Sunday, 29 June 2014

Hifz Series: Part IV – How to Memorise a Section of the Qur'an

Bismi llāh, wa l-ḥamdu lillāh, wa ṣ-ṣalātu wa s-salāmu ‘alā rasūli llāh, wa ‘alā ālihī wa ṣaḥbihī wa man wālāh

Please note: this is what worked best for me. Everyone has their different methods of memorisation, and you may find that a certain method of memorisation works better for you than the one given below. Use what works best for you. If you feel comfortable with the method you currently use to memorise a section of the Qur’ān, stick to it. Otherwise, if you haven't quite figured it out yet, you can try the method below and see if it works out for you. If it doesn't, try modifying it to suit you. Alternatively, ask someone else who has completed their ḥifẓ or is making good progress with his/her ḥifẓ, or search online.

1. Warm-up. This helps ready yourself to absorb a new section of the Qur’ān and commit it to memory. Warm-up by revising the previous day's memorisation, followed by reading—whilst looking—the section you plan on committing to memory.
2. Read—whilst looking—the first āyah of the section, repeating it three times.
3. Try to recall as much as you can of the āyah. Whatever you can recall, repeat it seven times. If you stumble, you must restart the count to seven.
4. Read, whilst looking, the next few words of the āyah three times. Then, recall those words without looking, repeating those words seven times. (If three times isn't enough for you to be able to recall anything after removing your eyes from the muṣḥaf, try increasing this number to five or seven or any number that suits you.) If you stumble whilst trying to recall, restart the count to seven.
5. Recall what you have memorised from the beginning of the āyah and link it with what you have just memorised, three times. If you stumble, restart the count.
6. Continue until you have reached the end of the āyah. Once you've reached the end of the āyah, recall the whole āyah from memory three times. If you stumble, restart the count.
7. Repeat steps 2-6 for the subsequent āyāt. Once you have completed an āyah, recall from memory the first āyah till the latest āyah. If you stumble, complete the āyah you are on first, then restart from the first āyah.
8. Once you have committed the entire section to memory, recall it from memory, repeating it three times.
9. End by praising Allah. This can be done by saying "ṣadaqa Llāhu l-‘aẓīm", "al-ḥamdu lillāh" or the like. Make a small du‘ā’, asking Allah to bless you with the Qur’ān, to make you a person of the Qur’ān and to aid you in your endeavours to memorise the Qur’ān.

This style is more geared towards longer and medium-length āyāt, such as those in al-Baqarah, al-Kahf, Yāsīn, al-Mulk and al-Bayyinah. As for suwar with shorter āyāt, such as al-Raḥmān, al-Wāqi‘ah and al-A‘lā, I would suggest that you take one or two lines as an "āyah".

May Allah aid you in your ḥifẓ endeavours. May He make us the people of the Qur’ān, those who are His people and His elect ones. May He make us from those who permit what it has permitted, forbid what it has forbidden, act upon its unambiguous āyāt, believe without doubt in its ambiguous āyāt, and recite and learn it the way it ought to be recited and learned. May He make it an intercessor and proof for us, not against us, on the Day of Judgement. May He make us from those who recite the Qur’ān and guard its commandments, and may He not make us of those who recite the Qur’ān but violate its commandments. Āmīn.

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