Memorization of the Quran – Points and Tips

Bisimillahi Alrahmani al-Raheem (In the name of God, the most beneficent, the most merciful)

The memorization of the Quran (the direct words of Allah swt) is a wonderful act of worship that brings one closer to his/her creator. It raises one in status by Allah in this dunya (world), and in the hereafter. There are numerous benefits for the one who memorizes or is memorizing the Quran, which is out of the scope of this article. But let’s just take a look at one of these benefits in the following hadeeth:

Al-Tirmidhi (2914) and Abu Dawood (1464) narrated from ‘Abd-Allaah ibn ‘Amr that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: “It will be said to the companion of the Qur'an: Recite and rise in status, recite as you used to recite in the world, for your status will be at the last verse that you recite.” This hadith was classed as sahih by al-Albaani in al-Silsilah al- Saheehah

This means that the more you memorize, the more you will ascend into the heavens!

Every now and then you hear an amazing story of one who memorizes the Quran. For example, one man set himself for memorization, and he finished the Quran in 50 days. This takes great courage and commitment, and shows you that anything can be done if you put your heart into it. Another story is of a grandmother “Umm Saalih” who memorized the Quran at age 82, her interview was narrated by Dr. Saleh al Saleh in the Ad-Da'wah Magazine. How do these people get the energy and will power to memorize in a short time, or in their weak age? Well, each person has their own story but generally there are points that need to be taken care of, if you really want to be a companion of the Quran. The list below is not exhaustive, but refers to some of these points:

·       -  Intention: The most important element to any act of worship is the sincere intention. If this fails, anything after it will follow into failure. More importantly, you will bring the anger of Allah upon you, and in the day of the judgment you will be one of the losers. Make your intentions very clear and sincere for your merciful lord. And don’t just do it one time, repeat your intentions to clean any ills that may have been seeded in your heart throughout the process.

·        - Plan: When one goes to a trip, prepares for a degree, exam, marriage, and so on he/she plans for it. Similarly, you need to have a general set plan for your memorization, otherwise it will become very easy to put a side and forget all about your intentions and excitement.

·        - Memorization Companion: If it is possible, sometimes it may be a good idea (especially if you are a beginner) to have a partner who will help you review, memorize, and read the Quran. Both (or more) of you will help you encourage each other.

·       - Listening: Do not underestimate the power of listening to the Quran! I know people who memorize so much by just listening to a recitation repeatedly. Repetition will cause you to be a memorizer (see Review)! An example of this strategy is as follows: Listen to your favorite Sura at least once a day for one week, then see how easy it will be to memorize it from the book, compared to memorizing without ever listening to it.

·       -Use your Iphone, Androids, mp3s, etc…:  Going back to the idea of listening – This can be enhanced by using your portable audio players. These devices can be used when you are riding in the bus, driving the car, or walking. In addition, these devices may also be used to download the Quran so that you will have the book everywhere you go. So use them to memorize and get reward for remembrance of Allah!

·        - Stop listening to other than the Quran: Here is the deal, if there is something else in your heart, it will compete with the Quran. If you listen to music, you will sing music. If you listen to nasheeds all day, you will be playing nasheeds in your head all day. But if you listen to Quran, you will be reciting Quran. And in fact, you will come to a point where you will be reciting Quran aloud, in your heart and in your sleep. Imagine remembering Allah with his words all day, and the unknown rewards that you will receive from this act.

·        - Review: Reviewing is just as important as the initial memorization. What is the point of memorizing if you are going to forget? The Quran needs to be repeated and reviewed, otherwise it will leave you. The prophet PBUH compared the Quran memorizer as an owner of a camel. If he keeps a hold of it, it will stay, but if he neglects it, it will eventually untie itself and leave.

·        - Act upon it: Imagine this scenario – a man/woman asks Allah swt to help him/her to memorize the Quran, but they do not act upon the verses that they memorize. They gossip about their friends, sin day and night, and neither pray nor fast. What do you think Allah swt feels about them? Let’s act upon what we memorize so we can be true companions of the Quran.

·        - Quran-O-Meter: I find it very encouraging to see the visual progress of memorization. A very useful tool that you can use is called “Quran-O-Meter.” This tool allows you to enter the number of Suras, verses, lines memorized and then it calculates the exact percentage memorized. Every time you add verses into your heart, you can see the increase of percentage (even if it is an increase of 0.5%.) It is another way of encouragement for your memorization. http://quraanometer.ilmsummit.org

Furthermore, if you think that it is too hard to memorize because you are not a native Arabic speaker, then there is even a bigger reward waiting for you:

al-Bukhari(4937) narrated from ‘Aa’ishah that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: “The likeness of the one who reads Qur'an and memorizes it is that he is with the righteous honourable scribes. The likeness of the one who reads it and tries hard to memorize it even though it is difficult for him, he will have two rewards.”

