IN THE PRESS

Ali’s success had its echoes in the press. Of course the press that consider Qur’an and Qur’anic activities and have a room for Qur’an within its numerous topics.
‘Jumhurie Islami’ paper (No. 6001) met Ali and asked him about the motives behind memorizing Nahj al-Balagha, and he answered this way:
After the Qur’an, no book has the richness of Nahj al-Balagha. Previously traditionalists were always considering the memorization of Nahj al-Balagha after the Holy Qur’an, because Nahj al-Balagha is the best everlasting Islamic book after the Qur’an, and scholars think that the words of the Imam is below the words of The Creator and above the words of the creatures.
In this interview, Ali also talked about his connection with ‘The University of the Holy Qur’an’ and said, ‘Few months after memorizing the entire Qur’an, I attended the lessons of Hujjatul-Islam Tabatabaie, my dear friend sayyid Muhammad Husayn Tabatabaie’s father, on interpreting the Qur’anic examples.’ In this interview, Ali regarded his honored father as having the main role in educating and directing him toward Qur’an and Nahj al-Balagha.
‘Resalat’ Newspaper (No. 4089) publicized Ali Reza-Zada’s picture telling that:
Ali Reza-Zada Jouybari is considered the youngest memorizer of Nahj al-Balagha in the Islamic world. He memorized the sermon of al-Zahra within less than one month and dedicated approximately eight months of his time to memorize Nahj al-Balagha.
Al-Quds paper (No. 3977) announced the news of ending the Qur’an international competition and publicized Ali’s picture with the honorable leader of the Islamic revolution. In this beautiful picture, the honorable leader warmly presses Ali’s tiny hand under his kind and fatherly hands.
‘Farhange Islam’ paprer (No. 59) asked Ali about the hours he spends with the Qur’an and Nahj al-Balagha every day. He replied, ‘About six to seven hours of repetition rounds, exercising and checking, and translation and comprehension of the Qur’an and Nahj al-Balagha. Of course when I travel to participate in Qur’anic gatherings in other cities, I work one to two hours a day.’
‘Kayhan newspaper’ (No. 16739) reported a statement from Hujjatul Islam Tabatabaie, Sayyid Muhammad Husayn Tabatabaie’s father, saying’ ‘He could be considered the youngest child in the world who was able to memorize Nahj al-Balagha in the age of eight.’
Also ‘Khurasan’ paper (No. 14448) interviewed Ali with his father and reported from his father the following statement:
Many parents think that such children are geniuses and differ from other children, but I think they are in a level of many children. The essential case is that parents take a firm decision [and plan correctly for their children to be Qur’an memorizers.]
‘Jawan’ paper (No. 462) asked Ali, under the title ‘Andeshei Sabz’ (Green Thought), about his message to other youth of his age. Ali said:
My message to them is to listen to the older and do their best to memorize Qur’an and act with accordance to it.
However, one of Ali’s beautiful and memorable interviews is that when he was in the city of Mecca and met by ‘Za’er’ publication in a friendly interview. When the publication reporter asked Ali, ‘How did you memorize Nahj al-Balagha?’, he briefly replied, ‘At the beginning, my father selected pieces from Nahj al-Balagha that I started memorizing them, and after memorizing each piece I was reciting it to my father by heart [in order to avoid any possible problems in this stage]. Later on I began memorizing Nahj al-Balagha seriously and according to an organized plan. According to this plan I memorized first short maxims, then letters, and at last sermons of Nahj al-Balagha.’