's link to download the book, and place the downloaded file in Al Muhaddith's Main directory C:\HAD (or d:\had . . . depending on where you have installed Al Muhaddith).

    • Then download the indexes for the book by clicking on the book's indexes and placing the downloaded file in the same directory as mentioned above.

    • Then run the program Al Muhaddith (click on HAD.EXE) to install the book and indexes. The program will recognize the downloaded files (if you placed them in the correct directory as mentioned above) and will offer to install them.
      If you run Al Muhaddith program after downloading only the book's file, and without downloading the indexes' file, the program will offer to generate the indexes. If any error occurs while generating the indexes, then you need to download the indexes file directly from our site or through LiveUpdate.

    • All our books are available in our main download page, and the latest in our updates page.

How to make YOUR books usable by our Search Program:

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  • All OUR books are coded and cannot be used by word processors.
    But you can copy any result and paste it into your word processor.
    Do not use this feature too much, otherwise our program may get an error, and will not recover for a couple of weeks.

  • You can add YOUR books in TXT form, and the program can use them.

  • Our simple convention (V 9.0 and later):
    Any books you need to add must to follow the following simple convention

    1. Your book must be in TXT format.
      You can edit it in DOC format in order to form a correct outline as explained below. But after you are done, save it in TXT format so that our program may recognize it.

    2. Your file-name should preferably be 5 characters long such as MYFILE.TXT and must be saved in the main directory containing our program, usually C:\HAD

    3. the book must start by a header, see the following files for detailed explanations
      manual-a.txt (Arabic)
      manual-e.txt (English)
      SMPLL.TXT
      SMPLS.TXT
      These files are included in the main directory containing our program.

    4. Each new "article" must begin by @ as the first character. An "article" is waht you see displayed as a "result" after a search.
      Maximum article length is 64000 characters, but the recommended is 16000.

    5. Other than the @ symbol (designating the start of a new article or result) you need to designate "chapter headings" or "Outline Levels" in orderto allow our program to display the proper outline of your book.
      Our "Outline" convention is simple and similar to MicroSoft's word: All you need is to start the line by *1* or *2* ... or *7* in order to designate the proper "heading level".
      You can have several "chapter levels" in succession, but do not forget: the beginning of the article that follows the last "chapter level" (described above) must start by the symbol @
      In other words, you can have this
      *1*Book of Wuduu
      *2*Chapter: Obligatory parts of Wuduu
      @Washing the face (this can contain several paragraphs and must not exceed 60000 characters).
      Continuation of "article" about Washing the face.
      @Washing the hands... 
      @Wiping the head...

    6. The last line in your file must be: 
      *EOF*
       

  • MAKING AN OUTLINE:
    In order to "format" your file and see its "outline" under your Word Processor.

    • First Edit your file according to our convention

    • Then Do the following Search/Replace:
      Search for *1* (no formatting)
      Replace by *1* (heading 1 format)
      Search for *2* (no formatting)
      Replace by *2* (heading 1 format)
      etc ...
      etc ...
      Search for *7* (no formatting)
      Replace by *7* (heading 1 format)
      (Our maximum heading level is 7)
      Now you can view the document in "Outline Mode"; once you save it in TXT format, Al Muhaddith Program can also display the book in the same "outline" format.

Tips for searching large books:
(such as Fathul Baari, Lisanul Arab, Faidul Qadeer, etc.)

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  • Avoid searching for commonly used words such as:
    English words: from, to, and, or, the, etc.
    Arabic words: min, ilaa, fee, lahu, alhamdu, etc.
    Searching for one such word requires additional time.
    Searching for several such words simultaneously, requires much more time.
    Always try to use unique words in your searches.

  • Avoid searching for incomplete words.
    This slows the search.

  • Avoid requesting to ignore the shape of Arabic letters: hamza, haa, etc.
    This slows the search.

