11-year-old New Jersey girl honored for memorizing the Quran
PERTH AMBOY, N.J. -- There was a celebration of faith and accomplishment on Monday for a young girl in the Garden State.
Safoorah Ali is just 11 years old and yet she was able to memorize the Holy Quran, the central religious text of Islam.
The Quran is more than 600 pages, with 114 chapters. It's in Arabic and believed to be revelations from God. Ali spent the pandemic memorizing every word. She started three and a half years ago.
"A good tactic is to read early in the morning when you're fresh," she told CBS2's Cindy Hsu. "Just keep repeating it and repeat what you did the day before the day after so you don't forget it."
Normally, people who try to memorize the Holy Quran spend years working with a teacher, but when the pandemic hit it wasn't possible. So Ali's mom stepped in.
"My mom also memorized the Quran as well, so she inspired me and helped me a lot, too," Ali said.
Both of her parents have memorized the Quran. Her mom, Dr. Anjum Chatha, started at 7 years old and finished at 13.
"We feel very blessed that we have a daughter who was able to do it, that God helped her do this accomplish it, because many people try and some people go halfway and some people go, you know, three quarters unable to finish it. So we feel special. We feel blessed," Chatha said.
The family is hoping by sharing Ali's story others will be encouraged to try.
"Her being so young and being able to accomplish something so huge I see as just an inspiration of not only people or children in her age group, but, obviously, adults and people who are much older than her. If she can do it anyone can do it," said Rahat Chatha, Ali's aunt.
Ali has another celebration to look forward to. She turns 12 on Friday.
Ali is in grade and, no surprise, has a 4.0 GPA.