The Secretary General of Rabithah Al Alam Al Islami (The World Islam League), Dr. Muhammad bin Abdulkarim Al ‘lsa inaugurates Markaz I’dad Muallimi Al-Qur’an Al-karim Wal Ijazah bi Sanad or Center for Cadres of Al-Qur’an Al-Karim Teachers and Chain of Tradition Certification at the Tahfizh Boarding School of Daarul Qur’an, Ketapang, Tangerang, Friday (18/8).
Located on the ground floor of Masjid Nabawi, in the area of Tahfizh Boarding School of Daarul Qur’an, this Center for Cadres of Al-Qur’an Al-Karim Teachers will become a place for educating Al-Qur’an teachers who will have the chain of tradition up to the Holy Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him).
In his delivery speech, Abdul Karim expresses his happiness and pride in Indonesian Muslims who many of them memorize Al-Qur’an. According to him, with the mother tongue different from the language of Al-Qur’an, it surely needs great efforts to memorize Al-Qur’an.
“I am proud of such rapid development of the Qur’anic memorization education in Indonesia. This must be appreciated and maintained and continuously improved,” he states.
He also states it does not mean that after having memorized Al-Qur’an then it stops. It is subsequently necessary to comprehend the messages of Al-Qur’an and implement them in the daily life so that Al-Qur’an becomes the reflection of our personality. Examples have been given by the Holy Prophet Muhammad (pbuh), as stated by his wife, Aisyah, that “His character is Al-Qur’an.”
“Therefore, it is an obligation of those who memorize Al-Qur’an and other Muslims to understand Arabic language, because in order to be able to comprehend Al-Qur’an we must understand the language of it, that is Arabic,” he adds.
Abdul Karim is also impressed with the Qur’anic recitation of Indonesian Muslims. When examining one of the students of Center for Cadres of Al-Qur’an Teachers, he smiles many times and shows gratitude to Allah for the recitation performed by the student he is examining.
On that occasion he also invites Indonesian Muslims to be moderate or wasathiyah and not trapped into radicalism and other isms.
Center for Cadres of Al-Qur’an Teachers
Meanwhile, in the same occasion, Ustad Slamet ibnu Syam, an educator of Daarul Qur’an tahfizh boarding school, says this Center for Cadres of Al-Qur’an Teachers is expected to produce high quality Al-Qur’an teachers. Moreover, being under the direct supervision of international tahfizh organization it is expected to have a high standard in the assesment. He says everyone can join this institute either they come from Daarul Qur’an boarding school or from other tahfizh boarding schools throughout Indonesia.
“So, not everyone will be accepted to join this class for chain of tradition. Whoever wants to join this class will be asked to provide the example of his or her voice which is subsequently sent to the international tahfizh organization to see whether it has been proper or not. If there is a shortage of even a single letter in his or her recitation then it should be repeated and the correct recitation recording should be resent. Likewise, for those considered pass the test and get the chain of tradition, the examples of their voice will be sent for approval,” Slamet says.
Concerning the teaching system, Slamet adds, in addition to have memories of Al-Qur’an the students will be taught tahsin (recitation improvement) and muraja’ah (memory examination) and then they will deserve the chain of tradition.
“Related to the learning duration, a fast-learning student can get the chain of tradition certificate in two months. Whereas the longest can be up to eight months,” he adds.