Tips On Memorising Qur'an

As promised, here's a post dedicated to tips on memorising Qur'an. It is by far an a comprehensive list. In fact, this list has little worth seeing as I'm only gonna be listing things that help me when I try and memorise. But nonetheless, maybe someone else will be able to benefit from it.. (and I'll get some of the reward... x70 because it's Ramadan :) - LOL just kidding).

• Pick a specific time every day to just sit down with the Qur'an and try to memorise. For a fixed time as well (I'd say ideally an hour, but you might be able to do more or less). Recently, when I went to India, I found that the first night I was having a lot of trouble sleeping. I woke up at Fajr, and then just stayed up. So I went and picked up the Qur'an from the shelf, and sat at my musallah (I think I sat for more than an hour the first day, I was feeling quite eager :)). I did this for about 3 days, and managed to memorise Surah al-Qiyamah (I'd already memorised some ayaat before I had got there). For some, that may seem like a long time, but for me it was a pretty big achievement. I found that in each hour, I managed to commit to memory around 7 verses. Alhamdulillah, I found memorising that way to be extremely beneficial, it's unfortunate that I never kept it up after that. If you do stay up after Fajr to memorise, why not just stay seated on your musallah until the time for Salatul-Duha? That was my intention in India, but I didn't know the correct time or fiqh of praying it (I had, and still have, never prayed it before - in my defence, I had no access to any books or the Internet to figure it out, although I'm sure I still could have made more of an effort to have prayed it...).
• Load your iPod (or whatever MP3 device you inevitably have :)) with what you're trying to memorise. Personally, I like editing that specific track on my laptop before, so I can just get it to repeat a few verses at a time, and then when I've learnt it, I'll make it repeat over the next few verses (it's easy to do on iTunes, right-click, Get Info..., Options, Start/Stop Time - it's a bid fiddly).
• Listen to several qurraa'. Be it on YouTube or on your iPod again. I always find that that particularly helps with pronunciation, and it's nice to hear different styles at once - it helps you to develop your own style.
• When you've commited a portion to memory, recite it in your salah. This is a good way to make sure you don't forget anything. When I'm trying to memorise something, I'm constantly reciting it to myself throughout the day. And I mean constaaaantlyyyyy. The wajib length of recitation of a surah after al-Faatiha in salaah is the equivalent of 3 short verses (hence the allowance for reciting ayat al-Kursi, which is longer than, for example, surah al-Kawthar, which is only 3 verses long).
• Even after you've committed some ayaat to memory and moved on, make sure to refer back to what you've learnt every now and then. It's really easy to miss out some of the finer details, like holding down that shadda, stopping at that hamza, elongating that mudda, etc.
• Finally, make du'a to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to aide you. I must admit that this isn't something I remember to do all the time, but as the hadith goes, "prayer is the weapon of the believer", and how can we expect to be able to memorise the book of Allah wa ta'ala without requesting His help. This is definitely something I need to remember and do more often also.

A lot of these pointers I got myself from this article: http://muslimmatters.org/2009/10/27/13-steps-to-memorize-the-quran-by-yasir-qadhi/. There are a few extras there which will undoubtedly be helpful, so I highly recommend checking out that link, even before reading this post (hmm, maybe I should have put it at the beginning... well, I'm too lazy to cut and paste so it can just stay where it is).

There are a few websites I sometimes use also when trying to memorise Qur'an. The websites can all be found on my Islamic Link page, but here they are anyway:

• www.quranbrowser.org
• www.searchtruth.com
• www.mounthira.com
• www.tanzil.info

Like I said before, this is by far a comprehensive list. Who am I to give pointers, I'm too ashamed to say how little of the Qur'an I know by memory. Nonetheless, maybe something I've written will be of benefit for you, and that in turn will also be of benefit to me. InshaAllah.

Ramadan Mubarak

It's official. My local masjid and the musallah I go to both declared Ramadan started last night. Alhamdulillah. No conflict there! I have some family on the other side of London who are starting tonight, but besides that, as far as I know, most started last night. May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala make this Ramadan easy on all of us, enable us to stay focused in our Islam and 'ibadah, and forgive every Muslim that has lived, lives, and will live until Yawm al-Qiyamah.

Ramadan Mubarak.

