Students at charter school in Midwestern state are required to memorize the Koran

The Islamic Center of Mason has a charter school that requires students to memorize the Koran, and its organizers have plans for a large expansion for a mosque.

A WCPO-TV report included interviews from a student and a mother who co-founded the Learning Center in Ohio as well as an imam from the mosque next door to the school.

'The hardest part is actually retaining what you memorized.'

"I did not want to do it at all," said Aadam Zindani.

"Memorizing it is the easy part," he added. "The hardest part is actually retaining what you memorized."

Zindani said that memorizing the 600 pages took him about three years.

"It takes years. For some people, it takes decades," said imam Fawzan Hansbhai.

Aadam's mother, Anila Zindani, told WCPO that she helped found the school in Mason because she couldn't find a place in the area to help teach her son the Koran. She began memorizing the Koran in a trailer in downtown Mason.

The learning center's website says the school has classes from kindergarten to the second grade and that it is a non-public charter school. The center is affiliated with the Department of Education with the state of Ohio.

"The best among you are those who learn the Qu'ran and teach it," the website reads.

The school organizers are also raising money to build a community center that includes a $12 million mosque, a prayer hall, and classrooms for the learning center.

"It was a huge dream," said Anila Zindani of the school. "And when I see those students, and when I see those teachers, it’s like a dream come true."

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The school's website says it has 38 students for the current season.

"Save yourself before it's too late," read a post from the learning center on its official social media account. It added a verse from the Koran: "Whoever believes in Allah and the Last Day should speak good or remain silent."

Video of WCPO's visit to the Islamic Center was disabled to play on other websites by the owner, but it can be viewed on the station's channel on YouTube.

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