MULTAN: The family members of a youth who had committed suicide at Kabirwala, Khanewal district, some 10 days back, accidentally came to know that he took the extreme step in dejection over his failure to learn the Holy Quran by heart.

Raees, 17, of Mauza Fazil Shah had committed suicide by hanging himself with a rope tied to a wooden girder of a room in his farmhouse on Jan 22. The shocked family had no clue to what made him commit suicide.

The mystery, however, got resolved when his mother and brother checked his mobile phone data about a week after his death.

“A couple of days back, my mother asked me to bring the mobile phone of my deceased brother,” Asif, brother of Raees, told Dawn.

Asif said while browsing through the phone data, he came across a voice message recorded by Raees. In the message, Raees said addressing his mother that he was leaving this world because he could not learn the Holy Quran by heart.

He claimed it was Raees’ own choice to learn the holy book by heart and no body forced him to do so.

Raees was a school drop-out and worked as a mechanic before he got admission to a madressah to learn the holy book by heart.

Asif said during his stay at the seminary, his brother could memorise only one chapter of the Holy Quran out of 30.

Published in Dawn, February 2nd, 2016