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A festal occasion took place at the women’s hall of Kyiv Islamic Cultural Centre mosque after the Friday prayer on June 19, 2015: one of the participants of the Qur’an reciting circle “Al-Firdaws” (facilitated by the Centre of Women Development “Maryam”), Ms.Najah Sweidan, completed reciting the Holy Book for her hafth Bin Asim degree, having become the third participant of the Circle who received a respective certificate.

The event itself, with all the female parishioners present, began with Ms.Sweidan’s recitation of her final Surahs under the supervision of Staikh Haydar Al-Hajj. Now, having received a certificate, she can teach this style of recitation herself after she passes her tajweed exam.

Ukrainian woman of Syrian origin started learning the Qur’an since her childhood, and already knew about one third of the holy text when a war broke out in Syria. She even taught Qur’an in a Circle at a mosque nearest to her home. This became more and more difficult since the start of military action: the mosques got closed one by one, and they weren’t some safe place where one could find peace and rest and think of the Eternal any more.

When it was impossible to stay in Syria any longer, Najah and her family moved to Ukraine. Now, she started living out her long-awaited dream to become a Hafidhah last year. It took her almost a year to revive her earlier knowledge and learn the missing parts by heart.

Qualified teacher was available for sad occasion as well: Shaikh Haydar Al-Hajj, a teacher at the Higher Medrese of Hafidh in Crimea, was forced to leave the peninsula after Russian occupation and move to Kyiv. Najah Sweidan became the third woman who completed her hafth Bin Asim degree under the Shaikh’s guidance so far.