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
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