துபாய் : திருக்குர்ஆன் மனனப் போட்டியில் பங்கேற்ற ஈராகிய மாணவர்

The one thing that helped them survive
By Siham Al Najami, Staff Reporter
Published: September 14, 2008, 00:02

http://www.gulfnews.com/nation/Heritage_and_Culture/10244865.html

Dubai: Political upheaval and military conflicts in their home countries could not deter a few young contestants at the International Holy Quran Award (DIHQA) from pursuing their Quranic studies.

Participating in the event, held at the Cultural and Scientific Association, Dubai, for the first time, 19-year-old Omar Mahmoud from Iraq started studying the Quran at the age of 13 and committed the holy book to memory in only two years.

Regular study

Encouraged by his parents to memorise the Quran at an early age, Omar is proud of his achievement. His younger sibling has so far memorised 18 out of 30 chapters of the holy book.


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Omar recalled how he would set aside some time each day to memorise and revise chapters of the Quran while back home in Baghdad. The prevailing security situation and political unrest would also force him to reschedule his trips to and from the mosque, he said.

Strange predicament

"It was practically like being trapped in your own house; the security situation hindered me from attending memorisation and revision classes at the mosque. Sometimes I would not get to go to the mosque for weeks," he said.

Omar however has learnt to cope with frustrations and is enthusiastic about whatever opportunities life has offered him. The 2007 Failed States Index of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace's Foreign Policy magazine and the Fund for Peace, lists Iraq as the second most unstable country in the world.

Abbas Mahmoud, 13, still vividly remembers the Somali civil war of 2000, although he was very young at the time. His father, who is an imam at a mosque in Umm Al Quwain, says the majority of Muslims in Somalia have memorised the Quran as it is mandatory in public schools to learn the Quran before seeking admission to the first grade.

As for Abbas, he could not go to school or memorise the Quran for months on end as the civil war made his hometown a dangerous place to live in.

Constant fear

"We would stay at home for months fearing the children might be kidnapped or killed," said the boy's father.

The family came to the UAE when Abbas was only seven, which is also the age at which he started memorising the Quran. He fulfilled his father's and his own dream of memorising the Quran at the age of 13.

Strong bond

The hours of patient study with the Quran in hand have brought the father and son very close to each other. Needless to say, the proud father was visibly moved, as was the audience, when his son took the stage and started his recitation at the DIHQA.