A Letter From Heart to Heart
Advice in Qur'an Memorization
Sr. Dana Jarrar
Assalamu Alaikum warahmatullah wabarakatuhu
Alhamdulillah Wassalatu Wassalam ala Rasulillah
Subhan Allah, this heart dear Sisters, is the container that Allah chose to protect His words. This Qur'an, when it first came down, is what filled the hearts of the sahaba, may we be continuing their path. And may this heart that is holding Allah's words pour out the beauty of the Qur'an to all those around us through our manners and deeds in sha Allah. And that our whole life shows the beauty of the Qur'an.
I want to share some advice, first to myself, and then to you, from my experience in memorizing Qur'an. You will experience some hardships, but in the end you will find a beautiful happiness, like picking a ripe fruit after months of watering and weeding the plant. You will feel grateful, alhamdulilah, that Allah facilitated for you to be patient through all these days to find time in each day to sit with the Qur'an.
This heart is the place that Allah looks at. So how much do we have to take care of this heart, so that it can hold the words of Allah, but not only to hold them, but also to benefit from them? Like the water that comes down to the earth. If there is a seed in the earth, then it will start sprouting, growing, and start to make fruit.
In memorizing Allah's words, we can look to those before us - the sahaba, the scholars, the memorizers, the sisters who memorized before us. They all spoke about how the Qur'an can easily get forgotten. That means forgetting some words, some ayahs... that is normal.
There are several things that will help us to stay consistent and keep up with our memorization.
1. Thikr: The shaytan will try to interfere. To make sure your day is protected from the shaytan recite this thikr 'la ilaha illa Allah wahdahu la shareeka lah, lahul mulku wa lahul hamd, wa huwa ala kulli shay'in qadeer' 100 times in the morning. And you can also do 100 times in the afternoon.
لا اله الا الله وحده لا شريك له، له الملك وله الحمد، وهو على كل شيء قدير
I found that this thikr has a powerful affect. One of it's virtues is that if you recite it in the morning the shaytan can't come near you for the whole day. And if you recited it in the afternoon he can't come near you the whole night. If you do this, you have closed a big battle! It might take 5-7 minutes but this is the purification of your day.
2. Memorize first thing in the morning: Before you start your busy day, have a focused sitting with the Qur’an and memorize the ayahs. Then throughout your day do the repetitions (while driving, doing chores, during salat). By the end of the day you will be done and then send your emoji. The next day when you come to review, you will find that you remember it because you were doing your repetitions all day. This will create a strong memorization in sha Allah. If the memorization was hard or taking too long and you couldn’t finish in the early morning, then split it into two parts and arrange two shorter focused sittings with the Qur’an each day. Because if you sit for one long time the shaytan will start making you feel that Qur’an memorization is too hard and takes too much time and you have other more important things to do.
3. Put your trust in Allah and rely on the schedule that is sent in the group. You are in very good hands. I found strong results from this system. Before when I was trying to memorize on my own, I didn't know which surah to start with, how much to memorize, what to review. Then I was blessed to find this group, who knew what they are doing. They have studied each aspect very carefully. And it was a beautiful experience.
4. Protect your heart. There are some sins that when you do them you will find yourself not able to memorize that day. So we have to be careful and figure these out. It might be frustrating when you can't memorize, but it is actually a good thing. Because Allah is trying to purify you. You have to watch yourself and that's how Allah is helping you to grow. For the Qur'an to be in your heart, the heart has to be strong. There are certain characteristics that Allah is trying to build in you. Be aware of your deeds and words as much as you can. This is not a song to sing, it is Allah's words. So if these words will stay in the heart, we have to be careful what affects it. Sometimes backbiting will prevent you from memorizing, sometimes listening to music will affect you, sometimes yelling at your kids, fights with our spouse... And that is how Allah wants to raise you with this Qur'an, until your character becomes the Qur'an.
Lastly, dear sisters, remember the hadith 'The khair of you are those that learn and teach the Qur'an.' In sha Allah, we have entered a door of the doors of khair. May Allah help us complete it and facilitate for us to protect the Qur'an in our tongues, our hearts, our actions, and our character. May Allah make it a support for us on the day of Qiyameh. O Allah we ask You by every name you have to make the Qur'an the spring of our hearts, the light of our chests, and the remover of sorrows. And give us tawfiq in reciting, memorizing, studying, and implementing the Qur'an in our days and nights.
The path is beautiful, but there will be some difficulties along the way that will need some tiring efforts. But as long as we are together in this group, in sha Allah the difficulties will be easier. If you find yourself going down, don't go it alone and be vulnerable to your nafs and shaytan and desires. Right away come to your sisters that love you. The ones that love for you what they love for themselves. And in sha Allah we will stay on this path with our reliance on Allah and our sisterhood and be one hand united in khair.
We ask Allah to make this Qur'an a light in our graves, and a means to dressing our parents in the clothes of honor and the crown of light. And to ascend through the levels of Jannah and hear Allah telling us 'Recite and rise in status as you used to recite in the world, your position will be at the last verse you recite.'
