18-year-old Pooja Kushwaha sets an example for communal harmony by teaching Quran to Muslim students. Pooja Kushwaha, who is herself a normal class XII student by the day, turns into a teacher at dusk giving away lessons to 35 Muslim kids in the area lessons in Quran.
Every evening in a temple premises in Agra’s Sanjay Nagar colony offers hope and also a rare insight into the state’s composite culture. And she is doing this for free. She teaches difficult Arabic phonology involving a variety of syllables and emphatic consonants to her students.
How Did She Learn Arabic ?
Pooja told TOI, “Many years ago, there was another woman of mixed faith in our locality. Born to a Muslim father and Hindu mother, Sangeeta Begum used to hold Quran classes for the kids. I got interested in the holy book and started attending her classes. I made steady progress and was ahead of all others in her class soon.
Due to some personal problem, Sangeeta Begum had to discontinue her classes and she requested Pooja to keep alive this legacy. She taught me an important tenant of Islam, that there is no point in gaining knowledge if you don’t share it. Most of the kids are from poor families. They do not have money to offer and I do not want it either”.
She taught me an important tenant of Islam, that there is no point in gaining knowledge if you don’t share it.
At first, Pooja started free lessons at her house because most of her students were from poor families. Later when the increasing number of students could not be accommodated at her place, she accepted the offer to shift her class to a temple. Now Pooja teaches the Quran to around 35 Muslim students in an open-air classroom at the temple.
Reshma Begum, the mother of 5-year-old Alisha, one of Pooja’s students, said, “It is a marvel to see her achieve this rare distinction at so young age. I am very pleased to have her as my kid’s teacher. Her religion is the last thing on my mind or any other parents’ that I know.”
The most prominent Muslim leader Haji Jamiluddin Qureshi, who chairs many social forums said: “It’s heartening to know that such rare examples of communal harmony exist in our city. A teacher is a teacher and her religion doesn’t matter as long as she knows the holy scripture well. Moreover, Islam doesn’t object to anybody learning Arabic or reading Quran.”
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