Prof. Dr Masood Quraishi
Prof. Dr Masood Quraishi deeply realized the absence of any scientifically organized program for teaching Qur-aanic meanings to Muslim masses specially the children and the youth. He was sure that survival and progress as of Muslim Ummah was un thinkable without first giving masses and youths Qur-aanic education and training. He visited and obtained first hand information about many educational institutions of the Muslim world to determine as to how far any one of these is engaged in this vital and secrete mission.
These included
- Jamia Islamia Madina
- King Fahad Quraan Complex Madina
- Jamia Ummul Quraan Makkah
- Raabitah Aalim e Islami, Makkah
- International Islamic University Islamabad.
- Islamia University Bahawalpur
- Bahaa-ud-Deen ZikariyyaUniversity, Multan
- Jamia Ashrafia, Lahore
- Jamia Imdadiya Islamia , Faisalabad
- Jamia Daar-ul-Uloom, Karachi
- Jamia Salfiya, Faisalabad.
It was unfortunate that no where there was any functional or proposed program for the said purpose. Hence he decided to take up this challenge with all earnestness, education, experience and wisdom at his commend.
WHAT HAS BEEN ACHIEVED SO FAR?
The outline of work on this important project accomplished during last 12 to 15 years is as follows.
1. Qur-aan was carefully studied from the first chapter to the last and each and every word, phrase, statement and sentence was considered and evaluated one by one in order to determine its suitability for various age groups of boys and girls starting from age 4 years of preparatory class to age 17 years of Xll class. The simplicity or complexity of words/phrases of the Qur-aanic text as well as simplicity and complexity of their meanings were both considered at the same time. Small, simple, easy and relevant words having small, simple, easy and relevant meanings were selected for little children. Similarly for somewhat grown up children, a little large, slightly more difficult words/phrases were selected, their meanings were also according to their intellectual level and according to their daily needs as well as their taste. In the same way bigger, more difficult and complex words/phrases and statements were selected for high school and then for college boys and girls as their meanings were relevant to their level of understanding, needs and taste.
2. Selected Qur-anic words, phrases and statements for each age class were sequenced and organised under following 8 topics.
a) Unity of Allah (b) Messengerhood (c) The message (d) Divine Principles and Regulations (e) Good Beliefs and Beautiful deeds (f) Disbeliefs, Bad and evil deeds (g) Accountability and (h) Quranic prayers.
In this way a complete and comprehensive package of Qur-anic message was prepared for each age class. In this package, increasingly more information from Qur-aan was added with growing age of girls and boys. If any student, per chance, is forced to discontinue his / her studies due to any internal/external reason at any stage of his/her education,(this drop out being a very common phenomenon in Pakistan) he/she will quit his/her school but only after having a complete and balanced package of Islamic (Qur-anic) education even though the package may be lacking some details. This package though deficient in details will be complete in its layout and general structure and will be of great use to him/her throughout his/her life, and will provide necessary Divine guidance at all junctures. The package shall keep his/her life balanced and righteous on the whole.
3. The selected words phrases and statements under each heading or title have been sequenced in such a way that a natural flow and rational organization in the arrangement is visible and conspicuous. All the words / statements under a title have been organised in number of groups wherein each group has a suitable sub-title. This grouping of Qur-anic words/statements has many advantages such as the Qur-anic message is presented in a concise manner, which stays in the memory for a longer period. Furthermore this grouping of Qur-anic words/statements highlights basic teachings; the detailed teachings being subservient to basic ones. Similarly if there are some groups of Qur-aanic words/statements, which are of more significance under the present set of conditions, these become conspicuous and can be easily identified. In other words, the entire package of Qur-anic teachings be organised and presented in such a way that the students get a feeling of conciseness of Divine message comprising of a few major topics only and they should at no stage ever get bewildered and lost in the vastness, abundance and great variety and apparent randomness of Divine teachings and should never fail in developing an idea or orientation regarding relative importance and relevance of Qur-anic teachings to real life. Hence all the Qur-anic teachings have been pooled into a number of homogenous groups and each group has been given an appropriate title or heading. These groups are arranged in a natural and rational sequence so that the young reader can quickly and easily pick up and retain the overall meaning and impression of Qur-anic teachings by even simply casting a general look on Qur-anic titles and sub-titles. The readers should not get engaged in detailed information un-necessarily and prematurely before having grasped the major teachings unless actually needed. These detailed information should be properly placed lower in the package and hence should be easily available and accessible whenever the need arises and the readers can easily recognise and identify as to what is more basic and more important and what is relatively less important and so on. In this way students can easily learn in one look the major fundamental teachings of Qur-aan but if need arises he/she can concentrate a little more and can find out relevant details. The students will thus always enjoy this facility to know as to which teaching is most important and which one is next in importance and which one is of least importance. The students will thus be conversant and crystal clear as to which teaching is of top priority and which one is to be implemented and put in action first of all.
