The Circle Of The Qur'an #2[The Arkaan Series|Book One]

7 |The Marabout's 1000 Profound Steps.[Iqra Wartaqi..(Recite And Ascend..)]

Mika'il continued,"Usually in order to move fast, students ignore the letters on the voussoirs, focusing only on the keystones and aiming for the 200 ayaat. Anyone who deciphers at least 200 is a Qur'an genius who can be considered fit for the position of ninth Mureed. Since the ninth Mureed's score determines the baseline for becoming a Mureed, depending on the statistics, not everyone above 200 can be a Mureed. However once you score more than 200, you're considered a Prodigy of SLH, whether you're a Mureed or not!

Those called Heaven's Chosen are those fit to enter into the positions of Mureed by beating the lowest Mureed score. Recently, the competition for and among the Mureeds has upped, and its not so as easy as before! Because at the moment, the Number Nine Mureed has a score of 351 ayaat!!"

"A whole 151 verses away from Qur'an genius, I see." Abdul Bâqi said calmly, and added,"If one wants to score higher, one must solve as many of the five inscriptions on each archway as one ascends, keeping in mind the time.

Which means that, if one sees that he's wasting his time at just one arch, one should move on.
That way one can maximize his harvest of verses within the given time!" Abdul Bâqi analyzed.

"I have one question though.." He asked,"Is one allowed to come back to the previous arches and solve the questions he's already passed, provided he's reached the last keystone and still has more time left..?"

"No." Mika'il answered,"Once you pass an archway, you cannot return. You're required to wait at the top till the time elapses, even if you've finished within the stipulated time and more time is still left."

"I see. This is just like taking a test with a thousand questions and being bounded by a time period.. Scoring depends not only on one's knowledge and recall of what one has learnt, in this case - of the Qur'an, but also on one's smartness to meet the given time limit with the highest yield of questions answered.
Only that, for the Marabout's quest, you're unable to go back to the previous unanswered questions and answer them, even if you have more time left after reaching the last question."

"Good analysis, bumpkin! You're actually much smarter than I thought! You were able to understand this more easily than I did. It took me a whole day to grasp the concept of this quest, and even still, I wasted all my chances of challenging the quest, and without leaving a mark too..!" Mika'il lamented.

Abdul Bâqi wanted to scowl and say it was so simple you'd be a bonehead to not understand, but Mika'il's last words diverted his attention,"-wasted all your chances..?"

"Of course Abdul, you only get to officially challenge this test a total of nine times in this school. Once you're done, it's over. If you're not a Mureed by the end of your challenges, you'd probably never be for the rest of your life~" Mika'il wailed dramatically.

"Why nine?" Abdul Bâqi asked, ignoring Mika'il's hyperbolized drama.

"There are nine archway paths. Once you challenge a path, you can never challenge the same path again in an official test. You're considered to be familiar with that path, and to have encountered its inscriptions so as for it not to pose a challenge for you.

You're to meet an inscription only once in your lifetime ya hear me! Once in ya lifetime!!!" Mika'il had tried to grab onto Abdul Bâqi's thobe to wail, but Abdul Bâqi had nimbly evaded him.

"Okay, so what's the highest score so far? The Number One Mureed's score?"

Mika'il looked at him in bewilderment.

"Why are you looking at me like I've grown a second head?" Abdul Bâqi asked with a dry laugh.

"I thought you'd ask me the score of the Number Five Mureed, Sinan. Since they're the ones you'd be facing isn't it wiser to focus on the highest score among them?"