Orthopaedic prayer rugs....

The world has been waiting...

Adnan Pirisen’s idea for the padded prayer rug came to him in the middle of the night.

“I’d been thinking that as Muslims we start to get knee pain over the course of time from kneeling at prayer, but we always dismissed it as part of life and duty,” the 46-year-old Schwentinental resident told The Local on Friday.

Pirisen’s 71-year-old mother suffers from knee pain, and he’d begun to have similar problems when he had his eureka moment. By the time his parents took a pilgrimage to Mecca for the Hajj last year, he had a prototype ready to send along with his mother, who reported substantial interest from other Muslims.

Just a few months later in April 2008, Pirisen patented a more streamlined version of the orthopaedic prayer rug, which packs up into a handy tote bag.

“My parents told me that the people in Mecca all had bags to carry their rugs, but they were unwieldy and difficult to deal with in high temperatures, so I thought it would be great to combine the rug with the bag to make things easier,” he said, adding that people can also use them to carry water, books and other necessities.

Now after one month of online sales, he has sold some 500 rugs and plans to take his softer, gentler version of the prayer mat with a 12-millimetre cushion to fellow Muslims worldwide. He has even specialised to include a child-size rug and the extra-cushy "Lux" version. Inquiries from potential business partners have already come in from the Netherlands, England, France and Dubai – where he plans to attend a trade show next year.