Wassalamu Alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuhu
Advice in Qur'an Memorization
Sr. Dana Jarrar
Assalamu Alaikum warahmatullah wabarakatuhu
Alhamdulillah Wassalatu Wassalam ala Rasulillah
Subhan Allah, this heart dear Sisters, is the container that Allah chose to protect His words. This Qur'an, when it first came down, is what filled the hearts of the sahaba, may we be continuing their path. And may this heart that is holding Allah's words pour out the beauty of the Qur'an to all those around us through our manners and deeds in sha Allah. And that our whole life shows the beauty of the Qur'an.
I want to share some advice, first to myself, and then to you, from my experience in memorizing Qur'an. You will experience some hardships, but in the end you will find a beautiful happiness, like picking a ripe fruit after months of watering and weeding the plant. You will feel grateful, alhamdulilah, that Allah facilitated for you to be patient through all these days to find time in each day to sit with the Qur'an.
This heart is the place that Allah looks at. So how much do we have to take care of this heart, so that it can hold the words of Allah, but not only to hold them, but also to benefit from them? Like the water that comes down to the earth. If there is a seed in the earth, then it will start sprouting, growing, and start to make fruit.
In memorizing Allah's words, we can look to those before us - the sahaba, the scholars, the memorizers, the sisters who memorized before us. They all spoke about how the Qur'an can easily get forgotten. That means forgetting some words, some ayahs... that is normal.
There are several things that will help us to stay consistent and keep up with our memorization.
1. Thikr: The shaytan will try to interfere. To make sure your day is protected from the shaytan recite this thikr 'la ilaha illa Allah wahdahu la shareeka lah, lahul mulku wa lahul hamd, wa huwa ala kulli shay'in qadeer' 100 times in the morning. And you can also do 100 times in the afternoon.
لا اله الا الله وحده لا شريك له، له الملك وله الحمد، وهو على كل شيء قدير
I found that this thikr has a powerful affect. One of it's virtues is that if you recite it in the morning the shaytan can't come near you for the whole day. And if you recited it in the afternoon he can't come near you the whole night. If you do this, you have closed a big battle! It might take 5-7 minutes but this is the purification of your day.
2. Memorize first thing in the morning: Before you start your busy day, have a focused sitting with the Qur’an and memorize the ayahs. Then throughout your day do the repetitions (while driving, doing chores, during salat). By the end of the day you will be done and then send your emoji. The next day when you come to review, you will find that you remember it because you were doing your repetitions all day. This will create a strong memorization in sha Allah. If the memorization was hard or taking too long and you couldn’t finish in the early morning, then split it into two parts and arrange two shorter focused sittings with the Qur’an each day. Because if you sit for one long time the shaytan will start making you feel that Qur’an memorization is too hard and takes too much time and you have other more important things to do.
3. Put your trust in Allah and rely on the schedule that is sent in the group. You are in very good hands. I found strong results from this system. Before when I was trying to memorize on my own, I didn't know which surah to start with, how much to memorize, what to review. Then I was blessed to find this group, who knew what they are doing. They have studied each aspect very carefully. And it was a beautiful experience.
4. Protect your heart. There are some sins that when you do them you will find yourself not able to memorize that day. So we have to be careful and figure these out. It might be frustrating when you can't memorize, but it is actually a good thing. Because Allah is trying to purify you. You have to watch yourself and that's how Allah is helping you to grow. For the Qur'an to be in your heart, the heart has to be strong. There are certain characteristics that Allah is trying to build in you. Be aware of your deeds and words as much as you can. This is not a song to sing, it is Allah's words. So if these words will stay in the heart, we have to be careful what affects it. Sometimes backbiting will prevent you from memorizing, sometimes listening to music will affect you, sometimes yelling at your kids, fights with our spouse... And that is how Allah wants to raise you with this Qur'an, until your character becomes the Qur'an.
Lastly, dear sisters, remember the hadith 'The khair of you are those that learn and teach the Qur'an.' In sha Allah, we have entered a door of the doors of khair. May Allah help us complete it and facilitate for us to protect the Qur'an in our tongues, our hearts, our actions, and our character. May Allah make it a support for us on the day of Qiyameh. O Allah we ask You by every name you have to make the Qur'an the spring of our hearts, the light of our chests, and the remover of sorrows. And give us tawfiq in reciting, memorizing, studying, and implementing the Qur'an in our days and nights.
The path is beautiful, but there will be some difficulties along the way that will need some tiring efforts. But as long as we are together in this group, in sha Allah the difficulties will be easier. If you find yourself going down, don't go it alone and be vulnerable to your nafs and shaytan and desires. Right away come to your sisters that love you. The ones that love for you what they love for themselves. And in sha Allah we will stay on this path with our reliance on Allah and our sisterhood and be one hand united in khair.
We ask Allah to make this Qur'an a light in our graves, and a means to dressing our parents in the clothes of honor and the crown of light. And to ascend through the levels of Jannah and hear Allah telling us 'Recite and rise in status as you used to recite in the world, your position will be at the last verse you recite.'
Wassalamu Alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuhu
No comments:
Post a Comment