While feats of memorisation are certainly admirable, rote learning has devastated the very capacity for rational thought in Muslim communities. People have got indoctrinated - especially in South Asian communities - that reciting the koran by simply mouthing the sounds, makes them virtuous and morally outstanding. This leads people open to any kind of manipulation by demagogues with an agenda for control and domination.

Here in the UK the ten mosques in one town each tend to have a little Hitler who loves to have thusly blinded followers, and each these factions rarely even unite over the sighting of the moon to initiate the end of Ramadan. These Mullahs' egos (nafs) seem to grow in proportion to their actual abandonment of moral principles and consideration for the greater good. Where are the checks and balances to these mini dictators, when a whole community is reciting the Koran without understanding a word in Arabic.