The story of Bunayya Latifah, the daughter of a vegetable seller who studies for free at UM Surabaya thanks to memorizing the Koran

Not everyone can experience the privilege of being a memorizer of the Al-Quran (Hafizah). But this privilege was felt by Bunayya Latifah, a new student at UM Surabaya Pharmacy Study Program who received many blessings and ease of life thanks to memorizing 30 chapters of the Al-Quran.

The daughter of Marzuki (52) who works as a construction worker and Nur Afifah (42) as an itinerant vegetable seller managed to get a full educational scholarship at UM Surabaya through the tahfidz scholarship route.

The woman from Tuban who is usually called Naya told her life journey to the editor of UM Surabaya on Friday (16/9/22)

According to him, since elementary school to junior high school, he had no aspirations to become a hafidzah. Even for reciting the Al-Quran, the makhorijul letters are all messy.

"From childhood to junior high school, I went to public school, so my knowledge of religion was lacking. If the Javanese say my Koran at that time was plegak plegok," explained Naya.

After graduating from junior high school, his family asked to continue their studies at the Islamic Boarding School. He refused this several times, because the image of Islamic boarding schools in his mind was very frightening, there was a lot of pressure, and he had no freedom.

However, his mother still gave motivation that learning at the cottage would never be found at school. According to Naya, what moved her heart to go to school was her mother's several words.

"If you can't recite the Koran, then when you die, who will pray for you?" he said.

It seems that after one year of studying at the Jatirogo Modern Islamic Boarding School Naya has not found comfort, she has to adapt to the environment for 1 year. In the first year it was the hardest year for him because he had to be away from his parents, learning was difficult to accept because of the use of language and the extracurricular memorizing the Al-Quran which became a mandatory extracurricular.

“My first academic year was ruined, my memorization was also mediocre. At that time I felt like giving up and just going home. However, if I remember the hard work of my parents so that I could go to school, I don't think it's worth complaining about,” he recalls.

In grade 2 he began to set his intentions and pursue what he thought was left behind. There is one final sentence that makes him excited. Those words came from one of his teachers.

According to his teacher, a Hafiz memorizing 30 Juz of Al-Quran can save family members or loved ones from the torments of hell fire in the afterlife.

After three years of graduating from school he has memorized 4 juz. After returning home he has not had the opportunity to continue his studies, but his parents also do not allow him to work. finally he continued to study in a different place for 2 years so that he has memorized 30 juz to date.

Prepare, Perform and Perfect (3P) is the key.

Naya recounted that to achieve something she wanted, she applied 3p namely prepare, perform and perfect. This means that when someone wants to get something perfect, then he must prepare as well as possible with maturity and full of confidence.

For example, to keep memorization maintained and not lost, he has to make a deposit of memorization 3 times a day, around 2 pages to 3 pages.

He is grateful that this habit has become his daily activity and does not become a burden. According to him, the tips for easy memorization are to strengthen the intention, accompanied by enthusiasm and there should be no compulsion. The mind remains calm.

He hopes that when he becomes a student he will try to istiqomah to keep his memorization. He also hopes to be met with a tahfidz teacher in Surabaya who will help him memorize the lessons.

Lastly, he expressed his gratitude for the opportunity to study for free through a scholarship at UM Surabaya.

“This scholarship is very useful for me and makes my parents proud. Apart from providing facilities for memorizing the Al-Quran, it also educates the recipients to have the character of a leader based on the Al-Quran," he concluded.