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Posted by zahed on October 5, 2009
 Ramadan is typically our busiest time of year, as people opt more and more for the convenience and variety found in the growing number of halal restaurants in the West. As we track the growth of the marketplace, one factor we have noticed is the increase in mainstream, non-Muslim oriented companies offering halal options to their customers. This research was the basis of a report and interview of us on the BBC's Arabic Service focusing on the UK market in particular. We also found ourselves the topic of conversation at Boing Boing, one of the most popular blogs online. This follows on the heels of our earlier interview in Time Magazine on the growth of the halal marketplace worldwide, one that found us at the center of a growing $600 billion market of halal restaurants, products, and services. (More here...)
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Posted by zahed on September 4, 2009
 When we launched our groundbreaking zabihah for iPhone app in June 2009, we wanted to make an app that was the best overall restaurant guide for the iPhone. But we knew there was much more we wanted to do. We kept improving the app based on your feedback and worked tirelessly to provide an even better mobile experience. Finally, we're proud to announce version 1.5 of zabihah for iPhone, a feature-packed native iPhone application that brings tens of thousands of confirmed Halal listings, mosques, and reviews to the iPhone App Store. Following in the footsteps of the zabihah web app for the iPhone - one of the very first iPhone applications and showcased at the launch of Apple's web app directory - zabihah for iPhone 1.5 harnesses the power of the iPhone 3G to bring users a list of the nearest Halal restaurants, markets, and mosques, complete with driving directions, embedded maps, informative reviews, and contact information. Users can also write reviews, upload photos, and add or edit restaurant information. (More here...)
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Posted by zahed on May 7, 2009
 Walking down the high streets of England, it is not uncommon to come across creative manifestations of a certain well known multi-national fried chicken restaurant chain (often unintentionally humorous). For some time, KFC has had requests to provide halal offerings of its own in some of their UK stores. Such a decision is not without precedent - the Subway sandwich franchise has successfully operated halal-only versions of its stores in the UK with some commercial success. So bring on the good news - KFC is running a halal trial in a small number of stores in the London area. (More here...)
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Posted by zahed on December 16, 2008
 As zabihah.com has grown worldwide from our North American roots, we have been aware of the need for zabihah.com in languages other than English. Until now, we have been able to serve only English speakers/travellers or those for whom English is not a primary language. However, there are millions of Muslims around the world who are unable to use an English site or would simply prefer it in their native tongue. As such, we have been working behind the scenes to make this a reality and are now ready to open up our first few non-English language sites to beta testing. (More here...)
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Posted by Shahed on September 1, 2008
 Shahed Amanullah, the founder of zabihah.com, used the International Halal Market Conference in Brunei Darussalam to announce the launch of zabihah.com's Halal Products Guide, which allows global halal consumers to search, rate and review halal products from around the world.
(More here...)
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Posted by Shahed on May 12, 2008
 Today at the 2008 World Halal Forum in Kuala Lumpur, zabihah.com was proud to receive the Halal Journal's "Travel and Hospitality" award, which was personally presented to us by Malaysian Prime Minister YAB Dato Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi. zabihah.com is quickly growing into a comprehensive hub for halal resources, and this award is recognition of the global impact we are making on the halal marketplace. (More here...)
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Posted by zahed on February 1, 2008
 Since July 2007, a revolution has been underway among Subway restaurants around the UK. The American submarine sandwich chain has allowed its franchisees to operate halal stores and dozens of them have done just that. Up to 200 restaurants are expected to go halal in 2008. The restaurants are fully halal - meaning all "ham" sandwiches are made of turkey. (More here...)
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Posted by Shahed on October 11, 2007
 It's been under wraps for a while, but we can talk about it now - we've partnered with Apple to promote the zabihah iPhone/iPod Touch application on Apple's website. Apple approached us and let us know that our iPhone app is a great example of the kind of functionality they intended for the iPhone to have, and wanted to include it as one of 200 featured apps in their new web apps directory. Thanks to everyone who helped make this possible - especially you, the zabihah.com user! (More here...)
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Posted by Shahed on July 6, 2007
 If you're one of the lucky few who have managed to get an iPhone, you can now point your Safari browser to i.zabihah.com and look up zabihah.com listings on your new iPhone!
Each listing includes a button to automatically call the restaurant, plus a link to the internal Google Maps client and driving directions! You can save phone numbers and locations in your personal bookmarks as well. Works in the US, Canada, the UK, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, and Singapore.
This is a beta release (ver 0.75) - it will be updated soon to allow you to leave reviews, as well as link to salatomatic.com mosque listings in the same area.
Update: Nearly 100 people a day are using the iPhone zabihah app - thanks!
Update 2: Now over 300 people a day are using the iPhone/iPod Touch to access zabihah.com!
Update 3: Amazing - nearly 1,000 people a day are using this app! (More here...)
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Posted by Shahed on April 18, 2007
Thank you for taking zabihah.com past the 20,000 review milestone. That's 20,000 reasons why the halal marketplace is growing in quality as well as quantity. 20,000 ways in which we are encouraging businesses that cater to the Muslim palate to provide the best possible food and service. And 20,000 testaments to the fact that halal eating is easier and more satisfying than it once was, nearly ten years ago when we started this site.
