FIRST UKRAINIAN WOMAN TO MEMORIZE QUR'AN

**Reverting to Islam seventeen years ago, a Muslim woman has become the first Ukrainian to memorize the whole Qur’an, overcoming language barriers and time constraints**.(Photo: Onislam)

Kiev, 5 Jumadil Akhir 1436/25 March 2015 (MINA) – Reverting to Islam seventeen years ago, a Muslim woman has become the first Ukrainian to memorize the whole Qur’an, overcoming language barriers and time constraints.

“I started by learning Arabic language, so I used to write the verses and translate their meanings to understand and memorize them,” Vera Verinak, whose name translates into Eman, or Faith, Onislam quoted by Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA) as reporting.

“This took me long time as I was a university student, before getting busy with work, marriage and children.”

Vera, 35, said she did not expect to succeed in memorizing the whole noble Qur’an, especially after considering language barriers and lack of time.

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Learning Arabic language was a great help for the ambitious Muslim revert.

“After learning Arabic, the Islamic cultural center in Kiev put a schedule to help me memorize the Qur’an which helped me to memorize it within nine months only,” she said.

Achieving her life dream of memorizing the Qur’an, the Muslim mother says she is keen on teaching Muslims the Holy Qur’an as well as spreading true Islam among non-Muslims.

Vera, who helped her brother, mother and four sisters to revert to Islam, has been helping young people seeking knowledge about the fastest growing religion.

A Ukrainian young revert, Jana, said she took the decision to revert to Islam after meeting Vera who convinced her that “Islam was both a faith and a way of life.”

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As of 2012, an estimated 500,000 Muslims lived in Ukraine and about 300,000 of them were of Crimean Tatars. Today Islam is the largest minority religion in Ukraine after various forms of Christianity.

In the 2000 census, Ukraine was home to 248,193 Crimean Tatars, 73,304 Volga Tatars, 45,176 Azeris, 12,353 Uzbeks, 8,844 Turks, 6,575 Arabs and 5,526 Kazakhs.

According to the Clerical Board of Ukraine’s Muslims there were two million Muslims in Ukraine as of 2009.

Memorizing the Holy Qur’an is one of the most important ways to preserve Allah’s message.

The others are to publish and distribute the book, or the text on the Internet and to recite the parts that one knows to other people.(T/P008/P3)

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Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)