Finally, the Quran has around 6236 verses; and since in the beginning, we were discussing age and the period of memorization, let’s see exactly how long it will take us to memorize the Quran, if we follow these plans:

·         If you memorize 1 verse a day, it will take you 6236 days or 17 years to complete the Quran.

·         If you memorize 5 verses a day, it will take you 3.4 years

·         If you memorize 10 verses a day, it will take about 1.7 years

·         If you memorize 20 verses a day, it will take 312 days or less than a year

May Allah swt make us one of the companions of the Quran, and raise us with it on the Day of Judgment, Ameen.

“And We have indeed made the Qur'an easy to understand and remember: then is there any that will receive admonition?” Surat Al-Qamar-17

You Know You’re Becoming A Practicing Muslim When…

-When memorizing the Quran is more dear to you than any degree obtained in the world.
-When the recitation of the Quran makes your hair stand, while music makes you nervous (from fear of Allah.)
-When you do a good deed you feel happy and joyful, while a sin causes you to be sad and heavy-hearted.
-When you make a sin you immediately remember Allah and seek his forgiveness.
-When praying on time is above everything.
-When you want to see the Prophet PBUH in a dream, and long for the blessings of Jannah.
-When you remember Allah swt every time you see his wonderful creation.

-When you recite Quran in your sleep.

-When you recite the Quran as you wake up.
-When the love of Allah and his messenger surpasses everything.
-When you pray for your brother or sister without their knowledge.
-When you love your brothers and sisters for the sake of Allah.

-When you don’t make fun of your brother and sister with or without their presence.

-When your hijab makes you stronger, and closer to your creator.
-When you want to get married for the sake of Allah.
-When you want to do everything for the sake of Allah!

Reflections on the Universe

Bismiallahi alrahmani alraheem

The creation of the universe is a magnificent process that took stages in the timeline of billions of years (14 billion); that is 14 with nine zeros. To give you a relative comparison, if you try to count 14 billion (1 count per second), it would take you almost 444 years. It is a time line that is hard for the human mind to comprehend.

 Another way to think about this is the visualizing of the life in the universe as a one-year calendar. In essence, January 1^st at 1am would be the beginning, and December 31^st would be the current time era. If the 14 billion years would be compressed in this calendar, the advent of humans would be put at December 31^st at 11:59:30PM. So based on this relative calendar, we were put in this earth just a half of a minute ago!

 But how did it all start?

The scientific advances which Allah SWT allowed for us to obtain advanced the progression of modern cosmology, and the finding that we were all once Smoke. This smoke is special in that it is able to condense and form stars of all types, and subsequently form the chemical elements that we are made of. Do you know that the prophet Allah swt has mentioned this more than 1400 years ago?

“Then turned He to the heaven when it was smoke, and said unto it and unto the earth: Come both of you, willingly or loth. They said: We come, obedient.”~Fusilat-11

Interestingly, this verse also indicates that the heavens and the earth, and everything in the universe were one object at some point. Again, this was mentioned by Prophet Mohamed PBUH who was relaying the message from the creator of the universe more than 1400 years ago

“Do not the Unbelievers see that the heavens and the earth were joined together (as one unit of creation), before we clove them asunder?” ~Alanbya-30

This also confirms a couple more discoveries; specifically the Big bang, and the expansion of the Universe. The universe exploded from a ball of infinite density, a density of Zero (This sounds very vague, but of course this is what the unbelievers say, otherwise they would have to admit the explosion came out of nothing, i.e. created) This again means that everything was one joined together at once. Some of the effects of the big bang are still ongoing and one evidence for it, is the expansion of the universe. This expansion was discovered by Hubble last century. Hubble found that objects in the universe are moving  away from each other, which was also mentioned in the Quran!

"The heaven, We have built it with power. Verily. We are expanding it." ~Adh-dhariyat-47

Of Note: One should realize that the Quran is a book of Signs, not science. The many scientific miracles found in Allah’s book are amazing and a proof of the validity of the Quran. But it is only a part of why the Quran is miraculous. One should not set these facts as the core basis of his/her Iman, but instead we should learn the basics of our beautiful deen, read the Quran and act upon, then reflect upon the creations of Allah swt.

"In the creation of the heavens and the earth, and the alternation of night and day, there are signs for people of intelligence: those who remember Allah, standing, sitting, and lying on their sides, and reflect on the creation of the heavens and the earth: 'Our Lord, You have not created this for nothing. Glory to You!" Ale-Imran190-191