After the Islamic Revolution, the noble Quran gained a new status among people especially the youths and its beautiful verses began to be recited beautifully in every assembly and ceremony. But the Quranic developments, as well as other cultural events of the country, required guidance, coordination, and organization.
This necessity has been felt among the Quranic activists of the country, especially the activists in the field of education and propagation of the Quran since the early 1990s and this was raised in the form of ideas. One of the bases for propagation of the revolution were the sessions of memorization and recitation of the Quran.
The memorization of the Quran, when accompanied by attention to and comprehension of meaning of the verses, is a very good method for association with the Quran. Memorization is an internal talent and its purpose is to imprint the commands of God Almighty in the heart and then implement them in personal and social life of man. The person who memorizes the Quran becomes familiar with the words of the Quran and its concepts. Hence, it will be easy to find a solution to improve the material and spiritual life.
After the Islamic Revolution, the high enthusiasm for learning the Quran by heart attracted many youths to learn the methods of reciting this holy book. Thus, many classes and courses were held here and there for these lovers. The dedication and perseverance of the memorizers and reciters led to the flourishing of talents. The leading international reciter and professor of the Qur'an Musavi Baladeh said: "In the field of training reciters and memorizers after the revolution, we are like a sea which covers the whole of Iran. Before the Islamic Revolution, there was a very small number of memorizers of the Quran (just 30 people). But today, thousands of memorizers and reciters of the Quran work professionally on memorization and recitation of this divine scripture and some of them have gained international positions. Before the victory of the Islamic Revolution, enthusiasts had an insignificant presence in the Quranic activities. Now, a person from the farthest part of the country calls radio Quran and performs his recitation."
He added: "Today, after Egypt, which has a remarkable dominance among Islamic countries, Iran is one of the best in reciting and memorizing the Qur'an.
The number of our memorizers has now reached the point where the leader of the revolution is considering the goal of training 10 million memorizers for Quranic activists. This reflects the deep movement of the Islamic Republic in promoting the Quranic culture."
Ayatollah Khamenei considered the memorization of the Qur'an as a prelude to the understanding of the Quran. In 2011, during a meeting with the Quranic community of the country, the Leader demanded a new movement, saying: "One of the things that can make us ponder on the Quran is memorization of the Quran. We have few memorizers of the Qur'an, and I have already said that in our country there should be at least one million memorizers of the Quran. One million is a small number compared to the population we have. Thus, our hope has increased. And instead of a million, we say that we should have 10 million memorizers of the Quran."
Ayatollah Khamenei's special support and guidance to Quranic activities created a climate of committed effort to develop Quranic activities in the society. The continuation and strengthening of this cultural climate led the officials of cultural and even non-cultural organizations to provide the necessary administrative and sometimes legal grounds for the creation and development of Quranic sections. At the same time, the ground was set for the diverse and multiple Qur'anic activities of the people within the governmental and public institutions, which was rooted in the pure beliefs of the Muslim and revolutionary nation of Iran.
The Endowment and Charity Organization in Iran, in order to fulfill the demands of the Leader, and in order to promote the Quranic culture, launched a great plan for training of memorizers and reciters of the noble Quran since the beginning of the blessed month of Ramadan in 2012 in Imamzadehs (tombs of the descendants of the Prophet of Islam) and many mosques, and turned those places of pilgrimage into cultural poles. In this regard, the said organization expanded its activities in four areas: Creating classes for training of Quran memorizers, virtual training for memorization of the noble Qur'an, specialized training for the noble Quran at round-the-clock schools, and training teachers for memorization of the Quran. In this way, classes were provided for attendance of reciters in 2012 and after six years more than 1,650,000 people were enrolled in this luminous project throughout Iran.
The activities of the virtual education center for memorization of the Quran have also been welcomed so that to date, around 47,000 people from different parts of Iran have been trained by this center. In this project, experts of the center, who are memorizers of the noble Quran, have phone contact with the students every week and keep track of their training in the form of a center-based training program.
The National Training Center for instructors of recitation and memorization of the noble Quran was established in 2012 in the holy city of Qom. The main goal of this center is to educate efficient, expert and knowledgeable educators who are aware of modern methods of teaching the Quran, because otherwise, it will not be possible to keep pace with the Quranic community. The center, by training of instructors for memorizing the noble Quran with high quality, has taken important steps to improve the training and promotion of instructors in memorizing the Quran.
Round-the-clock schools, specialized in training memorization of the noble Quran, were also founded with valuable goals such as: taking the Quran out of isolation and the training of Quranic professors and activists for different regions of the country, especially the deprived regions. They have so far been successful.
Thus, by reviewing the past four decades, signs of Quranic development and thinking, and religious outlook are found everywhere in the Islamic Iran. The increasing number of reciters and memorizers of the Quran, enthusiasts of the Quran, and the presence of adolescents and young people in all religious activities show that the Islamic Republic has been successful in providing and spreading the climate of religiosity and spirituality.
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