Ugandan rider Mansur Katabalwa says reading the Quran between orders helps him stay connected to his faith.
A Ugandan delivery rider has captured attention across the UAE after a video showed him reading the Quran beside his motorcycle during a break between orders — a routine he says helps him remain connected to his faith while living and working away from his family.
Mansur Katabalwa has lived and worked in the UAE for the past two years and has spent the last five months delivering orders through Talabat. He said his main reason for coming to the country was to support his wife and two children back home and help provide them with a better future.
Katabalwa’s quiet routine between deliveries recently drew widespread attention after he was filmed sitting beside his motorcycle with a physical copy of the Quran.
For Katabalwa, however, reading the Quran during breaks is not something prompted by his newfound social media attention. It is part of a deeply personal practice shaped by a difficult period in his life.
He said he memorised the Quran three years ago following the deaths of his parents and brother. The experience of losing three close family members, he said, strengthened his connection to his faith and made the Quran an important part of his daily life.
Katabalwa’s work keeps him on the road for much of the day, but he has found ways to continue revising the Quran he memorised several years ago.
He said he listens to Quran recitations on his phone while travelling between deliveries. Whenever he has enough time between orders, he turns to the physical copy he carries with him, allowing him to concentrate more closely on his recitation and revision.
Katabalwa said reading from a physical copy during his breaks helps him focus and strengthens his sense of spiritual connection.
The practice also gives him an opportunity to remember his late parents. He said he reads and revises the Quran while praying for their forgiveness and asking Allah to grant them a high place in Jannah.
What appeared on social media as a brief, quiet moment between deliveries is therefore part of a much deeper routine for Katabalwa — one that helps him balance long hours on the road, his responsibility to support his family back home and his commitment to maintaining the Quran he memorised years ago.