Ramadan Goals

I don't know how many people already do this (you might do it without the formality of sitting yourself down and thinking about it), but I think it would be a good idea to set some goals for this holy month. Attainable and realistic goals, but goals that will still push us a little... and that we'll try to surpass. These goals could be a number of things, such as:

• re-memorising some surahs (the real plural is suwar, as I learnt from Dr. Abu Ameena Bilal Philips, so I'll use that from now on) that you may have forgotten.
• learning a certain number of shorter suwar if you dont't already know a lot (the number you pick totally depends on the amount of free time you have, but be a little ambitious).
• if you already know quite a few of the shorter suwar, try memorising the entire juz' 'amma.
• learn some longer suwar, or segments, who's rewards have been specifically mentioned in the ahadith of our Rasool sall-Allahu 'alayhi wa sallam, such as the first 5 and last 3 verses of Surah Baqarah (there are numerous ahadith discussing the virtues of various ayaat of this surah) , the first 10 verses of Surah Kahf (protection from ad-Dajjal), Surah Ya-Seen (a surah to recite when somebody is near to death), Surah ar-Rahman (has got to be the most YouTube'd surah), Surah Mulk (which will intercede for one on Yawm al-Qiyamah if they have memorised it), and so many others.
• waking up to stand and pray tahajjud as much as one can.
• praying Salatul-Tasbih as much as one can (inshaAllah I'll try to write a post about the method and benefits of Salatul-Tasbih).
• learning a new (prophetic) du'a a day.
• praying all of your sunnah and nafl salaah.
• increasing other superogatory salaah, eg. praying 2 rak'ah when entering the masjid (Tahhiyatul-Masjid), or praying 2 rak'ah after making wudu (Tahhiyatul-Wudu).
• trying to stay in a constant state of wudu, (even going to sleep with wudu).

These goals don't have to be limited to 'ibadah (although this is where most of our focus should be). We can seek the pleasure of Allah 'azza wa jal in so many other ways, from helping our mothers prepare suhoor and iftaar (this one's for girls AND boys :)), to just simply practing a bit of sabr in this month of jihad when the people around us run short on theirs. Even just keeping the TV off would be beneficial, think of the blessed minutes that we would be able to reclaim and spend in worship, rather than sitting glued to a (religiously questionable) box (inshaAllah one day maybe I'll write a long-winded post about how I feel about TV). This list is by far exhaustive, but I just wanted to throw a few ideas out there. I know some of the ones I wrote are a bit ambitious, and I know that I won't be able to do most of them, but I just thought of a list that would be suitable for people of different capabilities.

The goals I have made for myself are to complete memorising Surah ar-Rahman (I'm about 30ish ayaat through), and inshaAllah I want to try and memorise Surah Mulk also. That second one I think is a bit ambitious, but inshAllah if I make the effort Allah tabaraka wa ta'ala will make it easy for me, as He will for all of us if we make the effort. There is a hadith qudsi (the words of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, but unlike the Qur'an in that they are expressed in the words of our Rasool sall-Allahu 'alayhi wa sallam rather than being the direct words of Allah 'azza wa jal) where Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala tells us "Take one step towards me, I will take ten steps towards you. Walk towards me, I will run towards you." SubhanAllah. Knowing this, any goal would seem a lot easier. InshaAllah I intend to write a post in the coming days with some tips that have personally made it easier for me to memorise Qur'an. InshaAllah, it'll be beneficial for you as well.

As a last point, I just wanted to include a hadith on the performance of Tahhiyatul-Wudu. It is recorded in Bukhari and Muslim that Sayyiduna Abu Hurairah radiAllahu ta'ala 'anhu related that the Messenger of Allah sall-Allahu 'alayhi was-sallam said to Sayyiduna Bilal ibn Rabaah al-Habashi, "Tell me from which of your acts you are most hopeful (the act with which you hope to receive the most reward from Allah 'azza wa jal) since your acceptance of Islam, because I heard the sounds of the steps of your shoes in front of me in paradise." Sayyiduna Bilal radiAllah ta'ala 'anhu replied, "I do not consider any act more hopeful than whenever I make wudu at any time of day or night, I offer salah for as long as was destined for me to offer." SubhanAllah, the wording of course is not an exact translation, but nonetheless I hope I was able to somewhat convey the beauty of the hadith.

Fiqh of Ramadan

This post is for myself just as much as anybody else. Probably more so. I just wanted to make a bit of a point about getting our priorities right for this month. Inevitabley, the same issues will arise this year as did last year, and the year before, and the many years before that. Before we all start our Moonsighting Wars, our intense 8 rak'ah vs. 20 rak'ah debates, and the obligation of praying jumu'a on 'eid, we need to take a moment to really think about how we spend our time this month. This isn't a month of fiqh. This is the month of the Qur'an. The month of 'ibadah. The month of drawing closer and seeking the forgiveness of Allahu subhanahu wa ta'ala. In Mishkat al-Masabih (a popular collection of hadith in the subcontinent, original compiled by the Persian Shafi'i scholar al-Baghawi and then revised and improved by at-Tabrizi), a hadith is recorded that states "and it (Ramadan) is such a month, the first ten days are the days of mercy, the middle ten days are the days of forgiveness, and the last ten days are the days in which many are emancipated from the fire of Jahannam". I say all this (once again, primarily to myself) so that we don't get distracted from seeking the bounty and favours of Allah 'azza wa jal by discussing and arguing about these matters, which although may be relevant, are not the purpose of this month. Rather than wasting our time worrying about how others are incorrectly performing their acts of worship, I'm gonna be a bit selfish here and say to instead focus on how we perform our acts of worship. Wouldn't our time be better utilised by learning the meanings of the ayaat of the Qur'an, so that we can concentrate and focus better in our salah? These are all important matters, but we can leave them for the other 11 months of the year that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has blessed us with, and just try to utilise this gift from Allah wa ta'ala in the way that it was intended. And besides, these matters of fiqh are not for us laymen to argue over. These are matters to be left to the fuqaha and the mujtahidoon. Let our shuyookh worry about these matters, for we are not obliged to debate about them. Let us instead worry about asking Allah 'azza wa jal for forgiveness from our sins, the sins of our family, and the sins of every believer that has lived, that lives, and that will live until Yawm al-Qiyamah.

