July-august. 2020 | Glam Halal
Personality
25
stint at a broadcasting company. Her pure
talent and knowledge saw her selected as a
valedictorian in 1999. From then onwards,
she was invited as a judge and give speeches
about the Al Quran locally and around the
world.
She started hosting Islamic TV programmes
such as KalamSuci, Kalamallah,
Akademi Al Quran and Tahfiz Muda. There were
others on Astro, TV1, TV3 and Al-Hijrah. It
involved speaking on the Arts of Qur’an.
Apart from reciting the Qur’an, Sharifah
also sings. Some of her listed songs are
‘AsmaulHusna’, ‘Law Kana Bainana’ and
‘Assalamualaika Ya Rasulullah’. Yet again,
another bent that was inspired by her father.
Sharifah expressed with joy: “My father
was an artiste himself. He taught me how to
play the piano and guitar. He can also sing. I
guess my father inspired me the most.”
Sharifah sings solely for da’wah purposes,
encouraging people to love Prophet Muhammad
S.A.W.
ASQA for a better community
Now and then, Sharifah would collaborate
with other non-governmental organisations
to set up Islamic events such as international
Qur’an recitation and Qasidah. Through these
events, Sharifah took the opportunity to
encourage people to learn and love the arts
of Al Qur’an.
After a while, Sharifah built an academy,
Academy of Sharifatuna Quranic Arts (ASQA),
in 2018.
The academy was one of Sharifah’s ways
of sharing her knowledge taught by her late
father. The centre caters for young children to
learn the arts of Qur’an and the teaching balances
with other courses related to language,
sharia, and Islamic values.
Being taught the skills to understand
tajweed form recitation and techniques to
learn the melody of Al Quran is what sets the
academy apart from other academies.
“ASQA is doing good. We did many
programmes, parenting events, virtual classes
during the MCO and gratefully, more students
started to enrol this year,” shared Sharifah.
Feats and fondness
Her shining journey in Qur’an recitation
caused her to be recognised as ‘Ustazah
Sharifah Khasif’. Her first accomplishment
was being International Qur’an Reciters’
Assembly Competition champion in 2009.
The award then landed her invitations
to recite the Qur’an at the King’s palace for
official functions, and mosques throughout
Malaysia.
She has also recited the Qur’an in numerous
countries and cities including Brunei,
Indonesia, Iran, Mauritius, Singapore,
Durban, Cape Town, Johannesburg, Thailand,
My late dad
(Waleed) is
the most
inspirational
person.
He taught
me to be
comfortable
with whom
I am as a
Qariah, and
always to be
able to help
people to
understand
the Al
Quran.”
– Sharifah Khasif
Austria, Sarajevo and USA. It was a massive
achievement for Sharifah.
For Sharifah, the ability to recite and
understand the Qur’an has brought her
countless blessings.
She said: “I am so honoured to represent
Malaysia when reciting around the world. I
believe it’s a blessing in the name of Qur’an.
I grew up with the Al Quran, and I knew the
saying of our prophet is true. A person who
is guided by the Al Quran will always be in
peace, rich and happy.”
Thousands of people are fond of her way
in reciting the Qur’an. The most significant
memory for Sharifah was at a time where she
was reciting the Al Qur’an in front of more
than a 10,000 mixed crowd from the US,
Turkey, Durban, among others.
A man approached her from the audience
while she was backstage. He wished to convert
to Islam, but he asked Sharifah to teach
him the two sentences of Syahadah.
“He said, it was his first time that he heard
someone reading the Al Qur’an with such
melody and it touched his soul,” said Sharifah.
The man then repeated after Sharifah reading
Syahadah that then officially converted
him to Islam.
We guessed it. Father did an excellent job in
raising a talented daughter. Yes, a father may
hold his daughter’s hand for a short while, but
he holds her heart forever.