Entrepreneur Patents Orthopaedic Prayer Rug

Schwentinental, Germany, Dec. 11, 2009--An entrepreneur in Germany has patented an orthopaedic prayer rug to help Muslims.

Adnan 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.

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.

“I had nothing to do with rugs before,” the Turkish-born entrepreneur told The Local. “I was an electronic technician and owned my own business for years.”

He now employs his wife, two sons and a foreign sales representative with plans to expand in their Schleswig-Holstein home just outside Kiel in 2010.