Hamdy
El-Husseini, IOL Staff
CAIRO,
November 17 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) – Since the very first
day of the Muslims holy fasting month of Ramadan one see more and more
Egyptians, especially, young people, beefing up religious rituals,
including recitation of the holyQura’n.
In
Ramadan, it is a daily customary scene to see Egyptians reciting
Qura’nic verses in public transportations as well as in mosques
between prayer times.
Taking
the Cairo underground, Egyptian commuters noticed a young man with a
sweet voice loudly reciting Qura’nic verses, as if he wanted others
to listen.
Speaking
to IslamOnline, Ibrahim Gad, 19, reaffirmed keenness on completing
recitation of the full Qura’n during Ramadan.
“When
I’m in public transportations or between lectures, I tend to recite
Qura’nic verses,” said Gad, a student at the Faculty of Commerce,
Cairo University.
He
expressed delighted over praise bestowed upon him by other people who
listen to him reciting the Qura’n.
Gad
asserted that he memorizes half of the Qura’nic verses ever since he
was little in the northern Governrate of Kafr el-Sheikh.
“Imagine
that a lady who once listened to my recitation had invited me to come
to her house and recite Qura’n during Ramadan in exchange of a big
sum of money,” he recalled.
“But,
I refused because recitation is a habit and may be in the future I
think of taking Qura’n recitation as a carrier,” Gad said.
Marwan
Mahmoud, a 17-year-old student at Cairo Medical School, stood at a bus
stop waiting his home bus with a small version of the Qura’n in his
hands.
He
started whispering Qura’nic verses.
IslamOnline
corresppondent approached him with a question about the spiritual
impact of Ramadan on people.
“A
Muslim who is committed to his faith does not wait for Ramadan to or
any other specific month to confirm his religious commitment,”
Mahmoud stressed.
“He
might, however, double his commitment during Ramadan,” added
Mahmoud.
He
asserted that he practices daily life routine during Ramadan, with two
major points in mind.
First,
dividing Qura’nic verses on the days of the month so as to be able
to finish Qura’n recitation by the end of the holy month.
Second,
performing the Fajr (dawn) prayer in El-Hussein Mosque.
In
downtown Cairo, a girl sitting at a coffee shop in al-Tahrir square
had a small Qura’n version in her hand, paying no attention to the
traffic jam and the noise.
Fatma,
25, said she is an Arabic language teacher at a private school in
al-Zamalek neighbourhood.
She
was waiting for some of her colleagues to visit an orphanage to
present some gifts to children, a habit they had developed over the
past years.
“You
capitalize on the holy month to intensify charities especially needy
people,” Fatma said.
Standing
guard by one of the U.S. Embassy walls, Mohammad was loudly reciting
short verses of the Qura’n.
He
was reluctant to talk, but later told IslamOnline that he comes from
the Upper Egypt Governrate of el-Menya.
Mohammad,
who did not finish school, said he memorizes short verses of the
Qura’n and keeps re-reading them in order not to forget them.
He
asserted that he always keeps a small version of the Qura’n in his
pocket which was given to him by a passer-by in the first day of
Ramadan.
Mohammad
stressed he can not open the Qura’n to recite verses while in duty
in front of the U.S. Embassy and that is why he only recites the short
verses he memorizes.
Youssef
Shihab, an Indonesian businessman living in Cairo, said he used to buy
versions of the Qura’n every year before Ramadan to dsitribute them
in mosques and among school children.
He
asserted also that he pepares every day of Ramadan some meals to
distribute them with his car on traffic officers, on duty at the time
of the iftar, and ordinary people who fail to make it home before the
time of the iftar.
