Learn about the city of “Hafiz al-Qur’an” in Tunisia.. About 500 Hafez of the Book of God graduated from it

Tunisia -

When you enter the city of Bani Khedach, which is located in the high mountains of the southeast of Tunisia and is characterized by its calm, you are drawn to the emission of intonation sounds of the Holy Qur’an that get louder as you approach the headquarters of the Qur’anic Society in the city where hundreds of memorizers of the Book of God graduate.

The city of Bani Khedach is nicknamed “the city of memorizers of the Qur’an.” Nearly 500 memorizers of the Book of God graduated from it among women, men and children, and more than 400 imams from the people of the region are distributed throughout the governorates of Tunisia, in addition to the increased demand for imams of the city during the holy month of Ramadan.

"Bani Khedach" is a mountainous area belonging to the Medenine Governorate (southern Tunisia), and it represented an important Nidal castle in the era of French colonialism, and is known for its many archaeological monuments such as mountain palaces and religious monuments, the most prominent of which is the Alloula Mosque, as it was recently included by ISESCO in the List of World Islamic Heritage. .

an inherited habit

Memorizing the Noble Qur’an is a tradition handed down through generations in the Bani Khedash region. Parents began memorizing the Qur’an for their youngsters more than a century ago, before the opening of primary schools in the region.

They used to gather in mosques and mountain palaces and memorize the Qur’an with tablets and sheep’s glue with which they write verses because chalk was not available at the time, and among the most famous memorizers at that time were Mabrouk bin Hilal and Muhammad al-Bobakri.

A student is about to memorize the Noble Qur’an by writing (Al-Jazeera)

With the passage of years and the opening of schools and schools, the habit of memorizing the Qur’an remained, as some families were keen to memorize it for all their members. Rather, it became almost a competition with each other, especially after inhaling the freedom of the revolution, where the previous regime was tracking the memorizers and imams.

Sheikh Muhammad Al-Baroudi, former president of the National Association of the Holy Quran (Al-Jazeera)

Thanks to memorizing the Qur’an and teaching the principles of religion, important figures in this field come from the Bani Khedash region.

Among them is Sheikh Muhammad Al-Baroudi, the former president of the National Association for the Holy Qur’an, and Abdel Majid Al-Najjar, currently head of the Union of Muslim Scholars in Tunisia, who said in a statement to Al-Jazeera Net that the credit goes to his city, whose residents pursue memorizing the Qur’an even before the emergence of schools.

Al-Najjar added to Al-Jazeera Net, "I knew Bani Khadash with a lot of scribes, and I personally started memorizing the Qur'an and learning the origins of religion since my childhood there; it is a habit inherited in our semi-isolated region."

Sheikh in the process of memorizing the Qur’an for one of the youth in the association (Al-Jazeera)

Keepers of all ages and categories

Memorizing the Qur’an in Bani Khedash is not limited to men only, but the number of women memorizers of the Qur’an is 250 women, 10 of whom have recently graduated under the supervision of the Qur’anic Society in the region.

Ali Al-Hawiwi, head of the association, told Al Jazeera Net that "the memorizers of the Qur'an are of all age groups, and they are also women and men, including those with higher degrees, the unemployed, and even the illiterate. It bodes well."

One of the children in the process of memorizing the Book of God (Al-Jazeera)

Young people in the region have a share in memorizing, as they excel in reciting the Qur’an, reciting it and memorizing it, and even leading people despite their young age, similar to the child Yassin Othmani (15 years), who said that he began memorizing the Qur’an at the age of ten and is now leading people in the mosque, especially in prayer. Tarawih in the month of Ramadan.

Despite Yassin's young age, he memorizes the entire Qur'an and leads people in Tarawih prayers (Al-Jazeera)

Aging was not an obstacle to the determination of Aunt Munjieh Mahdawi, 63, who memorized the entire Qur’an, as she confirmed in her interview with Al-Jazeera Net, "Thanks to God and thanks to the teachers and my colleagues, I was able to memorize the Book of God, and it increased me in intelligence and activity."

Her colleague Jazia, 39, confirms her words, "We encouraged each other. For example, I started memorizing the Qur'an 5 years ago and stopped because of studies, then resumed again with my friends in the association until we completed the entire Qur'an, and we were honored in a small ceremony organized by the association recently."

Honoring 10 memorizers of the Book of God in Bani Khadash (Al-Jazeera)

The students of the Holy Quran Society recite the verses of God in harmonious voices and correct and studied letter exits, and they pass on memorization generation after generation. Rather, they compete in an honorable competition. The sound of reciting the Qur’an does not stop in their area, and the words of God do not run out.