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This material is used for educational purposes only under Fair Dealing/Fair Use guidelines. All rights to the original book and its contents belong to the respective author and publisher. This resource is intended solely to support teaching and learning. No part of the original work should be reproduced or copied for commercial use.

Intended Application

This book can be used as a resource to help students (pre-service teachers included) see the concepts of self-regulation, grit, agency, self-efficacy, modeling, motivation, reinforcement, and the absence of punishment in action and how these contribute to creating resilient, lifelong learners.

Horrible at Reading

Zainab was crying again. The mushaf lay open in front of her, its beautiful Arabic letters blurring through her tears. 

She was trying to read from the third Juzz, but every few words, she stumbled, her frustration growing with each mistake. Her older sister, Imaan, sat patiently beside her, offering a reassuring presence.

“Don't cry... it’s okay! You will get better soon, in shaa Allaah,” Imaan tried to console her.

Zainab shook her head furiously.

“I’m just… crying… because I know I’m never going to read this properly! I always make mistakes. I read so slow. I’m the worst at this!” her words came out in sputters.

 That evening was the last time she read Qur’an with her sisters. She didn’t want to feel like a burden anymore. 

Even though her sisters loved her, they were exhausted. What they could finish in five minutes took Zainab nearly half an hour. And every time, they lost their precious playtime waiting for her to sound out the letters.

Nobody said it out loud, but Zainab could feel it—she was slowing everyone down.

Helping Her was Hard

Years passed. Zainab grew taller, but reading still felt impossible. This time, her mother began helping her. 

After school, when other children were relaxing or playing, Zainab stayed with her mother and struggled to read as she painstakingly moved from one line to the next. She wanted to please her mother. She wanted to show that she was trying. But the Arabic letters refused to stay still in her mind.

What are these strange sounds? She often thought. 

Why do they twist on my tongue like they don’t belong there? She was too young to understand that learning a new language takes a lot of practice initially.

Her mother patiently corrected her mistakes—again and again.

“That’s a ta, not a ya.”

“Stretch this sound longer.”

“Slow down."

" Try again.”

Day after day, Zainab looked more miserable, as though the Qur’an itself were a mountain crushing her.

Then one afternoon, her mother closed the mushaf and didn’t call Zainab to read again.

Unbeknownst to Zainab, her father and her mother had made a pact that they would not be the kind of parents they had had. 

Their children would not know the pressures or the punishments they had to face as children. 

The relationship between them and their children had to be one of trust and could not be damaged because of what they or other people expected from their children.

Free at Last?

For many months, Zainab felt free. 

“No more tears!” she whispered to herself. 

She thought life would be easier without the struggle.

But she couldn’t have been more wrong, because she began to notice things. 

At family gatherings, her younger cousins sat confidently with their mushafs. Some of them had already finished their first complete reading. Some were even memorizing!

“How far have you reached?” someone would ask, and Zainab’s stomach would twist with shame. 

She would mumble something, quickly excuse herself, and leave the room.

Ramadhan was the hardest. 

During this month, the house would come alive with Qur’an's recitation—melodious voices filling every corner; her mother, her sisters, and her cousins—all reading fluently and beautifully.

Meanwhile, Zainab fought with each letter, her tongue tripping and her mind exhausted. 

Why was Arabic so hard for her?  Everyone else didn't have problems like her!

Why did Allah make this so difficult for her? She would clench her fists in anger, but the sadness in her chest felt heavier.

She longed—oh, how she longed—to read like them.

Zainab Wasn’t Going

 to Give Up

Every year, Zainab strengthened her determination. 

Her motivation grew as the side that was read become heavier than the side that was not.

Her progress was slow, but it was there, and it was hers.

She no longer cared if people thought she was too slow. 

The act of trying day after day had made something inside her shift.

She was doing this for Allah. So, she could be a proper Muslim. She wanted to feel complete.

Was This Really Happening?!

By the time she started university, Zainab’s recitation had improved. She wasn’t perfect, but she no longer dreaded opening the mushaf or reciting before people.

That year, Ramadhan fell during the summer. The days were long and the nights short. 

After Fajr, while the world was quiet, Zainab sat in her room and read.