From a circle in the mosque, and from the Quran class in school, three innovations emerged that were able to outperform 243 participating projects, and achieve advanced positions in the National Olympiad for Scientific Creativity (Ibd’a).  

One of these innovations was the “Carpet Rolling Tool,” in which three students from Ibn Khaldoun High School in Yanbu participated. The idea of ​​the innovation revolves around a tool that enables mosque workers to roll prayer rugs in record time, from 18 seconds to 5 seconds. Unlike the manual method of rolling rugs, it does not cause any pain to the back or cartilage, does not transmit germs and bacteria, and facilitates the process of moving rugs from one place to another. Student Alaa Sami Kurdi, one of the students participating in this innovation, says that he expects the tool to be of great benefit in the Grand Mosque in Mecca and the Prophet’s Mosque, and large mosques.  

“I worked on this idea with two of my colleagues at the same school: Turki Muhammad Andarqiri and Muhammad Omar Al-Dajjan. It all started when we were in a circle at the mosque and had to roll up the carpets after the circle ended. We asked each other: Why don’t we invent a tool to roll up the carpets in an easier and faster way, without having to contaminate our hands with dust and bacteria?” “After that, we started working hard and doing scientific research. After the first experiment, we discovered that iron was not suitable as a material for the tool, because we couldn’t roll up the carpets to the end. So, we used thermoplastic, which we found to be less expensive, of higher quality, and usually lasts for 30 years.” The students participated with the idea in the (Creativity) Olympiad and won fourth place among boys in the innovation track.  

The students are now planning to develop their idea and launch it on the market soon. Student Alaa said, “They have already started writing to Bin Laden Company and are still waiting for a response. They have also submitted a patent application.” On the other hand, student Bushra Dakhil Allah Al-Mohammadi, from the 26th Secondary School in Medina, won fourth place for girls in the innovation track for her invention, “The Holy Quran with a Magnetic Pen.”  

The idea of ​​the innovation revolves around placing a light piece of iron at the edges of the pages of the Holy Quran, on which the name of the Surah and the page number are written, while a magnet is placed at the edges of a regular pen to facilitate movement between the pages of the Holy Quran.  

Student Bushra expects that her innovation will play a major role in facilitating navigation between the pages of the Qur’an, especially for those with hemiplegia and women who have a legitimate excuse. She confirms that the idea was inspired primarily by the suffering of female students and the extent of embarrassment they feel in Qur’an classes.  

In a related story, student Reem Nasser Al-Munae from Al-Zulfi High School was able to create a technical educational program that aims to teach beginners the seven consecutive readings of the Holy Quran. The program allows the learner’s voice to be recorded and his mistakes corrected by placing a red line under the word that violates the reading and does not allow the learner to complete the reading until he masters the word.  

Student Reem adds: The program includes a specific definition of each reader, a historical overview of him, and explains the objectives of learning the science of readings. It also includes references specific to the science of readings for beginners, with audio models attached for each reading, in addition to explaining the Farsh words in the Quran.  

Regarding the story of the innovation, the student Reem says that she faced difficulty while learning the seven readings at school, and she did not find any programs to facilitate the learning process, and thus she thought of presenting this solution to benefit from it in her studies, and for everyone to benefit from it.  

Despite the difficulties she faced in building the idea of ​​the program, especially since it is technical, Reem was able to overcome this dilemma through intensive scientific research and cooperation with the computer teacher and the reading teacher at school, which helped her obtain sixth place in the Kingdom in the (Creativity) Olympiad. It is noteworthy that all the innovators agreed that participation taught them that nothing is impossible, and prompted them to think seriously about other innovations to serve religion and country.

We wonder; how much innovation would we have if all our students tried to imitate these students and solve the problems they face with new innovations? We would definitely create a distinctive civilization!