The Doll Teaching Kids Key Verses from the Quran

TEHRAN (IQNA) – When Samira Amarir and her husband Adil ­Amesrouh arrived at the factory in Shantou, on China’s east coast, they were met with applause, a standing ovation and a performance of the French and UAE national anthems.

"It was just me and my husband,” Amarir says. "We said, ‘Come on, guys, it is just us. I mean we are like you. We are just doing something for our daughter and that’s it’.”

It all began with a simple wish. Amarir wanted to make it easy for her daughter, Jennah, then 4, to learn verses from the Quran. When she couldn’t find anything, she designed a toy for her, "Jennah the Quran teacher”, and traveled to China to get it produced.

Noticing its popularity among friends in the town of Chantilly, France, Amarir convinced her husband to turn the doll into a business and to move to Dubai to sell it. ­Amesrouh quickly agreed.

"The underlying issue is basically that the way we learn the Quran is still very archaic,” he says. "The way that we do it is basically still the way that kids have been doing it for the last 1,000 years. Kids are very connected today and we have not necessarily engaged our kids in the way we want them to be learning.”

The French couple’s work has paid off. The modestly-dressed doll recites verses from the Quran so that children can learn them ­quickly and easily. Jennah was released in toy stores in the Emirates earlier this year and has already sold out.

Amarir designed the doll four years ago using online software. Happy with the virtual design, the couple flew to Hong Kong for a toy fair to meet manufacturers. Most were from the same region in China and, before long, they returned on a second trip to tour factories, eventually choosing one that specialized in small, ­Barbie-sized dolls.

Amarir made more than four trips to China and interviewed dozens of women to find the right voice for the doll.

Jennah recites four verses that are easy for children to learn. "They’re short and very impactful in their meaning,” Amesrouh says. "Those are the ones that kids learn in school at a very early stage.”

Source: The National