Language no barrier for contestants

Fazl-e-Rabbi of Bangladesh. This report by Afkar Abdullah and Amira Agarib focuses on some of the contestants who impressed the

audience with their passion for memorising the Holy Book by heart despite the fact that Arabic is not their mother tongue.

DUBAI — Although they do not understand a single word of the Holy Quran, some of the youngsters who participated in the Dubai International Holy Quran Award (DIHQA) demonstrated great skill by reciting the verses from the Holy Book. Their amazing display of memory and recitation stunned the distinguished audience.

Understanding the meanings of words and subsequently the phrases and sentences would have helped these participants to recall the pages from the Holy Quran even more easily, but the young participants said that ignorance of the meanings of the words did not pose much difficulty to them in memorising the pages.

They believed that their ability to memorise 600 pages of the Holy Book and then reciting them fluently could be attributed to the divine blessings of the Allah.

Master Abdun Doloh, 17, from Thailand, memorised the entire Holy Quran at the age of 14. He was encouraged by his oldest brother who also memorised the Holy Book.

Doloh said he learned the Holy Quran by heart with encouragement from his family and friends. “I don’t understand a word from the Holy Book, but I feel comfortable when I read it. So I decided to memorise the entire Holy Book. In Thailand, we have great atmosphere of freedom of religions and people belonging to various beliefs live in harmony and unity. This was the main reason of my success,” he said.

Following his overwhelming success in breaking the barrier and fear of the difficulty of learning and memorising in a different language, his entire family is now learning and memorising the Holy Quran, he pointed out.

Mohammed Omer, 20, French national of Indian origin, said he was born in France. And like other Muslim families who were living in foreign counties, his parents took him to an Islamic school. He said that he started memorising the Holy Quran at the age of 10 and after three years of constant learning he was able to memorise the Holy Book.

He said that despite not knowing Arabic, he memorised the Holy Quran, which he thought was a miracle.

Ijaaz Mukkadeen, 15, a South African of Indian origin, said he started memorising the Holy Quran when he was seven years old and managed to fully memorise it by the time he reach the age of 11.

He said that his father encouraged him and assisted him in memorising the Holy Book, and added that his ambition is to become a doctor and to teach the Holy Quran to people.

Tajik Abdul Zula, 13, also started memorising the Holy Quran at the age of seven with the help of his father and an Islamic school teacher and it took him two years to achieve his goal.

He said he was very impressed by seeing a large number of youth from various countries who had memorised the Holy Quran, which “showed that the Holy Quran is followed and loved by millions from all over world.”

Ali Ala Adawi, 19, from Niger, said, “When I started memorising the Holy Quran I could not understand its meanings. Then I started learning Arabic to be able to understand and apply the teachings in my daily life. I would like to be Islamic preacher in the future.”

“The recognition I gain from merely participating in such reputed international Islamic events, prompts me to further my skills,” he added.