DUBAI, 24 September 2007 — Desiring to be a friend of the Holy Qur’an, Amaar Basic, a teenager from Bosnia-Herzegovina, was inspired to memorize the entire holy book — a feat that he completed in six months.
Amaar is one of 86 teenagers from all over the world who are taking part in the contest for the 11th Dubai International Holy Qur’an Award. The award is considered one of the best in the world, with 250,000 dirhams on offer to the winner of first place, 200,000 dirhams to the winner of the second place, and 150,000 dirhams for the third place. The remaining contestants will be given awards ranging from 100,000 to 20,000 dirhams.
The participants are all below 21 years and will be judged according to how beautifully they are able to recite the Qur’an and how well they are able to do this from memory.
The story of how this 18-year-old memorized the Qur’an is one of grit and determination. Unlike many of his fellow contestants, Amaar did not attend Islamic schools where he could learn the Qur’an from a young age. Having experienced a spate of communism, there are few Islamic schools for children in Bosnia even though the majority of Bosnians are Muslim.
The fall of communism in the early 1990s ushered in an era of religious freedom for Bosnian Muslims. However, the catalyst that trigged many of them to rediscover their Islamic roots was the ethnic cleansing suffered at the hands of Serbs.
Amaar’s parents were one of those. “There is a growing number of Bosnians who are practicing Islam now. My father, for example, was not religious in his youth and only started practicing late in life,” said Amaar. Even though he grew up in a religious house, Amaar only knew a few parts of the Qur’an by heart, as there were no Qur’an schools.
After eight years of primary school, Amaar decided that he wanted to enroll at an Islamic academy in his native town of Sarajevo. The academy, which is run by a Waqf (Islamic endowment) and is Bosnia’s oldest Islamic institute dating back to around 400 years, runs a four-year high school program for both boys and girls. It teaches Islamic sciences and Arabic in addition to the secondary school curriculum. There are only five other similar institutions in the whole of Bosnia.
The one in Sarajevo is the biggest and most popular, said Amaar. He added that the academy has around 200 male students and has separate facilities for 200 female students.
“Me and my younger sister were determined to enroll in the academy because of the fact that they teach Islam. We wanted to get the opportunity to learn about our religion,” he said.
At the academy, Amaar had access to a Tajweed teacher. “I then challenged myself to memorize the whole Qur’an because I believed that I would become a better person. I believe that the Qur’an should be every Muslim’s best friend because it gives the best nasiha (advice),” he said.
Starting from late spring till Ramadan last year, Amaar spent at least five hours a day in his quest to memorize the whole book. “It was quite tough but Allah Almighty gave me the strength and ability to achieve this. Alhamdu Lillah, it took me only six months to do so,” he said.
After finishing high school next year, Amaar wants to study Islam and become an Islamic scholar. “I would like to spread the peaceful message of the Qur’an to my people. Through Islam we will become better humans,” he said.
