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Jail term cut after memorising Quran

Two inmates of Dubai prisons - Somali Yaseen Ibrahim Mousa and Pakistani Hamoud Al Zaman Afdal Ahmed, who are serving a life sentence for drug possession - will have 15 years reduced from their jail terms as a reward for memorising the entire Holy Quran, it was announced on Tuesday at a ceremony at the Dubai Police Officers' Club.

The ceremony featured the honouring of Yaseen and Hamoud and a group of 58 other prisoners who joined the Holy Quran Memorisation Programme for Prison Inmates, which was introduced as a branch of the Dubai International Holy Quran Award (DIHQA) in April last year on the orders of General Shaikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Dubai Crown Prince and UAE Minister of Defence. Under the programme which received a positive response from the inmates with around 400 joining the course, every prisoner has a chance to get his jail term commuted depending on the number of chapters of the Holy Quran he/she memorises.

Those who memorise the entire Holy Quran will have 15 years reduced from their jail term, memorisation of 20 chapters reduces the term by 10 years, 10 chapters reduces the jail sentence by five years, and those memorising five chapters will have one year of jail reduced.

Two prisoners, namely Mesbahul Haq Aziz Ahmed from Pakistan and Bakri Youssuf Dalati from Syria, managed to memorise 20 chapters and each will have 10 years reduced from their sentences, while 32 others memorised 10 chapters and 24 memorised five chapters, according to Dr Aref Al Shaikh, Head of the Technical Committee and Supervisor of the Quran Memorisation Centres in Dubai.

The ceremony was the third in the series of functions held to honour new batches of prison inmates who memorise parts of the Holy Quran. It was attended by Dr Saeed Hareb, Vice- Chairman of DIHQA, on behalf of Chairman Ibrahim Bu Melha, Vice-Chairman of the Dubai Justice Department and Dubai Attorney-General.