Privacy Policy

System Of Islam (systemofislam.com) is run by an individual (not a company or organisation) as a free, non-commercial, voluntary project. This policy explains what information the site collects, why, who can see it, and the choices you have. We keep it short and collect as little as we can.

Who is responsible

The person running System Of Islam is responsible for your information. You can reach us any time through the contact form - choose "Privacy or my data" as the topic.

What we collect

When you just visit the site:

• Anonymous page statistics: how often each chapter is read. These counts are not linked to you.
• Visit statistics through our own Matomo analytics, set up without cookies.
• Our own visit statistics, also without cookies: which pages are opened and for how long, which files are downloaded, the page that sent you (its address, when your browser passes it on), your country (and sometimes city), and your browser, operating system and type of device. To count visitors we use a code made from your connection that changes every day, so we can’t recognise you from one day to the next; your IP address is not stored. If you are logged in, your visits are linked to your account. These records are deleted after 180 days.
• If our team starts a chat with you while you are on the site, the messages you exchange. The chat is linked to the same daily code (nothing is stored in your browser), ends when the code changes at midnight (UTC), and is deleted after 30 days. If you are logged in, messages from our team arrive in your Messages instead and are kept with your account.
• Microsoft Clarity (how pages are used: clicks, scrolling), only if you allow it in the privacy choices.
• Your IP address, used briefly to protect the site from spam and abuse (for example, limiting how many forms can be sent). It is not stored for visitors who aren’t logged in.

When you create an account:

• Your email address and password (the password is stored encrypted - we can never see it).
• Your username and gender, and if you add them: year of birth, first and last name, a short bio and a profile photo, with the privacy setting you chose for each.
• What you do in the community: connections, members you block, groups you join, posts, comments, likes, articles, comments on articles, bookmarks (and which of them you show on your profile), private messages and community chat messages.
• Reports you send about other members, and reports about you: what was reported, the reason and who sent it. The member you report is never told who reported them.
• If you turn on notifications: an address for your device from your browser’s notification service.
• When you accepted these terms.
• When you log in and when you were last active: the time, your IP address, your approximate location (country, and sometimes city, worked out from your connection) and the type of device and browser. We keep your last 20 logins.
• Whether you use the installed app, and on what kind of device.
• Your reading: which book chapters you open, how far you get, and the ones you mark as “read fully” - so we can show where to continue - the notes you write on chapters, your reading plans, and your results on chapter quizzes (“Test yourself”). Only you can see these - and site administrators, when they need to (see “Who can see your information”).

When you use the contact or feedback forms:

• Your name, email address, message, and anything you attach, plus whether you asked to receive updates.

When you ask for automated access (for a program that collects pages from the site):

• Your name, email address, organisation and website, what you told us about your project, your browser and country at the time, and whether we gave access - kept until you ask us to delete it.

How we use it

• To run the site and its features, and to show your profile and content to the people your settings allow.
• To send emails you need: confirming your email address, resetting your password, and replies to your messages.
• To email you, at most once a day, about new private messages, replies and decisions on your posts that arrived while you were away. You can switch each kind off in your account, or stop them all with the link in every email.
• To review posts, comments and articles before they appear, and to deal with abuse.
• To keep the site secure and free of spam (for example, spotting logins to your account from unusual places), and to understand how it is used so we can improve it.

We never sell your information, show advertising, or share it for marketing. We only send you news or updates if you asked for them.

Who can see your information

• Your profile: each field is visible to everyone, your connections, or only you - as you choose in your account.
• Group posts and comments: members of that group.
• Articles: everyone, once approved.
• Private messages: you and the person you are writing to.
• The community chat: everyone, including visitors who are not logged in.
• Community moderators can see your posts, articles, completed books and connections even if you hide them from others, and your account’s status and activity in the community (for example when you were last active and how many posts you wrote). They cannot see your private messages, your reading, your notes or the bookmarks you keep private.
• Site administrators can see all content and account information, including private messages, your reading, your notes and all your bookmarks, but only look at it to review content, investigate reports of abuse, or keep the site working. Every time an administrator opens this private information, it is recorded.

If we start using automated tools - including AI services from other companies - to help review posts and articles, we will update this policy first.

Services we rely on

A few other companies process some information for us, only to provide their service:

• A hosting provider, whose servers store the site and its database.
• Cloudflare, which delivers the site and protects it from attacks.
• Google reCAPTCHA, on forms, to tell people and bots apart (Google Privacy Policy).
• Microsoft Clarity, only with your permission (Microsoft Privacy Statement).
• An email provider, to send account emails and deliver messages from the contact form.
• If you turn on notifications: your browser’s notification service (for example Google for Chrome and Android, Apple for iPhone, Mozilla for Firefox) delivers them. The notification text is encrypted so only your device can read it.

These services may store information in countries other than yours.

Cookies and similar storage

• A login cookie that keeps you signed in. The site needs it to work.
• Settings saved in your browser, such as light, sepia or dark mode, your reading settings (text size, spacing) and recent searches - and, if you are not logged in, the last chapter you read, so the homepage can offer to continue where you left off. These stay on your device and are not sent to us; the homepage has a “Forget” button, and clearing your browser’s site data removes them.
• Microsoft Clarity cookies, only if you allow them.
• Google reCAPTCHA may set its own cookies on pages with a form.

You can change your choice about Clarity at any time with "Privacy choices" at the bottom of every page.

How long we keep it

• Your account and everything in it: until you delete your account.
• Login history (times, IP addresses, locations, devices): your last 20 logins, deleted with your account.
• Contact and feedback messages: as long as needed to deal with them, and no longer than two years.
• Backups: kept on our own server for about two weeks, then deleted.

Your choices and rights

• See and download your data: use "Download my data" on your account page.
• Correct it: edit your profile at any time.
• Delete it: use "Delete my account" on your account page. Your profile, posts, comments, likes, articles, chat messages and conversations are removed straight away.
• Withdraw consent for Clarity through "Privacy choices", and turn notifications off on your account page.
• Ask us anything, or object to how we use your information, through the contact form.

If you are unhappy with our answer, you can complain to the data protection authority where you live - for example, the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada, or the data protection authority of your country in the EU or UK.

Children

You must be at least 13 years old to create an account. If you are under 16, please ask a parent or guardian before joining. If you believe a child under 13 has an account, contact us and we will delete it.

Changes to this policy

If we change this policy, we will update the date on this page. If the change is significant, we will let members know on the site or by email.