How Taahirah Protects Your Data: Privacy & Muslim Women’s Safety

A History of Surveillance and Exploitation

For Muslim communities, privacy violations are than technical matters. It’s also about safety, dignity, and autonomy. Since the post-9/11 era and the ‘Global War on Terror’, Muslim data has been collected, shared, and misused on a large scale, under the guise of ‘security’. This is often without consent and accountability. One of the starkest examples surfaced in 2020, when a widely used Muslim prayer-times app was found to be selling users’ location data to a data broker that then supplied this information to the US military for ‘counter-terrorism’ purposes. The founder of that app was not Muslim, yet millions of Muslims unknowingly entrusted some of their most private information to a system operating entirely outside of their safety needs.

Women’s health data has been subject to similar risks. Research from the University of Cambridge shows that women’s personal data is routinely at harvested and misused, with real risks including:

• workplace monitoring
• threats to job security
• cyberstalking and harassment
• profiling by advertisers and data brokers

Many women’s health apps have unlawfully sold personal information in the past. to advertisers. Many period-tracking apps market themselves as ‘secure’ or ‘private’, some even claiming to have advisory boards dedicated to protecting your data. But if you dig even slightly, you’ll find names, even including former IOF military personnel. These are the people being entrusted with women’s most intimate health information.

And just as with the compromised prayer app, many major period-tracking and women’s health tools are built by teams who may not understand our vulnerabilities, risks, or religious contexts.

My sincere advice: take the time to research who is behind the technology you rely on for your body, cycle and worship. Your privacy deserves that care.

Why Taahirah Exists

Taahirah’s infrastructure was informed by full awareness of the same recurring pattern: exploitation, opacity, and disregard for Muslim women’s autonomy. So, we created Taahirah to offer an alternative. A platform grounded in ethics, transparency, and the principle of amānah (sacred trust).

How Taahirah Protects You

Built for safety

Taahirah is currently designed for adults aged 18 and over. Age verification is required, and if an underage account is identified, it is immediately closed, and all associated data is permanently deleted.

For younger audiences, we provide open-access educational articles on our website. These require no login, no account, and collect no data.

You control your data, always

You decide what you share, when to share it and how it’s used. We only process information necessary for the core functionality of the app. At present, we do not process sensitive health or religious data beyond what is required to serve you.

Optional analytics settings, allowing you to opt out entirely, are coming very soon!

Transparency you can understand

We avoid dark patterns and confusing settings. Instead, we prioritise:

• clear explanations of how your data is used
• simple, easy-to-navigate settings
• no hidden terms or buried consent boxes

A note on future research

In the future, we look to collaborate with ethical, value-aligned research partners to help advance understanding of Muslim women’s health — a field that has long been under-researched and underserved.

Nothing of this kind is active in the current app.

When this work begins, we will seek your explicit, opt-in consent to use de-identified, anonymised data. Participation will always be optional, and choosing not to take part will never limit your use of the app.

If you do give this consent, you will be contributing to research that can genuinely improve healthcare, representation, and wellbeing for Muslim women worldwide — and that’s a big deal! But the decision will always remain yours.

Privacy by design

Privacy is not an add-on — it is the foundation of our product. This means:

• end-to-end encryption for all personal data
• minimal data collection, limited strictly to what is essential
• no third-party tracking tools
• no data sharing or sales — ever
• secure UK-based storage compliant with UK GDPR
• carefully vetted technical providers, bound by strict data-protection agreements

Taahirah’s Data Principles

1. Consent & comfort

We understand how valuable your data is. We will only process it in ways you explicitly agree to, and are genuinely comfortable with.

2. Informed choices

You deserve to make informed decisions about your data. That’s why we are transparent, clear, and upfront about what we collect and why.

3. Amānah (sacred trust)

Data entrusted to us is an amānah. We believe we are answerable to Allah for how we uphold it and how we protect those who place their trust in us.

Your Rights Under UK GDPR

As a UK-registered company, you are protected by UK GDPR. You can:

• access your personal data
• correct inaccuracies
• request deletion
• restrict or object to processing
• request a portable copy of your data
• withdraw consent at any time

Your health.
Your faith.
Our amānah.

If you have questions or wish to exercise any of your rights, please contact us at:
📧 contact@taahirah.health