|
Golden
Rules for Memorizing the Qur’an *
1.
Be Sincere
2.
Correct Pronunciation and Recitation
3.
Apportion the Daily Number of Verses to Memorize
4.
Do Not Move to the Next Portion Till You Master the Present One
5.
Stick to One Specific Copy of the Glorious Qur’an
6.
Understand What You Are Memorizing
7.
Do Not Move from One Surah to Another Till You Connect Its Beginning
to Its End
8.
Recite Frequently before Others
9.
Follow Up Frequently
10.
Pay Attention to Similarities
11.
Seize the Opportunity of the Golden Years to Memorize
1.
Be Sincere
One
must clarify and declare his intention to get the fruit of this
task. Thus, memorizing the Glorious Qur’an must be observed only
for the Sake of Allah and for winning His Paradise, Pleasure and His
Great Rewards. Allah the Almighty says {So worship Allah, making the
religion His faithfully. Verily the faithful religion is for Allah}. (Al-Zumar
2-3)
Also,
He says {Say, “Surely I have been commanded to worship Allah
making the religion His; faithfully}. (Al-Zumar 11)
Thus,
there is no reward whatever for those who read and memorize it to be
seen and over-praised by others. Also, the one who recites it
intending to win worldly gains only is sinful.
2.
Correct Pronunciation and Recitation
The
first step to take after purifying one’s intention is to correct
one’s recitation of the Glorious Qur’an. This will be possible
only by listening to a skilled reciter or an excellent memorizer.
The only way to become knowledgeable of the Qur’an is to take it
orally from others, as the Prophet himself, peace and blessings be
upon him, took it orally from Jibreel. Also, the Prophet, peace and
blessings be upon him, used to recite the Qur’an once before
Gabriel during the month of Ramadan every year, but he did it twice
before him in the year in which he died.
Consequently,
the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, taught it to his
Companions orally. The generations that followed took it the same
way from the earlier ones.
Thus,
taking the Glorious Qur’an orally after an excellent reciter is a
must. One should always correct his recitation and should not depend
on himself, even if he is knowledgeable of Arabic and its rules, as
there are in the Qur’an many verses that are in variance with the
well-known rules of Arabic.
3.
Apportion the Daily Number of Verses to Memorize
One
who intends to memorize the Glorious Qur’an should specify the
amount he can bear daily, be it a given number of verses, one or two
pages, or one-eighth of a juz’ (one thirtieth part). Then, he
starts to repeat and repeat till he perfects his memorization. He
should recite aloud, first to follow the Prophetic Sunnah and second
to perfect his memorization. Intoning the Qur’an is endeared to
the hearing and helps with memorizing, as it gets the tongue
familiar with a given tune and an error is easily identified when
the usual tune varies in one way or another. When this happens, the
tongue feels the variation and stops to correct the recitation.
Besides, reciting aloud was advocated by the Prophet, peace and
blessings be upon him, who said: “The one who does not intone his
recitation of the Qur’an is not one of us.” (Narrated by Al-Bukhari)
4.
Do Not Move to the Next Portion Till You Master the Present One
One
who memorizes the Glorious Qur’an should not move to the next
portion till he masters the previous one. One way to perfect his
portion is to make it his business day and night to recite it during
his silent Prayer and, in case he is leading the Prayer, in his
aloud Prayer. Also, one should recite it in the Sunnah Prayers and
while waiting for the beginning of the Prayer. In this way,
memorizing the Qur’an will be easy and possible for everyone, even
if one seems busy. This is because one will not sit down just once
to practice this. Rather he will listen to the instructor once, then
he will start repeating it himself during the times mentioned and in
Fard (obligatory) and Sunnah (optional) Prayers as well. If
something prevents one from memorizing his due portion in the
specified day, he should not move to a new one portion till he has
perfected his memorization of the former.
5.
Stick to One Specific Copy of the Glorious Qur’an
One
factor that helps to master memorization is to stick to just one
copy of the Glorious Qur’an. This is because man memorizes things
by sight as well as by hearing. The form of the verses and their
locations on the page of the Qur’an are stamped in one’s mind
because of the frequent repetition and the act of looking at the
copy itself. Thus, if one changes his copy or memorizes from more
than one, his memorization will not be so easy or good enough.
6.
Understand What You Are Memorizing
One
of the greatest aides to memorizing the Glorious Qur’an is to
understand the verses and recognize the relationship between them.
Thus, one who intends to memorize should read some explanations of
the intended verses and should understand how they are related. He
should also be attentive as he reads to easily remember the verses
afterwards. He should not depend solely on his understanding of the
verses; rather, the repetition should be the basis of memorizing.
This is to enable the tongue to read even in times when the mind is
not wholly attentive. The one who depends mostly on understanding is
liable to forget and stop as soon as his mind is not attentive. This
happens mostly during long recitations.
7.
