This Blind Muslim Girl Can't Read, But That Didn't Stop Her From Learning The Bhagwad Gita By-Heart

Ask seven-year-old Rida Zehra if she knows the Bhagwad Gita, the visually-challenged girl folds her hand and starts reciting the holy book, which she knows by heart, without giving a second thought.

TOI

Living at a residential blind school in Meerut for the last three years, Zehra has never seen the holy book for she was born with 80% blindness. In fact, she has not even read it in Braille. Her teacher at the school helped her memorise the whole text of the holy book by reading it out to her.

It doesn't matter for Zehra which God she prays, as she says that she will never be able to see him even if he appears in front of her. "I like praying to God, whether it is by reading Gita or Quran. It doesn't matter which God I pray, after all I will never be able to see him, even if he is there in front of me," says the class III girl, who studies at Brij Mohan School for the Blind in Meerut's Jagriti Vihar.

Zehra's parents and siblings live in Lohia Nagar, where she goes during her summer break, and in festivals.

She was admitted to the blind school by her father when she was three years old.

Her school principal Praveen Sharma, while detailing the girl's tryst with the Gita says, "It was in the beginning of 2015 when I got to know about a Gita competition being held for kids in the city. That is when I thought why not let our kids participate in the competition."

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Sharma proudly says that Zehra was a quick learner. "First, I learnt how to recite Gita with the help of various pandits. Once I learnt the right way to read it, I started teaching the holy book to the kids of my school and Zehra was one of the quick learners. I don't have its copy in Braille, so I read it out to her and she knows it verbatim."

The school has 30 students and five teachers.

Two of the teachers are visually impaired. Zehra wants to study and teach others like her, who cannot see, so that they can have a "vision for life" through education.

Raees Haider, Zehra's father, said over phone, "I just want my daughter to be educated and have a future despite the visual impairment. It doesn't matter to me whether she reads the Gita or the Quran. In fact, it is a matter of pride that she knows about other religions too; this will make her wiser than others."

Haider earns a living by selling biryani in Delhi.