New alarm clock helps faithful get there on time

Five-Times-A-Day alarm clock tells you when to pray

GALENA, Ill. (RWN) - Put this one into the category of gadgets that seem useless until you buy them and then they become indispensable.

An Illinois businessman, tired of being surprised by the call to prayer, or worse, missing them entirely, has created an alarm clock with five separate alarms, programmed into the clock and a companion watch.

"You can never erase the alarms and accidentally forget," said Said Rennebou, owner of a plastics extruding plant. "They're hard-wired into the clock and the watch. You just set it to your time zone and never have to worry again."

The Five-Times-A-Day Clock has been on the market for less than a year, and has sold more than 1 million units, Rennebou said. The watch has only been on sale since July, but has strong sales, as well.

"People need this." Rennebou said. "I know I did. We're trying to get more into our days than ever before and it's easy to forget prayers. This way, you don't have to."

The clocks sell for $150 at major retailers or online and the watches sell for $75 and are available in a variety of styles.

The clocks do not come without some controversy though. A group of conservative high school students protested outside of Rennebou's factory last month, chanting "We don't forget, we don't forget."

"The watch and the clock are for the casual Muslim who does not appreciate or really care about the quality of his religion," said Mafoud al-Hal, the leader of the student group. "We felt we needed to call attention to how lazy Muslims can be, and how easily they can be exploited."

Rennebou watched the protest from his office window. The protestors wanted someone to come out to talk to, but he chose not to answer their requests.

"What was it going to get me?" he asked. "I could go out and get yelled at and called a 'moneylender' and 'exploiter of the weak-minded' but what good was that going to do me? Youth is so wasted on the young."

Undeterred by the protests, Rennebou is planning in expanding his line of timers to other products, such as laptops and cell phones.



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