I just want to reiterate one final time that this post is for myself before anybody else, because I am definitely guilty of indulging in some of the acts that I have mentioned above before.

(P.S. Considering all of the readers that I know about of my blog are girls, I don't know how much this post will appeal to you. I've noticed that it's mainly guys that love getting embroiled in such issues. Forgive me if it was a waste of your time).

(P.S.S. The title was meant to be funny, considering my No-Fiqh rule from the last post. Maybe I should stop assuming that my readers don't get my jokes...).

My Ramadan Ideas

InshaAllah, we have all been blessed by Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to witness another Ramadan. I just wanted to write a post detailing how I intend to utilise my blog in this blessed month.

Alhamdulillah, last year I had a very beneficial Ramadan. I had the whole month free, and did the most 'ibadah and dhikr of Allah 'azza wa jal than I had ever done before in my life. I also felt that I had developed a stronger connection with the Qur'an. Unfortunately, I won't have as much free time this year, but nonetheless I do not intend to let this holy month that Allah 'azza wa jal has granted us to pass by without trying to gain from its numerous rewards. I'm going to be taking a course over the first two weekends of Ramadan called Journey Through The Qur'an (http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/event.php?eid=138985349447775). The course sounds really good and inshaAllah will be very beneficial. The following weekend I also intend to attend an iftaar event at my university that will also have a few talks. Besides that, I guess I'll just load up my iPod for work time, and try and spend as much of my evenings and weekends in my local musallah.

OK, as for my blog... My initial thought was that I should abstain from it for the whole of Ramadan. My thinking was that I shouldn't be wasting any precious minutes updating it (perhaps this was also an excuse to be lazy :)). And then I thought again... who am I kidding? I'm gonna end up wasting time somewhere anyway, so why not try and be a little productive and use my blog as a means for 'ibadah. As i have learnt from Mufti Muhammad ibn Adam, any deed with the right intention can be considered 'ibadah (the example he gave was that even if you had a sip of water, so as to replenish yourself so that you could carry on standing in salaah, or help keep you strong so that you can carry on doing the work of Allah tabaraka wa ta'ala, this will be considered an act of ibadah). I had some good ideas about some beneficial posts I could do throughout the month i.e. I was thinking of posting an ayaat of Qur'an a day that would be easy to memorise, along with translation and meaning. And then I remembered... I'm lazy. I don't wanna intend to do something like that and then start slacking. Especially in Ramadan. Imagine having such an intention and then not fulfilling it. So what I will do is post little reminders, tips, ahadith, and ayaat whenever I can. No promises as to how often. And no fiqh... well I'll try not to. Forgive me if I do, I do love studying fiqh, so I may slip up. I hope I won't post anything that I'm not qualified to, all I will really be doing is posting things I'd have heard or read, so nothing from my own thinking. If it seems that I'm over-stepping the boundaries, I implore you to please let me know. InshaAllah, I hope I'll be able to produce some posts that will be beneficial for both myself and for you(and by you, I mean the 5 readers I know about... (no more lying or deluding myself, it's Ramadan time!)).

OK, so that's the formalities out of the way. I love this time of year, more than any other. Alhamdulillah, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has truly showered his blessings upon us if we are able to witness another Ramadan, and inshaAllah we won't disrgard this favour of Allah and take it for granted.

(P.S. I'll still throw in a couple random 'secular' posts to keep the humour going :)).

What A Dream That Turned Out To Be...

After weeks and weeks of toiling, waging a war scathed with battle scars (a paper cut in my first week), I was ecstatic when it had seemed I had won the battle. When I posted last week about my dream coming true, and having been able to put 50 files into my folder at once, I thought that it would be a once in a lifetime achievement. A memorable event. Never to be seen again on the face of this Earth. And now... I can't seem to stop putting the damn things all in at once! ('damn' isn't a bad word in England... (that's for my overseas readers..)). I mean, now I'm just starting to get sick of it. There's no enjoyment in it anymore. No sense of fulfillment. It's started to make me thing that maybe I had slightly over reacted with my celebrations last week... Oh dear, that thought is tantalisingly close to turning my whole world upside down and making me re-evaluate my priorities and focuses in life. So let's just forget about it...

WOHOOOOOO! I got another 50 in at once! For like the 10th time!! I'm awesome :).