In the coming year, we have big plans for zabihah.com, all geared toward making it easier and more convenient for you to eat halal, and toward helping Muslim businesses reach the ever-growing base of halal foodies around the world.
So for the 10,000 people that use zabihah.com every day: thanks for making zabihah.com the most trusted and widely-used source for finding halal in your neighborhood! (More here...)
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Posted by Shahed on April 8, 2007
We're in the process of organizing our Singapore listings into districts, as well as geocoding the entries so that they will show up on Google Maps. If there are readers familiar with Singapore who can let us know which restaurants are in the wrong subregion, please feel free to tell us about them.
Update: Thanks to a few readers, Singapore is much more accurate now! (More here...)
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Posted by Shahed on February 1, 2007
We've quietly introduced a new feature - edit or delete your reviews. You'll find this feature on your personalized page. (More here...)
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Posted by Shahed on January 4, 2007
During Ramadan and Eid, we tend to get a lot of media attention, especially as the halal/zabihah market in the West is growing so rapidly. Here is a sampling of zabihah.com in the press in the past few months:
- Fast-food giants cater to Muslims (Chicago Tribune, January 4, 2007)
- In US, Ramadan gets an American twist (Christian Science Monitor, October 6, 2006)
- zabihah.com featured on KCRW's 'Good Food' show ("Good Food", KCRW Los Angeles, September 16, 2006) (More here...)
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Posted by Shahed on August 9, 2006
Until now, I've focused zabihah.com on establishments where Muslims are a minority, with the logic being that in predominantly Muslim countries, Halal meat is so ubiquitous that a site like this is unnecessary. However, I've received requests from Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, and other countries to expand our presence there. This wouldn't be very hard to implement, but before I do, I wanted to get user opinions on this. Would such a feature really be used by people in Muslim countries?
Update I've added India to the "Asia" section. (More here...)
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Posted by Shahed on July 1, 2006
We've just launched our new ad purchasing engine, which allows you to price & purchase custom ad campaigns on zabihah.com. It's a step-by-step process that is easy to use:
Target our entire readership, or just your neighborhood, with text or HTML ads. Discounts are available for long-term contracts. Reach the 175,000 people per month (and growing!) that visit this site! And thanks for your patience while I got it up and running! Click here to get started... (More here...)
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Posted by Shahed on June 13, 2006
Sorry it took so long, but it's finally here! Scan your favorite restaurants using an embedded Google map on zabihah.com! (US, Canada, and UK only for now; other countries coming soon.)
Please report any errors (browser crashes, etc.) to us here so we can improve the site performance. Enjoy! (More here...)
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Posted by Shahed on March 14, 2006
Thanks to the hard work of some intrepid readers, we can confirm that all Outback steakhouses in the US serve halal lamb (but only the lamb). The lamb is from New Zealand and the zabihah process is supervised by the Federation of Islamic Associations of New Zealand, and we have confirmation through emails exchanges with Muslim students in New Zealand and directly from Michelle Robinson at Outback's headquarters. Michelle provides us with additional information:
"Customers who desire Halal preparation should ask that the lamb be prepared in separate sautÈ pan instead of on the grill in order to make sure there is no cross contamination from other products. Please understand that the preparation time for the lamb in the sautÈ pan will be longer than if it were prepared on the grill. Also, please ask that the steamed vegetables be prepared without the "seasoned butter", which contains a bit of bacon in the seasoning. Please remember to order your lamb without the cabernet sauce."
(Hat tips to Hassan Mirza and Irfan Rydhan) (More here...)
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Posted by Shahed on December 3, 2005
We've now activated several new features, including photos for zabihah.com restaurants (send us your photos by clicking on the photo box on the detail pages, additional information about restaurants (hours, forms of payment accepted, etc.). (More here...)
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Posted by Shahed on August 26, 2005
If there's anyone out there with experience in writing widgets for the Dashboard feature in Mac OSX Tiger, I'd appreciate your help. I'm writing a zabihah.com/salatomatic.com widget that would allow quick searches of restaurants, markets, mosques, & schools from your desktop. Please feel free to contact me directly. Thanks in advance! (More here...)
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Posted by Shahed on December 23, 2004
You'll notice links on the top of every page for login and registration. While our service will remain 100% available for unregistered users to read, we now require registration in order to leave reviews. Unfortunately, we've had to do this due to isolated cases of abuse of the ratings system. Register now, and you'll get a sneak preview of our new customized my zabihah page, where you can manage a list of your favorite restaurants and be notified of new restaurants in your area. More personalized features are coming soon, so register now! (More here...)
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Posted by Shahed on November 28, 2004
I need your help in troubleshooting zabihah.com mobile (point your mobile device to www.zabihah.com/mobile) and making sure it works on a variety of mobile devices (phones, PDAs, etc.) If you can check it to see if it works on your device - and more importantly, doesn't work - please let me know so that I can fix the problem. I'm also taking suggestions for new zabihah mobile features, being careful not to make it too complex for a mobile device. (More here...)
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