Wonder boy has Holy Quran etched in memory

Dubai - 15-11-2002

Mehyar Hussein Boor from Iran not only has the entire Holy Quran etched in his mind, but he will also tell you there are 77,807 letters in the Holy Book.

The 10-year-old boy is a miracle of Almighty Allah according to participants at the Dubai International Holy Quran Award started in Dubai on Wednesday. Mehyar is probably the youngest ever to have memorised the entire Quran. The boy, who otherwise cannot read, write or speak Arabic, learnt the holy book when he was six years old in only six months.

Though he cannot communicate or write in Arabic, when it comes to the Holy Quran, Mehyar reads, recites and writes the verses with total fluency. This again is a sheer miracle of Almighty Allah.

His father, a tailor, just has to mention the number of a page, and Mehyar will tell you the first and last verses. He then proceeds to recite the page.

The boy goes a step further. He will tell you whether the page is to the right or left, the Surat, the Hizb, the Chapter and the number of verses on that particular page. When it comes to statistics, Mehyar has them on his fingertips. He says Allah's name figures 2,607 times, there are 33,671 words in the Holy Book, there are 1,000,530 full stops, 6,336 verses and the word 'Quran' appears 70 times. He can also recite the Holy Quran in reverse order.

Allah's reassuring hands touched Mehyar soon after the family met a horrific car accident in Iran when he was just five years old. Mehyar lost the power of speech. Doctors said time would heal his voice. But it seemed the Almighty had other plans.

One day, Mehyar on a whim started to recite the Holy Quran in his hoarse voice. And, as time passed, his voice got stronger and stronger. By the time Mehyar had learnt the entire Quran, his voice was back to normal.

Today, the boy can recite the holy book with complete ease - his voice not faltering for even a second. But when he switches to Persian, his mother tongue, the scars of the fateful day surface. His voice becomes hoarse.

Mehyar, who was born in Iran in 1992, won scores of awards in international competitions in Iraq, Kuwait, Lebanon, Russia and Syria. His parents, who did not memorise the Holy Quran, did not give him any exceptional help in the mission.

He would spend 150 minutes a day for six months to learn the entire Quran, which has more than 600 pages. He has a 13-year-old brother who studies in the 7th standard and his mother is a housewife.

He learnt books of the grades 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 in almost one month.

He gives lectures on Islam and the Holy Quran in Iran and abroad. He travelled for this purpose to Lebanon, Kuwait, Russia and Syria. Mehyar has come to Dubai only to take part in the Dubai International Holy Quran Award. Last night, six contestants from Libya, Yemen, Myanmar, Morocco, Australia and Palestine competed for the Award. They are Abu Bakar Bilal Al Lamien, Hassan, Hassan Qaid Hasan, Mohammed Yah Yah Abdul Khirenoor Mamed, Osama Taoufik Mohammed, Moaaz Saleh Al Hawari and Raed K.A. Abu Mukhadda.

The award has a total organisation and prize fund of Dh8 million and features around 70 contestants from Arab and Islamic countries and communities.