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The following are excerpts from a show in which a toddler is taught to recite the Koran. The show aired on Al-Nas TV on January 1, 2010.
Host: We have a special show today. We have with us a father, who taught his daughter to read the book of Allah properly, according to rules of Koranic recitation. No one could imagine that any child of that age could do this.
Let's meet this father, who should be a role model for Muslim fathers in the Islamic world. Welcome, sheik.
Father: May Allah bless you.
Host: What is your name?
Father: Bahaa Ahmad Badr Al-Najjar.
Host: Welcome, Bahaa Ahmad Badr Al-Najjar.
Father: God bless you.
Host: This is your daughter...
Father: Yes.
Host: What's her name?
Father: Duaa.
Host: Does she know how to say her name?
Father: Say your name, Duaa.
Toddler mumbles something
Host: Nobody can hear you. What's your name?
Toddler: Duaa Ahmad Badr Al-Najjar.
Host: Al-Najjar?
Toddler: Yes.
Host: May God bless you, and you too, sheik. Tell us about the beginning of this successful journey.
Father: We began by teaching her how to read from the Koran. We taught her how to recite the Koran in its entirety. We began teaching her when she was 2 years and 4 months old. With the grace of Allah, we finished within 5-6 months.
[...]
With the grace of Allah, Duaa was blessed with an extraordinary memory, and her grasp is better than that of the rest of our kids. With the grace of Allah, all our children got the hang of it, but nobody reached the level of Duaa, despite her young age.
[...]
Host: Sister Duaa...
Father: Now recite for us, and then you can do what you want, okay?
Host: This is Surat Al-Taubah. I opened the Koran at a random page. We will start at the top of the page. Come on, read. This is page 189.
Toddler: "Fight them. Allah will torture them at your hands, and will bring disgrace upon them and will grant you victory...”
Host: Allah will grant you victory...
Father: Read from here. From this line.
Toddler: I want one [candy] first.
Father: Come on, Duaa.
Toddler: Where did you put the lollipop?
Father: First, let's read.
Host: Allah will grant you victory...
Toddler: "...Allah will grant you victory over them, and will heal the hearts of the believers."
Father: Come on, complete it.
Toddler: I want my candy.
Father: After you finish, I will ask you about the rules of recitation, and that's it.
Host: Let's open another chapter. Just this line. From here...
Father: Read this, and then I will ask you about the rules of recitation, and that's it.
Toddler starts to cry
Host: She is affected by the Koran.
Toddler: Don't ask me about the rules.
Host: Okay, we won't ask you about the rules of recitation.
Toddler: “Whoso bringeth a good deed will have better than its worth, and they shall be secure from terror on that Day.”
Host: Well done! God bless you.
Father: Read another line.
Toddler: No.
Show Host: Enough.
[...]
Today, she is three years old. If her father and mother continue on the same path, by the age of five or six she will have completed the Koran with all the rules of recitation and pronunciation. She will move from one story to another, as we've seen her doing. Such a thing can only occur in the Islamic nation. We have never heard of a non-Muslim child who memorized their holy books and religions, like Muslim children memorize the Koran at such an early age.
[...]
How about reciting... another verse?
Toddler recites, unintelligible
Host: Take it out, so that people can hear you.
Father: Come on, continue.
Host: No, no. Above that. Don't go down.
Toddler: Daddy, enough.
Father: One line more.
Host: Okay, enough. Let's go to another page.
Toddler: No.
[...]
I want another candy.
Father: Okay, I will give you another lollipop.
Host: Finish this one, and I will give you another one. God bless you, sheik.
[...]
Just one more, and you can go...
Toddler: Enough, enough...
Father: I will give you another one, but talk to the sheik first.