Friday, December 6, 2013

Finding the best candidate

Bismillahi Rahmani Rahim

On 9 October 2013, nine huffaz attended iLuvQuran's interview session. A majority of the candidates were fresh graduates from Al-Azhar University, Egypt, one of the oldest and most well-respected Islamic institutions. Most of them graduated with a degree in Quranic Memorization and Qiraat (reading). 

Three of the candidates were experienced in the working environment, one teaching at another tahfiz, another working with Jabatan Agama Islam Negeri, and one, (surprise!) working in a multinational energy company. 

Most of the candidates started memorizing Quran since they were in school, and finished memorizing before they started working. But one exceptional candidate was so inspirational, he memorized Qur'an while working full-time in his 8-5 job. MashaAllah, may he serve as an inspiration to more people and inspire others to strive to memorize the words of Allah while understanding its meanings. 

And may we learn from him that despite already being a so called 'professional' - a doctor, engineer, lawyer, accountant, and other worldly professions, it's never too late nor impossible to memorize the Qur'an. He not only memorized the Qur'an, he also knew the meaning of the words when we tested him during the interview, mashaAllah. May Allah give him more benefit and ajr. Certainly Allah only blesses those whom He loves with knowledge, particularly the ability to memorize and know its meaning. 

Of course, this particular candidate will only teach on weekends and after work, but if I were you I'd definitely want to learn from him! 

The rest of the candidates, alhamdulillah were great young knowledgable huffaz, fresh Ustaz and Ustazahs with a willingness to learn and full of energy, inshaAllah :). 



Monday, December 2, 2013

iLuvQuran Founders

Bismillahi Rahmani Rahim


By the Grace and Help of Allah, in whose hands holds all wisdom and knowledge, the One whom we bow to in submission and devotion. 


Alhamdulillah, it is only with His Will that iLuvQuran has come into being. The Quranic center has two shareholders, a husband and wife team hoping to work together in this world and the next. 

They are Faiz and Zahirah. Both have a dream to memorize the Qur’an while understanding its meanings and implementing what they have learnt (amin!). They have two children together, which they pray will also memorize, understand and live with the Qur’an emanating from their hearts. And this is what drove them to start iLuvQuran, their own dreams to memorize and understand the Quran as well as help others achieve this goal. 

 

Both graduated from American top universities and found themselves wanting to be closer to Quran while they were studying there and learning from various visionary Muslim scholars like Sheikh Dr. Mokhtar Maghraoui (the Imam where Zahirah studied), Sheikh Muhammad AlShareef (the founder of Al Maghrib Institute and the Visionaire program), Sheikh Hamza Yusuf (founder of Zaytuna Institute), Dr. Tariq Ramadhan, Ustaz Suhaib Webb, Imam Djafer Sebkhaoui, Sister Amina Assilmi may Allah have mercy on her, and many other scholars who were both knowledgable and spiritually strong, alhamdulillah. 


Faiz graduated with a degree in Electrical Engineering from Purdue University and Zahirah from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute New York with a BSc. in Communication. After working in the corporate world for more than nine years, and returning from Ireland after Zahirah completed an MBA in University College Dublin, the couple feel that it’s a good time to give back to society and realize their dreams while helping other children and professionals realize their dreams too.

 

Both are active in Islamic NGOs, particularly IKRAM. Faiz has experience in the instrument engineering area as well as currently working as an internal consultant in the company. The field he is focusing on is reliability and integrity of the technical equipment in the company. He has given numerous career and motivational talks to students since his student days, alhamdulillah.

 

Zahirah on the other hand has concentrated her working career on human resource management including areas of recruitment, development, staff welfare, employee and industrial relations. She has also worked with the company’s sponsored students and is passionate in developing them through different engagements, leadership programs and personal counseling sessions. Her personal area of interest is organizational behavior focused on leadership and its role in bringing positive change in the company where she has had a number of years of experience in the field while working in Bintulu, Sarawak.