Blind Quran reader denounces violence

Memorizing the Quran at a young age changed his life.
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) -- The village medicine woman caked the baby's eyes with a concoction of opium and tobacco, telling his parents it would cure his ailing sight. When the bandages came off two months later, he had lost 90 percent of his vision. He was totally blind by 16.
But Barakatullah Salim, now 57, regards his affliction as a blessing.
He memorized Islam's holy book, the Quran, by age 9, then he studied at Egypt's revered Al-Azhar Mosque for five years after turning 13. And he became renowned across the Muslim world as a qaria -- Arabic for recitalist of the faith's scriptures.
"Yes, I have a gift from God," Salim said in the cushioned salon at his Islamic seminary, or madrassa, in the Afghan capital, Kabul.
An ethnic Pashtun, Salim is one of Afghanistan's most respected figures, blessed with a flawless grasp of the Quran, soaring baritone, pious nature and amazing memory. He says he can instantly recall more than 2,000 telephone numbers.
Hardly an event involving Afghan President Hamid Karzai goes by without the burly Salim first stepping onto stage to recite Quranic scripture.
Praise
"Barakatullah Salim is the best Quranic reader in the world," said Karzai spokesman Khaleeq Ahmed. "The people of Afghanistan and the government officials trust him. For any big event or an important gathering, he always has his revered place."
Until its ouster by a U.S.-led offensive five years ago, the hard-line Islamic Taliban regime also called on Salim for special events and openings.
"The Taliban all recited the Quran anyway. They were already clerics. But they did ask me to come read the Quran from time to time to open a madrassa or for some other event," he said.
Salim describes himself as neutral amid the upsurge in violence between Taliban holdouts opposed to Karzai's government and American and NATO troops. He says he rejects the violence that has wracked his country for three decades.
"Fighting and war is bad. Aerial bombardment, suicide bombings, killing people -- it is all wrong," said Salim, who is employed by the government's Religious Affairs Ministry.
His background
Salim's trappings belie his difficult beginnings.
Born into poverty in 1949 in the eastern Nangarhar village of Shinwah, he soon contracted chicken pox, which caused his eyesight to deteriorate. Without proper medical care, his vision steadily worsened.
At an early age he went to a local madrassa, the sole form of education in the village, where he would listen to the imam reading the Quran. At home, he sat next to his father while he read aloud from Islam's holy book.
"When the teacher read the Quran, I could quickly memorize what he said," Salim said. " My mind was like an audiocassette recorder."
The key moment in his life came at age 13, after two Egyptian businessmen visited his village and saw him win a Quran recital competition.
"After hearing me, they promised my parents to take me to Cairo and study at Al-Azhar. My father happily agreed because at that time the education standards here were very poor," Salim said.
After five years of study at Al-Azhar and later at its university, the Sunni Muslim world's leading educational institution, Salim graduated in Quranic studies. He was also judged as the university's leading recitalist.
Made a promise
"When I returned from Egypt with the knowledge God had given me, I promised to use my gift to help the people of Afghanistan," said Salim, who has 10 children.
"I taught in madrassas and mosques. In any home I had, one room was devoted to students. Now I have 800 coming to my madrassa free of charge and with a new one I am building there will be more than 1,000."
Salim, who has won Quranic recital contests in 42 Muslim countries, wants to help guide Afghans back toward peace.
"I am trying to teach people to go in the right direction, to reject evil," he said. "We must stop the violence."
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