Madinah Javed, a 25-year-old has commenced her journey as Qari’ah when she was a little girl. She is a law graduate and activist from Glasgow. When she was a little girl, she used to sit with her mother in her tajweed classes while they were living in Qatar.
While sitting with her mother in her classes, she listens to the Quran and learns what she was hearing. She took the training for two decades of training, she was invited at St Mary’s Cathedral in Glasgow in 2017 to recite a part of the Quran and share the story of Mary and Jesus as a guest for their Christian service.
Her recitation impressed everyone. When everyone praised her, she shared her recitation video online, but she faced criticism. People criticize her so much that there was a time when she changed her name. The incident was not new. Women always faced backlash in many communities in the UK when they recite Quran publicly.
At her difficult time, the Muslim community never raised a voice for her. Madinah was also very confused because she has no idea why people focus on gender when women recite Quran. Quran recitation has nothing to do with gender. After few times, Madinah discovered that in that negative situation there is a sign of hope.
When some Muslim women heard her recitation, they started praising her which motivated her. Muslim women praised her as they said that it was the first time when they heard the Muslim women reciting the Quran in Public. In Muslim countries, it is common for men and women both to recite the Quran openly. But in the West, people had this opinion that women shouldn’t recite the Quran for audiences including men.
To promote the recitation of women, Madinah has started the #FemaleReciters campaign. Her objective behind her campaign is to urge female reciters to share their recitation online. Her other goal is to revive the sacred tradition of Quran recitation.