Privacy Notice

Who this notice covers

Al-Ilm is an independent project providing services including Ahl al-Ilm, Dawwin and Rasil. Al-Ilm is the controller of personal information processed for these services. This notice describes how personal information is handled across them, with additional detail about Dawwin where its current implementation is known. Privacy and data-rights enquiries can be made through Dawwin feedback while signed in.

Age

Dawwin is currently available to people aged 13 and over. Account registration requires confirmation that the user is at least 13. The service may be used by teenagers, so privacy and product choices are intended to take younger users into account.

Information we handle

Depending on the features you use, this can include your account email address and authentication information; study notes, reflections and other content you create; uploaded books, slides, images and other study materials; Study Space metadata, saved people and resources; feedback messages and an optional reply email; public-note sharing settings; Google Calendar and Drive connection data; and technical information needed to operate and secure the service.

Passwords are stored as password hashes rather than readable passwords. Dawwin uses a secure, HTTP-only session cookie to keep you signed in. If you enable multi-factor authentication, Dawwin also stores the information needed to provide that feature.

Lawful bases and sensitive information

Where processing is necessary to create and operate your Dawwin account and provide features you request, Al-Ilm relies on the UK GDPR lawful basis of contract. Other processing may rely on legitimate interests where necessary to operate, secure and improve the service, provided those interests are not overridden by your rights. Legal obligations may also require limited processing in some circumstances.

Islamic study notes and reflections can reveal religious beliefs and may sometimes contain health information. These are special category data. Dawwin asks for your explicit consent before processing study content you choose to store that may contain this information. The consent is recorded separately from agreement to the Terms. You can withdraw it by deleting your account or making a privacy request. Withdrawal does not make earlier lawful processing unlawful.

Where information is stored and processed

Dawwin stores much of its application metadata and uploaded study materials on Al-Ilm infrastructure. Note documents are currently stored through Qirtaas Managed Cloud. Some features use external providers to process only the information needed to provide the feature you request.

Providers and integrations currently used by Dawwin can include Qirtaas, Anthropic, Google, Stripe, Quran Foundation, Sunnah.com and the academic discovery services used by Dawwin Research. Their own terms and privacy practices may also apply. Some providers may process information outside the UK, depending on their infrastructure and service arrangements.

Personal information is not sold and Dawwin does not use it for advertising.

AI-assisted features

AI-assisted features are invoked by the user. When you use features such as flashcard or terminology proposals, developing-thread scans, study-note Q&A or reading aids, relevant excerpts of selected study material may be sent to Anthropic's Claude Haiku service for that request. Some scans can use excerpts from multiple selected notes or reflections. Dawwin does not send all of your notes to an AI provider merely because they are stored in the application.

AI output is used to provide study suggestions and aids for you to review. Dawwin does not use AI to make solely automated decisions about users that have legal or similarly significant effects.

Qur'an, Hadith, lexical and research services

Qur'an, Hadith, lexical and academic-research features may make requests to external data providers needed to fulfil the feature. Dawwin also maintains local data or caches for some sources, including Sunnah.com hadith data, so not every lookup requires a live third-party request.

Google Calendar and Drive

If you connect Google, Dawwin requests read-only Calendar and Drive access for the connected features. Google access and refresh tokens are stored encrypted on Dawwin infrastructure. Dawwin also stores local links between Google event identifiers and Dawwin notes, reflections, Study Spaces and completion state where you create those links.

Public sharing

If you deliberately enable public sharing for a note, Dawwin creates a share link and stores a copy of the shared note content needed to serve that link. Anyone with the link may be able to view the shared content. Check that a note does not contain information you do not want to share before making it public. Revoking sharing disables Dawwin's public share for that note.

Feedback and support

If you submit feedback or a feature request, Dawwin stores the message, its category, your account identifier and any reply email you choose to provide so the feedback can be reviewed and, where requested, answered.

Optional financial support is processed by Stripe. Dawwin sends Stripe the information needed to create the Checkout session, including your account email address, the amount and whether the support is one-off or recurring. Payment card details are handled by Stripe rather than Dawwin.

Security and retention

Dawwin uses measures including hashed passwords, secure session cookies, encrypted Google OAuth tokens and access controls intended to protect account data. No internet service can promise complete security.

Information is retained while your account is active and as needed to provide and secure the service, resolve problems and meet applicable legal obligations. You can delete individual content through Dawwin features. Dawwin also provides self-service data export and account deletion. Account deletion removes the live Dawwin account and associated application data, Qirtaas note documents, public shares, connected-calendar data and uploaded study-material files. Residual copies may remain temporarily in infrastructure backups until those backups are overwritten in the ordinary backup cycle.

Your choices and rights

You can choose whether to use optional integrations, AI-assisted features, public note sharing and optional financial support. In Dawwin security settings you can export your data, delete your account, disconnect Google and revoke public links. You can also delete or unlink individual items within Dawwin itself.

Depending on the circumstances and the lawful basis for processing, UK data-protection law may give you rights including access, correction, deletion, restriction, portability and objection. You can raise a privacy or data-rights request through Dawwin's feedback feature while signed in. You also have the right to complain to the UK Information Commissioner's Office if you believe your personal information has been handled unlawfully.