Installation Instructions for Prayer Times Program:

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Click here for detailed installation instructions for installing our Prayer Times Program

 

Times for Fajr and Isha are too different from my locally published timings:

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  • Explanation:
    This problem occurs in "northern" (and "southern) locations closer to the north (or south pole), where the sky remains illuminated between Sunset till Sunrise for many days in the year, thus there is "technically" no Isha and Fajr for such locations.
    To obtain details about this problem as it relates to your specific location:
    • Click your mouse on one of the the red circles toward the bottom of our program's screen (next to the words "Fajr" and "Isha"), 
      These red circles only appear if our program actually encountered this problem for your location.
    • Then please read the screen that shows up.
  • First Suggestion (to minimize the effects of this problem) 
    (Used by ISNAA in North America)
    Select 15 degrees for the "sun inclination" from the following screen:
    • Locations / Edit Current Location
    • Then, in the Fajr and Isha section, select the Last Option: "Your Method"
    • Then enter 15 (degree) 0 (minute) for both the Fajr Sun Inclination and Isha Sun Inclination.
    • Click Accept
      Technical explanation:
      The prefered values for the inclination is between 18 and 19.5 degrees, as they produce results for Fajr and Isha closer to the observed values, but naturally, this valid only for locations where Fajr and Isha ectually exist. Otherwise, for locations where Fajr and Isha do not exist, these values (18 to 19.5 degrees) will aggravate the problem in comparison with the 15 degrees value because the equation is attempting to calculate the times for dawn and dusk for your specific location on the globe while these times do not actually exist in that location.  
  • Second Suggestion (to minimize the effects of this problem)
    (Used in many of the Arabian Gulf countries)
    Force a Fixed Time for Fajr and Isha:
    • Locations / Edit Current Location
    • Now for Fajr and Isha, select the THIRD option: "Fixed Time"
    • Now select 1-Hour 30-minute for BOTH "Fajr Advance from Sunrise" and for "Isha Delay from Sunset"
      Note:
      In many countries in the Arabian Gulf, the Fajr Advance from sunrise is selected as 1-hour 20 minutes instead of 30; you can chose whichever you want since these are approximations anyway.
    • Click Accept
  • Compare our results:
    Click here to compare our calculations with those of the United Arab Emirates official web Site:
    http://www.emirates.net.ae/channel/prayer/html/worldtimes2.html
    Remember to select 15 degrees for the sun angle (just above the "submit" button) when selecting your city and country, not the default value of 18.
    Note: There are differences between our calculations for Fajr and Isha and the calculations published on the above Emirates site. This is caused by minor differences between the equations used that usually do not cause more than a minute or two of differences between both results; but these differences get magnified out of proportion for such locations nearer to the North or South Poles.
How to chose my City for Prayer Times Program:

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  • Explanation:
    When you installed the program, the default city was shown (Damascus), but you did not select to change it.
  • Solution
    • Cities / Select City
      (in older versions: Locations / Select Location)
    • Make sure your keyboard is typing in English (not Arabic)
    • Now start typing the name of your city: The program will display the first city that contains the characters you typed.
    • Click the "Select" button
Daylight Savings changed in my city but not in Prayer Times Program

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  • Solution:
    • Cities / Edit Current City
      (in older versions: Locations / Edit Current Location)
    • Then you need to change the last (or first) day of Daylight Savings.
       
I cannot hear your sound files
Note: Our Prayer Times Program supports Sound Compression internally, even if your Operating system does not support it.

