Tahfiz education has been well accepted by Muslims in Malaysia. Memorizing the Quran through rote learning can assist in improving the brain ability to process, store information and build memory. In addition, dietary intakes were reported to contribute in the process of memorizing the Quran and to increase the levels of intelligence (IQ) among huffaz students. This cross-sectional study was conducted to measure and to determine the correlation between IQ and dietary intake as well as between IQ and the level of trace elements among students in selected tahfiz schools and non-tahfiz school in Selangor. Questionnaires were used to obtain demographic data. Dietary intake was assessed via 3 days dietary record. Levels of trace elements in the nail samples were analyzed by using ICP-MS. Test for intelligence using WASI-II was conducted to measure the students’ IQ. The results showed that there was a moderate positive correlation between IQ and carbohydrate (r = 0.425, p < 0.001, a weak positive correlation between IQ and energy (r = 0.260, p < 0.05), vitamin B6 (r = 0.189, p < 0.05), vitamin B12 (r = 0.207, p < 0.05) and vitamin C (r = 0.211, p < 0.05). The levels of trace elements in nail samples showed no correlation with IQ, whereas there were moderate positive correlations between IQ and dietary zinc (r = 0.375, p < 0.001) as well as between IQ and dietary iron (r = 0.303, p < 0.001). There was also a moderate positive correlation between IQ and the level of memorization (r = 0.375, p < 0.001). The results of stepwise multiple linear regression showed that al-Quran memorization influence the level of IQ by 20 %. As a conclusion, dietary intake of certain nutrients including energy, vitamins and selected trace elements can potentially improve memorization activities and also IQ.
Sekolah tahfiz merupakan institusi yang mengkhususkan pendidikan kepada pelajar yang boleh menghafaz serta mengingati keseluruhan al-Quran. Aktiviti menghafaz al-Quran dengan teknik pengucapan berulang kali akan membantu meningkatkan keupayaan otak untuk memproses, mengingati maklumat dan membina memori. Kehadiran logam berat akan memberi kesan kepada sistem saraf serta mengganggu fungsi sistem saraf pusat dan periferi di mana akan seterusnya menyebabkan berlakunya kecelaan fungsi mental dan kognitif. Keupayaan untuk belajar, mengingati atau menghafaz, penggunaan bahasa dan untuk memahami sesuatu akan terganggu serta mengurangkan IQ dan perhatian. Kajian keratan rentas telah dilakukan bagi mengukur dan mengenal pasti hubungan di antara tahap logam berat, hafazan al-Quran dan tahap kecerdasan (IQ) dalam kalangan pelajar di sekolah tahfiz berbanding sekolah bukan tahfiz terpilih di Selangor. Kepekatan logam berat ditentukan melalui analisa sampel kuku dan rambut pelajar dengan menggunakan Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS). Ujian kecerdasan Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale Edisi Kedua (WASI-II) digunakan untuk mengukur IQ pelajar. Borang soal selidik yang digunakan untuk mengumpulkan data demografik dianalisa menggunakan SPSS versi 23.0. Berdasarkan ujian korelasi Pearson yang dilakukan, terdapat korelasi negatif yang sangat lemah tetapi signifikan antara logam mangan dalam sampel rambut dengan tahap hafazan al-Quran (r = -0.178, p = 0.017). Selain itu, terdapat korelasi positif yang lemah tetapi signifikan antara IQ dengan tahap hafazan al-Quran (r = 0.375, p = < 0.001). Kesimpulannya, semakin tinggi kepekatan logam mangan akan menyebabkan penurunan tahap hafazan al-Quran serta apabila semakin tinggi tahap hafazan al-Quran akan menyebabkan tahap kecerdasan (IQ) juga semakin meningkat.