What makes education a worthwhile journey? How far would you go to be educated? And what would you look for in your education? For many contestants who participated in this year's Dubai International Holy Quran Award (DIHQA), held every Ramadan, education was the sole key to a better life and a chance to survive the cruelty of poverty, famine, civil wars and religious intolerance in their home countries.
They had no state-of-the-art schools or transportation to class. What's more, a few had to even leave their families due to the lack of proper schooling in their villages.
Notes brings you the stories of these young people, who were in Dubai during Ramadan competing for the top 10 awards of the DIHQA.
The boy from Burundi
Nyandwi Malaliwa from Burundi comes from one of the poorest countries in the world in East Africa. It is the continent's smallest country, bordered by Rwanda, Tanzania and the Congo.
Its poverty is due to the country's landlocked geography, poor legal system, lack of access to education, and the proliferation of HIV/AIDS. But this hasn't stopped young Malaliwa from achieving his dreams and doing what others in his country thought impossible.
His father is a humble tradesman. Although poor, his mother had dreams for him and his five siblings. When she noticed that Malaliwa was showing enthusiasm in trying to read the Holy Quran, she motivated and encouraged him.
At 10, Malaliwa started learning Arabic; he also started memorising the Holy Quran. In a country that mainly speaks French, Kirundi, and Swahili, Malaliwa worked hard to learn Arabic, a language foreign to his eyes and ears. At dawn, after his morning prayers, he would spend two hours memorising verses from the Holy Quran verbally from an Islamic scholar. He would revise the same verses after school.
Three years later, at 13, Malaliwa had not only memorised the entire Holy Quran, but had also achieved a good command of the Arabic language. "I am very respected in my hometown for memorising the Holy Quran," he said.
Malaliwa also enjoys reading about international and current political affairs from newspapers. He is also knowledgeable about the works of prominent Islamic scholars.
A wish fulfilled
"I memorised the Holy Quran to fulfill the wishes of my forefathers for they didn't have the opportunities to practise Islam like I did. I wanted to honour their ambition to preserve the Islamic culture in our family and country," said 17-year-old Kyrgyz contestant Akparali Abdullah.
Abdullah was born in his native Kyrgyzstan but moved to Egypt in 1995 with his parents and siblings, who were keen on studying at the renowned Al Azhar University. Abdullah is currently studying Islamic Studies at the university.
The contestant started memorising the Holy Quran at the age of six and completed it when he was nine. "My grandfather is living his dreams through his grandchildren who now have the freedom to learn and practise their religion. I recall seeing my grandfather crying upon knowing I completed learning the Holy Quran," Abdullah said in fluent Arabic.
The family of eight occasionally visits Kyrgyzstan, a country that is increasingly developing its Islamic culture after the end of the Soviet era.
"Although I was still young, my grandparents and parents vividly remember the Soviet days when they used to kill anyone especially religious scholars who practised religion," he said.
Today, although, Kyrgyzstan is a secular state, Islam is exerting more and more influence in politics.
"I want to restore the practice of religion in my country; this is my priority in life and my ambition as well," said Abdullah.
Determined young man
Mamodu Balde, 18, comes from a West African country that is considered among the least developed nations and one of the 10 poorest countries in the world. Yet among the population of Guinea-Bissau is a young man who has been determined since the age of seven to change his life.
Most people in his country are farmers with traditional religious beliefs. The population consists of 50 per cent who hold indigenous beliefs, 44 per cent who are Muslims, principally the Fula and Mandinka peoples, and fewer than 8 per cent who are Christians.
Due to the lack of academic and Islamic institutions in Guinea-Bissau, seven-year-old Balde left his village and family to pursue his basic and secondary education in the neighbouring city of Guinea-Konakry.
He stayed there for four years with his grandparents studying at an Islamic institute that based its curriculum on those of Saudi Arabia and Egypt.
Fluent in Arabic and French, 11-year-old Balde was influenced by the early home-based teachings of his mother about Islam. He sought to memorise the Holy Quran following his mother's wish that her children memorise the Holy Quran, which she believed provides a way of life.
Following his grandfather's death, he sought the help of Shaikh Othman Jadi, who had been a DIHQA participant in its fifth year. "I was kindly fostered at the Shaikh's house along with 15 other students, similar to my situation. I lived with him and his wife for two years. All 15 of us were jammed into one room while the Shaikh and his children were in another. They housed us and provided us with our meals. I will always be grateful for his generosity," said Balde.
During this time he did his schooling in the morning and memorised the Holy Quran from 3pm to 7pm daily.
Upon completing his memorisation in two years, he moved to another Islamic centre to further his Islamic studies in the Holy Quran, Sunnah, and Sharia.
Before participating in the competition, Balde moved back to his hometown Bissau to finally reunite with his parents and sister.
"I did my travelling to get a chance in education, to get a chance to learn the Holy Quran properly as it should be learnt. I set a goal as a child and now I am living this accomplishment and dreaming to live my next one," he said.
Cultural norm
Senoussi Daoud from Chad memorised the Holy Quran along with his three siblings under the guidance of their father, who is the owner and faki of a khalwa, teacher of a traditional Islamic school, that adjoined their house. The 20-year-old is also a high school student studying in a regular public school based on the Saudi Arabian curriculum. "Memorising the Holy Quran is part of the cultural and Islamic norm in Chad; most people in my hometown are memorisers of the Holy Quran," he said.
The khalwa is divided into two sections for girls and boys. Boys coming from remote rural areas are provided accommodation by the imam until the student completes memorising the Holy Quran.
"They are exemplary with respect to equity. The poor are taught as the middle class, and all participants in the khalwa share equally the goods that are available. The values and the experiences of the khalwa help to forge solidarity among its members which lasts a lifetime and bonds its students to their fakis for just as long," said Daoud.
In Mauritania, and North Africa in general, students use a small wooden tablet called a lawhah to memorise the Holy Quran. The lawhah can be held up like a book, or it can be propped up against something, said Ahmedou Salem Taleb, a 21-year-old participant from Mauritania.
Writing the texts is believed to help in facilitating the memorisation of the Holy Quran and to improve a person's calligraphy. After memorising the text, students repeat what they have memorised around 300 times, using the Misbah (counting beads) to count with.
The khalwa
The khalwa is considered one of the most traditional centres for the teaching of the Holy Quran and Arabic in Africa. It dates back more than 400 years. Its presence has historically played a crucial role in maintaining the religious values of a country and served as main centres of educational opportunity for many rural people during the 1970s and 1980s, especially in northern Africa.
It is a traditional mosque school that teaches boys from the ages of 6 until 13 to learn and memorise the Holy Quran. There are some khalawi for girls located mainly in urban areas. The teacher is a faki and the head of the khalwa is usually referred to as a shayah.
During this year's DIHQA, Notes interviewed some contestants who studied in these schools, memorising the Holy Quran by repeatedly writing it on wooden boards using a mixture of charcoal and natural glue as a pen.