4. All Quranic words, phrases, statements and sentences have been translated in simple Urdu and simple English. These translations too have also been given special orientation for youngsters according to their psyche. The children and the youngsters in most cases in contrast to grown ups are unable to visualize many hidden but otherwise implied words, phrases or statements which are supposedly present and interspersed here and there in Quranic text and which make the Quranic message more explicit and meaningful. Elderly and scholarly readers having an intimate exposure and deep understanding of Qur-aan and Quranic era can in many cases easily visualise and well imagine as to what is implied and meant to be there in a number of Qur-anic gaps that exist between its various statements: the young readers are, however, generally incapable of doing so. Hence these gaps have been appropriately filled in these translations just as some learned translators have already done it. Hence these translations are much more satisfying and more effective in conveying the Qur-anic message than most word for word translations prevalent in the market. Later, these books shall be translated in other major languages of the world such as Chinese, Spanish, French, Japanese etc. and still later in all national and local languages of the world. This programme is global in nature. Learning of Qur-aan and understanding its meaning is equal need of Muslim youths living in various parts of the world and speaking various languages and dialects and it is undoubtedly their genuine basic right as well.
5. Utmost efforts have been made that children and youngsters instantly learn the meanings of various blessed Quranic words; phrases and statements directly from relevant cartoons, sketches, outlines, maps or pictures etc. and they read the translation a little later on. Consequently in the initial 5-6 books almost each and every Qur-anic word, phrase and statement will be illustrated with one or more appropriate cartoons, sketches, outlines, maps, graphs or pictures etc. which will convey and further explain to mind Qur-anic meaning spontaneously. The translations simply further explain and strengthen the understanding obtained from illustrations. In addition, the cartoon, sketches outlines, pictures, maps and graphs have been made in four colours in order to attract student’s attention and to get them absorbed in the Divine message.
6. An other very important objective was to ensure that students happily spend their maximum time and utmost attention on each page and to discourage them to skip over each page quickly and casually; they will be lured to keep their eyes focused on different Qur-anic words and their relevant illustrations for a reasonably long period; the overall idea being that the children learn and achieve maximum possible understanding of Qur-aan; the sense of the Qur-anic message will thus penetrate each and every corner of children hearts and minds and will get established there thoroughly. In order to achieve this objective, a few of the Qur-anic texts and some of the illustrations will be left incomplete or dotted and uncoloured. The students will first complete these dotted words/phrases and illustrations and then spend sometime in colouring these. They shall thus stop over each such incomplete and uncoloured illustration and each page for a while and have ample opportunity of absorbing, understanding and retaining the text and its meaning.
7. The name Min-al-Qur-aan has been proposed for these Qur-anic Text Book series which starts from Prep class and extends upto Xll class. This name suitably indicates the nature of these books i.e. that these are extracts from Qur-aan and are totally Qur-aan based. Each and every Arabic word/phrase appearing in these books is of Divine origin and enlightening and is free of any doubt or prejudice. No word or phrase is either over-emphasized or under-emphasized. Proper Qur-anic reference of each word/phrase has been given. Since these words are from Qur-aan and are therefore Divine in nature, these have no parallel in their power to explain and in their efficacy in capturing the human mind.