by Hilal Shah
KUPWARA: With Covid-19 pandemic induced lockdown pushing education delivery to online mode, three Handwara students have achieved a new feat of memorising the Holy Quran (Hifz-e-Quran) through the virtual mode.
The journey of the three students of the Jamia Islamia School Waripora has been identical yet distinct.
Mir Zeyadul Mujtaba, one among the three is a 7th standard student who began his journey of memorising the Quran in 2017 when he was just 10 years old.
Till the Covid-19 pandemic hit the Valley, Mujtaba had memorised seven chapters of the Quran. After the Covid-19 induced lockdown was imposed last year, Mujtaba’s father arranged online Quran memorising classes for his son at home only.
“It is God’s blessing that he has achieved this feat. The credit goes to school authorities and teachers,” Mujtaba’s father, Shahi Jahan Mir said.
Abrar Ahmad Khan from Diver area of Kupwara district is the other student to achieve the feat.
A 10th standard student, Khan had memorised 27 chapters of the Holy Quran when Covid-19 hadn’t hit.
Following the Covid-19 lockdown, he started taking online classes. He was declared a Hifz-e-Quran on last month’s 25th by the school authorities.
Khan’s father Mohammad Ashraf Khan terms the achievement as a “dream coming true”.
“I wasn’t sure that he would complete the memorisation within such a short period of time. The credit goes to his teachers. They have done a commendable job throughout his journey,” he said.
Basharat Hassan, the last among the three but not the least, hails from Hanga village of the north Kashmir district.
Hassan, a 9th standard student, started his journey in 2017. He credits his success to his elder brother. During the Covid-19 lockdown, Hassan memorised five chapters of the Holy Quran through online classes.
“We used to take classes for one hour each day. Hard work is very important in achieving this,” Hassan said.
Mohammad Ismail Zargar, who has been working as an ‘Aalim’ in the school since 2014 said, “There is a large difference between offline and online classes. In offline mode, we used to have classes for six hours. But in the online setup, we have just one hour.”
Jamia Islamia School, under whose aegis the three have achieved the feat, has been offering formal as well as religious education to its students. At present, the school has a roll of more than 300 students.
Ghulam Nabi, the school administrator claims that till date the school has produced 40 odd Hifz-e-Quran students.
