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To Learn the Holy Qur'an by Heart
By: M. Mansoureh Gharib
Virtues in Memorization and Recitation of the Holy Qur’an:
There have been many books written and lectures given about the honorable Qur’an and the importance of it’s recitation. Therefore there is no need to mention it’s virtues in this article. But on the subject of recitation and memorization of the Holy Qur’an, many verses are in the Book itself which repeatedly insist on the necessity of being familiar and acquainted with Allah’s Words. Please pay attention to the last verse of Surah Muzammel.
“...therefore read as much of it as is easy (to you), and keep up prayer and pay the poor-rate and offer to Allah a goodly gift,...”(73:20)
This is because Exalted God knows that some of you are ill and diseased and others face problems because they have to travel in order to acquire livelihood. But either of these problems must not prevent you from being familiar and accustomed to the words of God and in all these conditions you must recite Qur’an as much as you are able to.
In fact, in the difficult conditions man needs Qur’an and familiarity with it’s luminous verses more than usual and under normal conditions. Pay close attention that the emphasis of this verse is upon the word recitation. In the Holy Qur’an less subjects can be found with this emphasis and persuasion. And this emphasis is the best expression of the Qur’an’s virtues and it’s importance.
One of the most important subjects in the words of the Ahl ul Bait (AS) is memorization of the Holy Qur’an. Here are some of the traditions of the infallibles relating to the Qur’an, it’s memorization and recitation:
The Messenger of Allah (SAW) says: “One who memorizes the Holy Qur’an then thinks that Allah does not forgive him/her is among the ones who ridicule Allah’s words”. (Mostadrek al-Wassail wa Mustanbit al-Masail, Vol. 4, p. 269)
This saying of the Prophet (SAW) is in fact an expressing of the virtues of the Holy Qur’an and it’s memorization which in turn coveys a message to it’s memorizers.
Imam J’afar Sadiq (AS) considering this subject says: Recite Qur’an and deposit it into your heart, because the Most High Allah doesn’t punish the heart which in itself is a place for the Qur’an. (Wassail ash Shi’a, Vol. 6, p. 167)
Also Imam J’afar Sadiq (AS) said: The memorizer of the Holy Qur’an who acts according to it’s
orders will be placed next to the angels and Allah’s worthy and special messengers. (Usul al-Kafi, Vol. 2, p. 441)
Allah’s Messenger (SAW) said: The number of grades in Paradise is according to the number of Qur’anic verses. Thus, when one enters the heaven, he will be asked to read the Holy Qur’an and elevate, then he will go up and raise a grade for each verse. Thus there is no level higher in the heaven than the level of the memorizer of the Qur’an. (Mostadrek al-Wassail wa Mustanbit al-Masail, Vol. 4, p. 231)
What is the Reason for so much Insistence on the Memorization of the Holy Qur’an?
Since the Messenger (SAW) and infallible Imams (AS) are the most familiar and wisest individuals with regard to man’s diseases and mental illnesses, they order their followers to purify their hearts and be prepared to place the luminous verses of the Qur’an in them.
The Qur’an is Dhekr (remembrance of Allah ) “And this is a blessed Reminder which We have revealed; will you then deny it?” (21:50), and brings rest to the hearts of the believers “...now surely by Allah’s remembrance are the hearts set at rest.”(13:28).
Ignoring the remembrance of Allah and His Reminder will result in difficulty and hardship in life “And whoever turns away from My reminder, his shall surely be a straitened life, and We will raise him on the day of resurrection, blind” (20:124)
It is proven that no null or void verses appear in the Holy Qur’an and all of it’s verses are cures for ill hearted persons. “O mankind! there has come to you indeed and admonition from your Lord and a healing for what is in the breasts and a guidance and a mercy for the believers.” (10:57) So the breast that accommodates the Qur’an and observes the limitations that the Holy Qur’an orders is safe and secure from illness and will always be an open means for his salvation. One who owns such an heart deserves to be happy. Because he/she has gained all of the things that human beings need in order to achieve tranquillity and peace. “Say: In the grace of Allah and in His mercy- in that they should rejoice; it is better than that which they gather.” (10:58)
Therefore the continued presence of memorizers of the Holy Qur’an is one of the worthy factors keeping the Qur’an from misappropriation and tampering. Being written only in pages and not in Muslims’ hearts, the Holy Qur’an would be stolen or the enemies of Islam would change it’s words. Also the enemies would create differences in various books, which would create disunity among Muslim brothers. Thus memorizing the Holy Qur’an and transmitting it from generation to generation keeps this Divine Book from violation.
First Steps to Memorizing the Holy Qur’an
1. Intention
Without doubt the value of any action is determined by it’s underlying intention. Therefore the importance and necessity of having pure aims and intentions, devoid of falsity and polytheism is obvious and there is no need for explanation. Paying attention to the excellence of memorization and memorizers of the Holy Qur’an, and striving to arrive at the light and boundless sea of truths within it, and understanding the excellent position for the real memorizers of the Holy Qur’an in the hereafter that has been anticipated in discourses can effectively motivate pure intentions.
2. Determination:
A person may be interested in memorizing the Holy Qur’an and wants to start it, but he/she does not have strong determination to follow his/her goal.
Intention and effort are not one in the same. Aim is just wanting, but resolution certainly is followed by ability. In fact it mobilizes all human potentiality and brings them to actuality. The evident sign of strong determination is giving priority to the work.
3. Trust in God:
A Believer knows that at no time is he independent of God’s help and assistance, and in all s he is dependent on the grace of Allah. Without doubt, keeping this approach in mind makes achieving this aim become easy. Of course reliance on God and expecting His glory is the next step after resolution. It means that when you are determined and make a decision, trust in God.
