A few weeks ago I was sitting with an amazing brother who had recently come back from studying Islam in Egypt. He was a Latino convert and was telling me about his amazing experience visiting some villages in the Egyptian hinterlands. He mentioned to me in passing that he met a six year old hafiz of the Quran. To be honest, I had a difficult time believing this. I’ve had a lot of experience with younger children and it was difficult to get these kids to sit down and cut out pictures, let alone trying to have them memorize an entire book by rote. Then he said something that made me understand how this was possible. While the child’s mother was nursing she would constantly recite the Quran. The principle (which I had read about before in homeschooling books and even from some of my professors in my MA program) is to give children, even infants – especially infants – a very stimulating environment. This means abandoning “baby talk.” Often parents, family and friends like making goofy sounds and talking in playful (and irritating) baby gibberish at infants. Upon some reflection, it is pretty intuitive to realize that the more exposure children get to adult language the faster sophisticated speech will develop. One suggestion I read for busy parents is to have your infant child with you in a bassinet or highchair with you go about some mundane task. As you wash the dishes, reorganize your closet or whatever, take advantage of the time and educate your baby by narrating exactly what you are doing as you do it within earshot of your toddler. You can educate your infants while you do your chores! Talk about multitasking!

I have read numerous stories of children who are able to read at three years old and perhaps this is a factor in their ability to read. Obviously nature plays an important role but nurture, by means of greater stimulation, will help a child rise to their potential rather than stunt their growth.

As for the memorization of the Quran, the constant exposure to it at such a tender age and in such an intimate position facilitated the ease of memorization for the child. Think about this the next time you begin speaking gibberish to your child. You may be wasting a valuable educational opportunity.

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