Handling the Quran with Care and Kindness

One morning after Nasreen Sultana dropped her daughter off at school in Astoria, she received a surprising call. She had been a chemistry middle school teacher in Bangladesh, but she hadn’t taught since she moved to the U.S. in 2008. So, when she heard Amena Kalam ask her if she wanted to teach again, she stopped to think about it.

Kalam called on behalf of the Muslim Ummah of North America (MUNA). The grassroots group provides social and spiritual services, and its teachings are rooted in the Quran. Kalam asked Sultana if she would teach the Quran to other women. “During one of our Islamic events I heard Sultana’s recitation of the Quran, and I thought she would be the perfect candidate as an instructor for our new class,” Kalam said.

But Sultana’s Arabic and reading hadn’t always been perfect, and she hadn’t taught for quite a while. She felt she had to give up teaching after she moved to the U.S.

In her home city of Rajshahi, Bangladesh, she studied hard and went to university. When she graduated at 24, she got her first teaching job. A few years later, she and her husband decided to move to New York. If she wanted to continue teaching, she needed another degree. “It is difficult to learn another language and teach. I also had to take care of my son, so I did not have much time to study again,” she said.

But in 2016, she met an Arabic teacher, Salma Aktar. She was surprised to find out that all her life she had been reading the Quran the wrong way. “I thought I learned the Quran [the] proper way, but after meeting sister Salma I found that I did not learn the shahi [proper] way of the holy Quran,” she said.

In her late thirties, she started to learn the Quran once again. It took her almost three years to fix her Arabic accent. Sultana said, “It was hard to relearn the same things but with different grammar rules. I always end up using the old rules and accent. It was hard and took a long time to fix them.”

Her passion and dedication impressed her teacher. “Sultana was one of the best students in my class and extremely hard working,” Salma Aktar said.

Sultana started teaching for MUNA in 2020 right before the pandemic and taught classes for women in different mosques. Since the pandemic started, she has been teaching online every Tuesday. “Teaching the sisters last year was a blessing. I’m teaching many sisters this year and planning to continue for more,” Sultana said.

Her students seemed eager to talk about her and the way that she teaches. “I’m old and can’t learn very fast, but Sultana always takes extra care when she is teaching me,” Hamida Begum explained.

The students applauded her willingness to go at their pace. “Sister Sultana is very patient and kind when she is teaching us. She always takes her time to explain the lessons,” Bilkis Aktar said. Another student said, “Sister Sultana takes her time to teach us and always gives more explanation so we can understand better.”

Nasreen Sultana feels grateful to have the opportunity to teach again and teach what she knows well. “Many sisters like me never got to learn the shahi way of the Quran. I want to help those sisters in my community and give them the opportunity to learn. It brings joy to me to teach others what I know,” Sultana said.