ISTANBUL — Turkish startup Halalz has released a new dedicated web browser and browser extension, Kahf Guard, which it says blocks 5.5 million sites Muslims consider “haram,” or forbidden, including adult content.
According to Halalz — named after “halal,” the Arabic word for lawful — its product “is capable of providing protection against over 5.5 lakh [5.5 million] haram websites containing pornography, malware, scams, phishing attempts, anti-Islamic material, fake content gambling and drug-related content,” Bangladeshi news site the Daily Star reported.
The Daily Star noted that by shielding users, particularly Muslims, from “exposure to inappropriate and morally objectionable online contents,” the new app aims “to combat cyber miscreants and ensure a safe and halal internet experience.”
Halalz was founded by Nizam Uddin in 2022 “with a vision to develop a straightforward solution to filter out obscene content from the internet,” the Daily Star explained. “The result of this endeavor, Kahf Guard, an extension providing haram block and DNS protection, offers a range of features designed to promote a clean and ethical browsing environment.”
Other features include a haram ad-blocker, enforced Google/Bing safe search to block adult content, and YouTube restriction mode.
Uddin told the Daily Star that he wants to reassure Kahf Guard users that the app does not monitor their data or access browsing history.
Halalz is currently working on an AI-enabled version of Kahf Browser, currently in beta, which aims “to establish a broader Halal Internet ecosystem.”