JAKIM’s gay cure app was pulled from the Play Store. Here’s what you missed.

[UPDATE 17 Mar 2022: The Guardian reported today that the Hijrah Diri app has now been removed from Google Play store, after they found it to breach the platform’s guidelines which do not allow apps that “attempt to deceive users or enable dishonest behavior including but no limited to apps which are determined to be functionally impossible.” After checking the Play Store ourselves, we found out that huh, it is true. Shouldn’t have uninstalled that app for the memories.

The Guardian also reported that previously, the Play store had also removed an US-based app in 2019 that promoted so-called “conversion therapy” and suggested that users could “pray away the gay”.

END OF UPDATE]

So recently, the JAKIM we know and love made headlines again by promoting a little app…

In case the Facebook post didn’t work for you, the app is called Hijrah Diri – Homoseksualiti, and if you’re a Muslim gay person looking to return to the natural order of things, it’s stuffed to the brim with resources to help you get back on the jalan yang lurus. That is, if you’re using Android, of course – it’s only available on the Play Store for now.

While the app garnered much apprehension and ridicule from reviewers…

…our first impression upon seeing this app was ‘Hey! We wrote about the app like 4 years ago!‘

Yea, the app had been around for some time already, and the last time we bit into it with our grinders…

It inexplicably has a feature that lets you find gays near you

Back in 2017, JAKIM did a couple of videos that aimed to educate people on lesbians, gays, bisexuals, and transgenders from a Muslim perspective, and barring a few kinks, it was actually quite informative. We found out about the app then as it was promoted at the end of one video. Naturally, we downloaded it and gave it a whirl.

Among other things, the app then offered strategies to overcome your homosexuality, features for you to reach out to them for help, and a chat function… which included a map showing the exact locations of people who used the app.

That is, if the user chooses to reveal his/her location – this function can easily be disabled by not allowing the app access. Back then, we wondered why the app would have such a feature, but thankfully…

The newer version of the app no longer shows other users’ locations…

…but it still asks for your location for some reason, right after logging in. After yeeting the permission request into next week, we were treated to a more stylish interface, which included the previous version’s features on top of wayyy more resources – up to and including the two videos from JAKIM we mentioned earlier, plus some prayers – and the wall function, which is the same chat from before. However, it no longer allows you to check the location of other users near you.

Still, the selling point for the app this time – as mentioned in JAKIM’s FB post – is a 148-page e-book that contains “the true experiences of a gay who started his journey to leave homosexuality during Ramadan”. And the details are pretty saucy.

We didn’t read the whole thing, but the table of contents alone told us that this is a pretty detailed manual for someone who’s trying to deny his gay impulses. Some of the strategies put forth in the book include fasting, using anger to fix your gay daily regime, a collection of prayers and lessons, physical reminders to stop punching the bald clown, and using negative motivation to suppress the gay, like by visiting graveyards to remind yourself the impermanence of life and reflect on how you’ve been using your time.

Disregarding the information…

Will this new app help bring homosexuality in Malaysia to its knees?

Over the years, Malaysian authorities have tried several ways to address homosexuality in Malaysia, and not all of their methods are that good. While we can’t speak for the gays, this app seems to lean towards the better side, if we bear in mind the target market of this app: Muslim homosexuals who themselves want to stop being gay, or at least suppress their gay tendencies. No one is compelling anyone to download the app against their will (we hope), and once they’re done with it, they can just uninstall it with no fuss.

In that regard, this app offers a less intimidating path towards comprehensive resources and suggestions to help them towards their goal, without actually revealing your identity to the religious authorities and asking for help in person. Some might disagree, with concerns that it would make homosexuality seem like a problem that needs to be addressed. However, it can be argued that just as gay people should have a right to be gay, so should repentant gays have a right to suppress themselves if that’s what they want.

While not without its kinks, this app would definitely be of help to its target market, and we would 5/10 recommend. Just don’t let it access your location… unless you want it to.