She has no letters and can neither read nor write. But through a deep love of the Quran and an indomitable will, Sukra, an Egyptian woman in her seventies, has memorised all 30 parts of the holy Quran by listening to recitation on the radio.
Her close friend Sana, of the same age, has memorised the entire Quran through nearly a decade of devotion and regular practice. Their exceptional achievement in memorising the Quran has spread widely on social media recently.
The Arabic news outlet Telegraph Egypt reports that Sukra, a resident of Egypt’s Menoufia province, began memorising the Quran at the age of 50. A woman in the village encouraged her to memorise it. At first she memorised only two verses a day and repeated them over and over throughout the day. Since she could not read or write, listening to Quran recitation on the radio and taking part in memorisation gatherings were her main support.
Her late husband encouraged her regularly and took pride in what she achieved. At the time of his death Sukra had memorised 16 parts. She continued with the memorisation afterwards and eventually completed the whole Quran.
Sana, meanwhile, had dreamed of memorising the Quran since childhood. She gave it closer attention after her family responsibilities and the raising of her children were behind her. Through regular effort over about 10 years, she was finally able to memorise the entire Quran.
Sana’s husband helped her regularly while she was memorising. Each day after the fajr prayer she would recite the memorised portion to him. Her memorisation of the Quran was completed in this way through nearly a decade of long effort.
Sana recently recited the entire Quran over about seven hours at a single sitting. Sukra and Sana now revise the Quran together, five parts each day. Their deep love for the Quran is drawing praise from all quarters.