By TwoCircles.net staff reporter
Khagual (Patna): Dilip Kumar Choudhary and Urmila Devi have a unique desire that their daughter Hemlata, who is nine years old, memorise the Quran and become a Hafiz. ( One who memorises all the 30 Parts or 114 Surahs or chapters of the holy book by heart, word by word and can correctly recite the same without looking at the text )
When she goes to Madarsa Madinatul Uloom close to her home, she is blessed by her parents who want her to read and recite the holy Quran.
Ashish Vidyarthi, Hemlata's seven years old brother also goes to madarsa with her which is housed in Jama Masjid, Badi Khagaul, and reads Urdu as a prelude to switching over to Arabic like his sister.
"This is very strange and unique," said people who gathered in the Masjid on late Saturday evening at a function when Hemlata came on the dais to recite first Surah of the holy Quran.
Chaudhary, a railway employee, said: "I had a desire that my children should read Urdu and Arabic. When she was reading Urdu, I thought she should also read the Quran. "Mother Urmila Devi said she felt very happy that her daughter is reciting the Quran. We did not face any opposition from any quarter. Some times relatives even encouraged us and some times people tease her by asking :" Maulvi ho gayee hai." (You have become an Islamic cleric).
"I love reading the Quran and want to memorise it." says Hemlata who is a student of standard IV in Progressive Public High School at Khagual. Her brother Ashish, who too studies there, is in standard I.
When asked if any non-Muslim ever memorised the Quran? "No", said the Islamic scholar Hafiz Mohammad Alam Qasmi, "there is no restriction on any body reading the Quran but no non-Muslim ever wished to memorise it". He quoted Surah Al-Qamar of the Quran where in Allah says, "And we have indeed made the Quran easy to understand and remember."
Qasmi serves as Imam of Daryapur Masjid here. He revealed that one Hindu youth, under assumed name of Amber, comes to read Quran in the mosque. In a children's school in Rajendra Nagar , where Arabic teaching has been arranged for the Muslim children, many non-Muslim children has also joined the class and some times their parents also comes to listen them reading Arabic texts.
Madarsa founder Abu Bashar said when Hemlata's parents approached him with their request, he too was highly surprised. But since this is a precious book, what Muslims believe, Quran is Allah's eternal miracle, the scholars say it is also an eternal miracle that non-Muslims are showing interest in it. They quote Prophet Mohammad, "The best among you is he/she who learned the Quran and then teach it."