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  1. Windows Explorer cannot produce sound for both the Azhans and Suras
  2. Prayer Times Program cannot produce sound for both the Azhans and Suras
  3. Windows Explorer can produce sound for the Azhans but not for Suras (or vice versa)
  4. Prayer Times Program can produce sound for the Azhans but not for Suras (or vice-versa)
  1. Windows Explorer CANNOT produce sound FOR BOTH the Azhans and Suras
    • Make sure your sound card is installed correctly.
    • Make sure you can produce sounds on your system other than our files (Azhans or Suras).
    • Make sure you can listen to our sound files from Windows Explorer:
      1. Open Windows explorer (or "My Computer")
      2. Go to the directory C:\HAD\Sounds\ or C:\HAD\Suras\
      3. Double click one of our sound files in one of these directories:
        If you succeed to hear our sound files from Windows Explorer, then your system is fine.
        But if you can hear other sound files from Windows explorer but not ours, it means your system does not support sound compression.
        Even though our program supports sound compression INTERNALLY (and does not need support from your system), you can also enable your system to produce our sound compression: Click here to download our Sound Compression Support; simply download this file anywhere, and then run it. The compression support will be installed immediately.
  2. Prayer Times Program cannot produce sound FOR BOTH the Azhans and Suras
    • Make sure you can listen to the various sounds from Windows Explorer, as explained above.
    • Make sure your RAM is 128MB or more.
      You will not regret adding more RAM: your system will operate much faster.
    • Make sure you use genuine Intel: Other CPU have casued some problems.
    • Even though our program is tested and succeeds under Win98 2nd edition, yet we recommend Windows 2000 which is very reliable.
      WinXP is also good (our program is developed and works perfectly under WinXP) but we recommend Win2000 for its high reliability.
    • TEST the SURAS from WITHIN our program:
      Quran / Read available Suras
      If all items are greyed (disabled), run LiveUpdate to download the required files. 
      If you can click any item (it is black and not greyed out) but cannot hear anything, it means most probably that you need more RAM or a Genuine Intel CPU.
      If you hear the suras (by clicking) but not automatically from our program, it means your system is fine, and our program works perfectly under your system, but you may have to refresh your your options:
      First click Sounds/Prevent all sounds;
      Then click: sounds/allow all sounds.
    • TEST the AZHANS from WITHIN our program (our program must have succeeded to hear our Suras as described above):
      Sound / Hear Azhan now
      If you do not hear any Suras, run LiveUpdate to download the required files.
  3. Windows Explorer PRODUCES sound for the Azhans BUT NOT for Suras (or vice versa)
    Our Azhans and Suras are of the same format, so if Explorer can produce sound for one (by double clicking it), it should produce sound for the other.
    The only possible reason for your problem is that the file is corrupted. Delete it and download it again.
  4. Prayer Times Program PRODUCES sound for the Azhans BUT NOT for Suras (or vice-versa)
    Our Azhans and Suras are of the same format.
    If the Prayer Times Program can produce sound for one (Sound\Hear Azhan or Quran\Read Available Suras), it should produce sound for the other.
    The only possible reason for your problem is that the file is corrupted. Delete it and download it again.
How can I get help from within the program?
Is there any "help" or "read me" file.

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  • Prayer Times Program
    • Just move the mouse over whatever you need help on.
    • Now read the small "yellow" hint screen that follows the mouse.
      This will provide you help on the current feature that you are examining, whereby you do not have to search through a voluminous help system.
  • Al Muhaddith Search Program
    • Just move the mouse over whatever you need help on.
    • Now read the small "yellow" hint screen that follows the mouse,
    • Also read the bottom detailed help screen (about 3 lines of text, located at the bottom of most windows).
      This will provide you help on the current feature that you are examining, whereby you do not have to search through a voluminous help system.
Asking us for Help by e-mail

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  • If you need help about any of our programs (Al Muhaddith or Prayer Times) you need to request help from within the program itself:
    Help | Request Support
    Once you request this option, our program will prepare an e-mail to send to us, and will attach to it information about your system, our downloaded files (in the folders expected by the program), allowing us to better analyze your problem.
  • Please do not forget to describe your problem in that e-mail (in addition to the above mentioned attachment):
    Please send adequate details of the steps you took until the problem occurred, and a detailed description of the error messages you encountered (preferably a compressed JPG picture of the screen); it is usually not possible for us to provide help unless we receive such details.
  • Do not request help directly from your Mail Program because we will not receive the necessary information required to help you.

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