Struggling to Read Quran After a Hard Childhood Experience
Salam everyone, I wanted to share something that’s been weighing on me for a long time. When I was younger, I attended a mosque in Sheffield where the teacher had a terrifying way of correcting us. If you slipped up while reading Quran, she’d scream that every error would land you in hell and that Allah’s anger would be upon you. Her face during these moments honestly scared me-it felt so dark. I was only about 9 and could barely read English, so Arabic was a huge struggle, and I lived in fear of making mistakes and being punished. That fear stayed with me for years, and I avoided reading Quran for nearly 25 years. Now I’m in my early 30s, and whenever I try to read the Quran, it brings back those awful memories and I end up feeling angry for the whole day-like a rage in my heart. I can listen to recitations or recite surahs I’ve memorized, but actually reading from the mushaf, especially verses I don’t know perfectly, feels impossible. I don’t know how to move past this. Has anyone else dealt with something similar? Any advice would be much appreciated, insha’Allah.