BEDAIE: A VOICE OF KNOWLEDGE FROM KOTA BHARU ECHOES IN THE UNITED STATES

By Noor Bakhtiar Ahmad

KUALA LUMPUR, April 19 (Bernama) -- What began as a modest dream on home soil has now made international strides - BeDaie, an Islamic online learning platform initiated by a young Malaysian, has successfully entered the United States market.

But BeDaie offers more than just Islamic reading materials or virtual classes. It carries a greater mission—to spread knowledge and the light of Islam across the world, despite having started from a small office in Kota Bharu, Kelantan.

Behind this effort is Muhammad Amar Mirza Ab Kadir Jailani, 31, who believes that religious knowledge should not be confined by geographical borders.

“We started selling Islamic books in the US last March. Although the Muslim community there is only around four to five million, their thirst for knowledge is remarkable.

“They are truly hungry for spiritual enrichment,” he told Bernama International News Service recently.

To meet this need, Amar and his team translated 20 Malay-language books into English and made a bold move into New York, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey.

“Alhamdulillah, the response has been very encouraging. BeDaie books have now been distributed to 50 bookstores as a starting point, and we aim to reach more locations soon,” he said.

But BeDaie is more than a book distributor. It offers online learning classes taught by experienced Malaysian scholars (asatizah).

Over a two to three-month period, participants are guided through the books they have purchased, learning directly with live instruction.

A graduate of Madrasah Ribat Fatah in Seiun, Hadramaut, Yemen, Amar acknowledges the journey has not been easy.

With a current workforce of 148 people, the biggest challenges are operational and logistical costs in a vast country like the US.

To ease the burden, BeDaie has partnered with Malaysian-owned companies to handle book distribution and has received support from SME Corp.

Today, BeDaie is no longer a stranger to the global stage.

After successfully reaching 10 countries, it now aims to expand to 25 countries by 2025.

Future plans also include translating books into Urdu, Bengali and Turkish.

“Online Islamic education is key. We focus on classical texts (kitab turath) and essential knowledge (fardu ain), so that every Muslim, wherever they are, can access it,” Amar said with conviction.

In 2024 alone, BeDaie’s lessons recorded over 1.5 million views from 10 countries, with 80,000 actives students. By 2025, they’re targeting 350,000 new students.

--BERNAMA