Kerala man sets record for reverse writing in Arabic

Abdul Jaleel has earned the India Book of Records honour by writing the National Anthem in Arabic from left to right and from downside to upside in less than three minutes.

Palakkad: A twenty-four-year-old man from Palakkad District of Kerala has bagged the India Book of Records by writing the National Anthem in Arabic from left to right and from downside to upside. The youngster used to indulge in the hobby of writing Arabic backwards and it turned out to be a boon as he got entangled in his struggle for education amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

A Abdul Jaleel said it was a huge responsibility to write the National Anthem without errors while writing at a high speed in the opposite direction. After training for about one and a half months, Jaleel set the record in his first attempt itself.

Jaleel has set the record by writing it in 2 minutes, 47 seconds. Mannarkad Tahsildar N M Rafi was the invigilator for Jaleel’s performance. Jaleel is also the first person to set the record by writing the National Anthem in Arabic in the opposite direction.

Jaleel is a native of Pudussery in Palakkad district of Kerala. Jaleel’s father had abandoned his mother and the family when he was too young. His mother, Nasar Jahan, earns livelihood for the family by stitching clothes and training others in tailoring in a small rented room in Palakkad town. Jaleel, who was staying in an orphanage for a long time studied hard.

During his post-graduation in Arabic from Kannur University, Jaleel started writing Arabic backwards as a fun activity in his leisure time. Arabic is written in a right to left usually. As Jaleel started writing it from left to right and from downside to upside, his friends encouraged him.

Later, Jaleel came to know about the India Book of Records during the pandemic. From then on, he started working towards setting the record. Every day, he trained for two hours at night. First, he planned to write the names of 100 martyrs in Arabic in the opposite direction.

However, as he realised that it might take a long time to learn their names in Arabic, he thought of writing the National Anthem which is familiar to him, in Arabic, in a left to right, downside up fashion. He aims to become a teacher and support his family which includes his mother and two siblings.