Do Not Move from One Surah to Another Till You Connect Its Beginning
to Its End
After
memorizing a whole surah of the Glorious Qur’an, one should not
move to the next till he has mastered it perfectly. He should
connect its beginning to its end, and his tongue should move with it
smoothly and easily without exerting his mind in remembering the
verses and continuing the recitation. Rather, his memorization
should be as smooth as water and he should recite it without any
faltering whatever, even if he is not attentive to the meanings
sometimes. It should be like the case when one recites Al-Fatihah
without any effort, and this, of course, is due to its being
frequently repeated and recited. Likening this to Al-Fatihah is
something figurative, as no one will commit the whole Qur’an to
his memory just like it. The point is that one should try to fix the
whole Surah in his mind, connected and smooth, and not to move to
the next till he has memorized it perfectly.
8.
Recite Frequently before Others
One
who memorizes the Glorious Qur’an should not depend only on his
memorization. He should always recite before another memorizer or
even one who just follows along in a copy of the Qur’an. It is
preferable that that person be an excellent memorizer to notify the
new memorizer with the things he might forget or recite
inattentively.
It
is true that one may memorize something incorrectly and never notice
it, even though he is looking at the copy of the Qur’an because
reading precedes sight. The memorizer may look at the copy of the
Qur’an and not recognize the fault’s location. Hence, reciting
the Qur’an before others is a perfect way to amend these mistakes
and set one’s mind always attentive.
9.
Follow Up Frequently
The
Glorious Qur’an differs from other materials intended to be
committed to one’s heart as it is more fleeting from one’s mind,
as shown by the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him,
“By Him in Whose Hand my life is! It runs away (is forgotten)
faster than camels that are released from their tying ropes.”
(Agreed-upon)
As
soon as one who memorizes the Qur’an leaves it, it flees from him
and he rapidly forgets it. So, one must follow up frequently and
continuously observe in order to preserve it. The Prophet, peace and
blessings be upon him, said, “The example of the person who knows
the Qur’an by heart is like the owner of tied camels. If he keeps
them tied, he will control them, but if he releases them, they will
run away.” He also said, “Keep on reciting the Qur’an, for, by
Him in Whose Hand my life is, the Qur’an runs away (is
forgotten) faster than camels that are released from their tying
ropes.” (Narrated by Al-Bukhari and Muslim)
This
means that one who memorizes the whole Qur’an should read at least
a whole juz’ per day, and he should not exceed ten juz’s per
day. The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said, “He who
finishes the recitation of the Qur’an in less than three days,
does not understand it.” (Agreed-upon)
Through
this frequent follow-up and permanent observation, committing the
Qur’an to one’s heart can be kept free from forgetting.
10.
Pay Attention to Similarities
The
Glorious Qur’an has similarities in meanings, words, and verses,
as Allah the Almighty says, {Allah has sent down the fairest
discourse - as a Book, consimilar (and) oft-repeated, whereat
shiver the skins of the ones who are apprehensive of their Lord;
thereafter their skins and their hearts soften to the Remembrance of
Allah}. (Al-Zumar, 23)
It
is a fact that the Qur’an has more than six thousand verses,
around two thousand of which are similar in one way or another. In
some locations the similarity is exact, while in others there may be
a difference of just one letter or one or a few words.
Hence,
one who memorizes the Qur’an should pay great attention to the
similar verses. The more one pays attention to these similarities,
the firmer his memorization gets. One may find help in reading the
books that deal with similar verses. Foremost among these books are:
-
Durat
Al-Tanzil wa Ghurat Al-Ta’wil by Al-Khateeb Al-Iskafi.
-
Asrar
Al-Tikrar fi Al-Qur’an, by Mahmoud Ibn Hamzah Ibn Nasr Al-Karmani,
and others.
11.
Seize the Opportunity of the Golden Years to Memorize
The
successful person is the one who seizes the opportunity of his early
golden years from five to nearly twenty-three. Man’s memory during
this period is in the best shape. Before five, one is too young to
pay attention to memorizing, and after twenty-three his faculty to
memorize begins to decline while his faculty of comprehension and
understanding starts to increase. So, as much as possible, one
should use these golden years to commit the Qur’an to memory.
Committing
anything to one’s heart during this early age takes place very
fast, while forgetting it happens slowly. On the contrary, when man
gets old he memorizes very slowly and forgets very quickly. Thus,
the Arabic proverb is perfectly true that says “Learning in
childhood is just like engraving on stones, while learning in
adulthood is just like drawing on water.”
So,
we should not waste these golden years and should try to commit the
Glorious Qur’an to our hearts. If we were unable to do so, it is
better not to escape the opportunity in regards to our children. May
Allah grant us all success, and send blessings on our Prophet
Muhammad, his family and Companions as well.
*Translated
by `Ali As-Sayed Al-Halawani, Lecturer, Department of English,
Faculty of Al-Alsun, Al-Minia University, Egypt, & Head of the
Fatwa English Department, www.Islamonline.net.
|
