By Wasim Ali

Bismillahirrahmanirrahim.

These are the words found at the beginning of the Quran, which translate to

“In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.”

I need to constantly remind myself to be thankful for His Grace in allowing me to recite His Holy Words so that I may receive the rewards from it, and for His Mercy in not just forgiving me when I stumble in learning His Divine Revelation but rewarding me twice as much for doing so.

My journey with the Quran started in my Islamic kindergarten, where our teachers taught us how to identify the Arabic letters in the alphabet. Looking back, I recognise that not many Muslims in Singapore would have the opportunity to start their Quranic literacy journey at such an early age. It was a blessing.

As I started primary school, my parents managed to find an ustazah who taught the Quran from her home, just a few blocks away from mine. This enabled me to attend “mengaji” classes regularly every weekday. This was another blessing.

I progressed from Iqra Book 1 to 6 in two and a half years before I started reading the Quran at the age of nine.

My first Quran was gifted to me by my aunt from Indonesia and it was really beautiful. For the next three and a half years, I recited alongside my teacher. It started with a few verses a day as I was still not fluent.

Then it progressed to half a page and eventually one page a day. During this period of learning, I vaguely learnt the tajwid rulings, meaning that I kind of knew how to recite certain things according to the tajwid, but I could not identify the tajwid rulings and their exceptions. My understanding of them was not complete.

Unfortunately, the momentum of attending regular sessions with my teacher stopped when I started secondary school and had CCA and tuition commitments.

It was around that time that I began attending weekend Madrasah classes at the nearby masjid under the aLIVE programme.

Although only an hour of each weekend’s session was devoted to Quranic literacy, I was blessed to be introduced to the tajwid rulings formally. That’s when terms like “mads”, “harakats” and “ghunnah” entered my vocabulary.

While i was more familiar with the rulings, I never really committed them to memory.

Once I graduated from the madrasah, I did not continue any formal Quranic recitation classes.

My interaction with the Quran, which was once daily in the past, has faded to something I do once a month or couple of months. It was only about a decade later that I would reignite my journey to getting closer to the Quran.

It was last year when our teacher, Ustaz Sameer, opened up a Saturday class for a Quran circle.

Initially, I was hesitant to take up a new weekly class after having committed to the Tuesday and Friday circles.

I was worried that I would not be able to commit to it with my then part-time job on the weekends, school commitments, and regular family gatherings and weddings.

Due to these, I held off attending the classes.

Alhamdulillah, at the start of this year, Allah opened my heart and reduced my commitments to try the Saturday classes. I went in intending to attend the classes to the best of my ability.

I did not want to let the concern of family commitments prevent me from seeking beneficial knowledge.

It was important to start first and leave the rest to Allah. I’m glad to have taken the first step.

In the first session I attended, I was pleased to find that the classes went beyond just practicing our recitations but dived into topics such as the etiquette of the Quran and its sciences.

During the section of the class for practice, I was taught by my mentor and friend, Qawiyyul, on the topic of makhraj – another new topic for me. To my surprise, I had to revise Iqra Book 1 again.

Beyond this initial feeling, I was pleased to have learnt new things about the pronunciation of each letter in the Arabic alphabet. For example, the different places of the tongue and the throat where the letters are to be enunciated.

Another lesson that I remember fondly was that letters such as “taa” (ت) exhibit the quality of Hams, which results in a subtle breathy sound during its recitation.

Fast forward, it has been a couple of months of attending the Saturday Circles the experience has been encouraging.

I appreciate the patience of our teacher and mentors, and the general atmosphere of the class has been uplifting with each student eagerly wanting to learn.

The very nature of the class being a circle means that we get to revisit topics such as tajwid rulings, which need constant revision. I hope to pick up my proficiency with the Quran as soon as possible so that I may do its recitation justice.

Additionally, exposure to such circles has inspired me to adopt the habit of reciting Surah Al- Waq’iah after Asar and Surah Al-Mulk after Isyak, sunnahs which were taught to us in class.

In doing so I have been able to familarise myself with these chapters and have found that the Quran is a book that can be easily memorised when effort an consistency is put into it.

To summarise my experience, I am blessed to have had multiple opportunities to connect with the Quran.

Even when that connection may have been lost for a period of time, Allah guided me back to His Words, with teachers and righteous companions. I would encourage anyone reading this reflection to embark on the journey of learning how to recite the Quran.

Even if you are a complete beginner, it is never too late to learn.

The best time to start is today.

If you do not know where to start, join our circle!

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