4. Du’a (Supplication)
Prayer is a very useful and suitable means to draw Allah’s attention and help to memorize the Holy Qur’an.
In this regard Imam Ja’far Sadiq (AS) has a great supplication and reading this prayer and paying full attention to it’s sublime concepts can influence the mentality of the person who memorizes the Holy Qur’an. This honorable prayer is in the fourth volume of the book “Usul-e-Kafi”. The tradition relating to memorization of the Holy Qur’an is in chapter one of book four.
Before beginning memorization it is necessary to remember that full acquaintance with reading Qur’an and to some extent applied Tajwid (recitation) is necessary.
If one is not fully acquainted with correct and fluent reading, the memorization becomes more complicated and takes twice as much effort to be done. Moreover, the words may be pronounced and learned in a wrong way. Then in the future correction becomes very difficult. Certainly if the memorizer of the Qur’an adds the beauty and eloquence of chanting then his recitation not only will have a more and deeper influence on the society, but also he/she will shares in it’s benefit more than anyone else. In fact, memorization, chanting and recitation are complementary and have inter-related. Therefore, in order to gain greater benefit, it is suggested to the readers of the Qur’an especially it’s memorizers to use special video and tape cassettes as educational instruments.
As the bulk of the learned matter increases, there is a possibility that due to the resemblance of some parts, one might make a mistake while recalling a Chapter (Surah). A student must take the initiative and select a few symbols and signs to make his learning and recalling easier.
For example, at the end of Surah Al-e Imran, i.e. from verse 176-178 these sentences are similar and there is a very slight difference between them.
like: verse 176 = Wa-lahum Azab-un-Azeem
“ 177 = Wa-lahum Azab-un-Aleem
“ 178 = Wa-lahum Azab-un-Maheen
Learning and retaining these three verses is a bit time consuming. If we want to learn the correct order of these verses, keeping in mind the last words which are Azeem, Aleem, Maheen, we must select the word “Aam” as a symbol which means ‘Year’, although we aren’t concerned with the symbolic word.
What could be done not to forget the learned verses?
The best way not to forget is to plan a daily or weekly schedule to revise the verses you have learned. This schedule should be according to the quantity of the learned matter and the number of difficulties one has and it also depends on the learning power.
The correct method to revise the verses
The best method to revise the verses is to ready by heart without referring to the Qur’an. Whenever you miss a word or make a mistake and you cannot continue the reading, you should refer to the Qur’an so that it remains in your memory. It is sometimes good to read by looking into the Qur’an and concentrating on the words and verses because firstly this is a good eye exercise and secondly by giving a thorough reading the words will be clear in your memory.
Apart from reading and recalling on your own if you have a friend, request him/her to listen to the verses you recite and tell you your errors and mistakes while learning.
It is an important point to mention that it is not right if you don’t concern the Qur’an in case of forgetting a word while reciting by heart, but instead wait for your memory to recall. The best advice is to refer to the Qur’an immediately where you find a problem in recalling. In this way the forgotten word will be retained in your memory and continuous repetition will have a good effect on it. By doing this, it is necessary to concentrate seriously.
The effect of hearing the recitation of Qur’an
Sometimes one doesn’t have the energy to revise the verses orally. At this moment to make use of your time and memory without exhausting yourself, the best thing is to listen to a recorded cassette and upon hearing it you can revise the wordings of the Qur’an in your mind. This is also possible that while listening to the cassette your mistakes will be eliminated. This has been proven by experience that this kind of recollection puts lesser pressure on your memory.
Paying attention to the meanings of the verses is effective
Paying attention to the meanings of every verse not only helps in learning the verses but it also helps in successive mind training. For the human mind comprehensive passages are much easier to learn than a comprehension with difficult and unfamiliar words. In the Qur’an more or less each verse is related to the other and this plays a greater role in memorizing it.
There are two ways to get acquainted with the translation of the verses. One is to consult a Qur’an with a complete translation and the second way which is primarily important is to learn the basic Arabic grammar and to become acquainted with the meanings of the difficult words in the Qur’an.
How to start memorizing the Qur’an
Keeping in mind that knowing the translation of the verses plays an important role in learning, another way is also suggested to memorize the Qur’an and that is: selection of one of the Qur’anic stories makes learning easier. The verses of these stories are all related to each other and this makes it pleasant and melodious to pursue.
It also motivates the learner to continue learning the verses, because he wants to reach the end of the story and this motivation itself plays an important role in memorizing.
To start memorizing the Qur’an, one can select the short Surahs from the 30th chapter of the Qur’an. Most people know a number of these Surahs by heart and they can be easily memorized. You can even recite the learned chapters in your 5-daily prayers and Nawafils, and feel the pleasure of memorizing these Surahs in this way.
Organizing an association for the memorizer of Qur’an
Organizing an association of a group of people who are interested in memorizing Qur’an is very fruitful. To have a daily or weekly session among the members of this group is a good source of quick learning. But the parallelism of these members should be observed and it should be seen that all of them have the same mental level, so that they can systematically follow each other to memorize the Qur’an.
It is suggested that for example if two people want to learn Qur’an together, one should recite the first learned verse and at this time the other one should concentrate on hearing. When the first one stops, the second one should continue the verse where it was stopped by the first one, and now the first one should concentrate on listening to it. In this way they should both continue reciting the verses - where one stops the other one should continue. But in the 2nd round the recitation of the verses should be vice-versa.
Reminder
We will here mention some Islamic narrations in which a few meals and different ways of strengthening the mental abilities and learning power have been introduced.
For example, eating carrots for breakfast, eating sesame seeds, , honey, ginger, pumpkin, watermelon and many other things are helpful in strengthening the memory.
It is narrated by an old Qur’anic learner that speaking the truth and observance of virtue and piety in all matters is unparalleled in strengthening the memory.
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