A Manenberg boy is making his community and family proud as he will soon be awarded for memorising the entire Arabic Qur’an at just 14 years old.
Ibrahim Abrahams, who dodged skollies and walked through gang crossfire to attend the Sautul Qur’an School in Sherwood Park, will be honoured at a grand ceremony later this month for his achievement.
The Grade 8 learner, who started memorising the Islamic holy book just three years ago, says he is proud of himself but adds he had to make sacrifices along the way, like giving up soccer in the afternoon.
The teen is a striker for Sports Stepping Stones Club.
“It was hard because you must be very dedicated, but the school helped us and I worked three sessions a day. It feels awesome to have completed my task,” he says.
His proud mom Nurunisa says his brothers Tauriq, 19, Taulgah, 7, and Tanweer, 11, were inspired by their brother and now also want to be Hafiz (one who has memorised the Qur’an).
Nurunisa says Ibrahim has made the family proud and that while she sometimes had to fight with him to study, he has stayed the course.
“It is a big achievement for a boy so young and ja, we had to baklei sometimes to keep him focused but for the most part he was very dedicated.
“He is the first of our boys to achieve this but his younger brother Taulgah who started last year is also very far in his memorisation of the Qur’an and may just beat him,” the mom laughs.
GLAD: Ouma Washiela, mother Nurunisa, Ibrahim and Moulana Noorodien. Photo: Monique Duval/Daily Voice
Nurunisa says raising four boys in Seine Walk, a gang hotspot, has not been easy but the family believes in keeping their faith strong.
“You know, there were some days when they must go to school and then they have to go past gangsters and duck through shootings,” she says.
“It really is not easy but in this house, Islam comes first and everything else afterwards.
“I hope Ibrahim can show other children and the broader Cape Town that there is more to areas like Bonteheuwel and Manenberg than just gangsters.
“If they shoot someone then everyone is quick to talk about it, but when our children do well, dan is almal stil.”
In 2015, then six-year-old Firdous Alexander, the daughter of Sheikh Abdurahman Alexander from Masjidul Quds in Gatesville, became the youngest girl in the world to memorise the Qur’an.
For many adults including Muslim clerics it can take anything from five to 30 years to memorise the 1 000 pages of the holy book.