Saturday 13/December/2025 – 10:20 PM
There was nothing in the life of Hajja Fatima Atito that suggested that she would one day sit holding the Qur’an, reading its verses in a steady voice, after she had been unable to read or write for many years. She was a simple housewife from the heart of Qena, carrying within her a deferred wish, which she continued to grow with year after year, to read the Qur’an herself.
Hajja Fatima Atito memorized the entire Holy Quran at the age of 80
At the age of sixty, when many people choose to rest, Fatima decided to start. She entered the literacy classes with hesitant steps, preceded by more shyness than enthusiasm. She remembers that moment, saying to Cairo 24: I was embarrassed, and I said after the book was young, but the words of her teacher were decisive in the course of her life: Hold the book and be proud of it.
From that day on, writers became her daily friend. She slowly learned the letters, and faced sarcastic looks that did not hide their cruelty. Some of them bullied, some of them mocked, but she did not stop. She knew very well why she started, explaining: I wanted to learn to read and write so that I could read from the Qur’an.
Within 8 years, Fatima succeeded in learning to read, write, and arithmetic, and then opened a new door in her journey, deeper and more influential. She began memorizing the Holy Qur’an, page after page, until she completed it completely when she was over eighty years old, noting that the moment she completed memorizing the Holy Qur’an was not just an educational achievement, but rather a victory over years of deprivation, and the idea that age may close doors.
Hajja Fatima Atito continues her speech, saying that her feeling the first time she succeeded in reading the Qur’an from the Qur’an was an indescribable feeling, adding: I felt like I was flying with joy, and I felt that God had honored me after a long patience.
She added that after that moment, she devoted herself to reading the Qur’an day and night, never letting go of the Qur’an from her hand, page after page, until it became her daily companion and her support at all times. She concluded her speech with a simple wish, saying: I wish everyone for himself learns what he fears due to age, and I myself die while holding the Qur’an, and may God make the Qur’an an intercessor for Leah.
