A local religious organization here provides women Qur'anic lessons over the telephone.

The Qur’an Memorization Society started the service because women in local neighborhoods have transport problems, said Huda Sayed Bateef from the women's section of the organization.

“We have different programs for women and children to learn the Qur’an but a year ago we started a program for those women who can’t come to classes. We have four telephone lines for women to call and talk to teachers. They have to give their names and say what they want to learn. The teacher will give them a certain time to call. In this way they can stay at home and still learn,” Bateef said.

“We started this service because travelling is difficult for women. Many times drivers are not available or there are other problems. Now they can fulfill their desire to learn. We even have an Internet service where people can learn the Qur’an,” she said.

Bateef was speaking Tuesday at the 34th annual graduation ceremony of the society held at a local hotel, where over 1,000 Qur’an students graduated.

The program honored students, including children, who memorized the Qur’an and learned it with proper grammar and pronunciation. Bateef said 185 students memorized the entire holy book.

The organization has classes at 45 mosques and 120 learning centers in Jeddah. This year 120,000 women students enrolled in the classes.

Wafa Abdullah Akbar, director of Baraim Al-Zikar school for children, said she was proud the society offered such a “great service” to the community.

“Today’s program is our annual function to honor the student graduates who memorized and learnt to read the Qur’an, to encourage them in their studies,” she said.

She said the organization welcomes everyone to start learning regardless of age or language. The organization has two schools in Urdu and other languages so students do not have to know Arabic.

“We have an open-door policy for anyone who wants to learn the Qur’an, memorize it, study explanations, grammar and proper pronunciation. At the moment thousands of students are studying with us,” she said.

The women’s graduation ceremony was organized under the patronage of Dr. Fatima Nasseef, the director of the organization’s women's section.