‌إنَّمَا ‌مَثَلُ ‌صَاحبِ ‌القُرآنِ ‌كَمَثَل ‌صَاحبِ ‌الإِبِلِ ‌المُعَقَّلَةِ، إنْ عَاهَد عَلَيْهَا أمْسَكَهَا، وَإِنْ أطْلَقَهَا ذهَبَتْ

“The likeness of the one who memorizes the Quran is that of the owner of a hobbled camel. If he tends to it regularly, he will keep it, but if he lets it go, he will lose it.”
[al-Bukhaari, 5031]

Everyone who memorises the Qur’an in the first two years experiences difficulty retaining what they have memorised. This is called the ‘gathering stage’ (مرحلة التجميع). So, do not be saddened by the slipping of the Qur’an from your memory or by the frequent mistakes you make. This is a challenging phase, a test, and Shaitaan has a share in it to try to stop you from memorising the Qur’an. Ignore his whispers and continue your memorisation, for the Qur’an is a treasure that is not granted to just anyone.

When you set out on the journey of memorising Quran, i.e. becoming a “haafidh”, you simultaneously made the pact, whether intentionally or unintentionally, that you would become from the people of the Quran (Ahl-Al-Quran), meaning someone who would dedicate a large part of their life to the Quran as well as someone who acted upon it.

An integral part of Hifdh is revision; it is your “capital”. What you memorise newly is your “profit”. There is no way around it, you must revise to remember. The more you memorise, the more you have to remember. But don’t worry, revision gets easier with time as memorisation is a skill which you become good at.

Revision as the most enjoyable part of your Hifdh journey because it’s what you’ve already memorized and feel confident reciting from memory. It’s about nurturing and maintaining what you worked so hard to acquire. You’ve already gone through the effort of training your mind and tongue to form the words, and you finally made it enter your brain, now it’s yours. Now you have something different to read in your five daily prayers besides the short Ṣūrahs of the Quran, or something to recite on your way to work or school!

It’s important to note, there are two types of revision:

  • “Near-Past Revision” مراجعة الماضي القريب – The verses you memorised recently and are still in your short-term memory, which you are nurturing to move to your long-term memory. This portion is usually the part you’re working on perfecting. Perfection in memorisation doesn’t always come the first time you read it to your teacher, it comes with repeated practice over time. If you’re memorising more than 5 pages a week, this would be approximately the last 20 pages you memorised recently
  • “Far/Distant-Past revision” مراجعة الماضي اليعيد – This is the portion of the Quran that’s in your long-term memory and is easier to revise and recall. As a rule of thumb, this would be everything beyond the 20 pages you memorised recently. Usually, a portion of the Quran you memorised and reviewed properly previously. If it’s something you memorised and forgot completely (i.e. you feel like you didn’t memorise it in the first place), then it’s no longer in your long-term memory.

Having a plan and organising your revision in advance will save you from wasting time on what you’d need to revise. Observe when you are the most motivated to memorise and use this time for New Memorisation and Near Revision.

Sample Plan:

  • Do your portion for New Memorisation and Near Revision in the morning after Fajr or before sleeping (depending on when you focus best). Starting the day with Quran puts barakah in your day.

أَقِمِ ٱلصَّلَوٰةَ لِدُلُوكِ ٱلشَّمْسِ إِلَىٰ غَسَقِ ٱلَّيْلِ وَقُرْءَانَ ٱلْفَجْرِ ۖ إِنَّ قُرْءَانَ ٱلْفَجْرِ كَانَ مَشْهُودًۭا

“Observe the prayer from the decline of the sun until the darkness of the night and the dawn prayer, for certainly the dawn prayer is witnessed by angels” 17:78

  • Recite your portion for Near Revision or New Memorisation (breaking it up if necessary) during the five daily prayers (repeat what you memorised in the morning/before sleeping). Spaced repetition is an integral step to moving something from short-term to long-term memory.
  • Far Revision during Tahajjud – The drawback of this is that if you often miss waking up for Tahajjud, then you will miss out on Far Revision, so you need Plan B. Praying Salat Ad-Doha or praying Qiyam before sleeping to make up. The key benefit of Tahajjud is that you’re utilising time that you may not have had otherwise, this is very useful if you have a packed schedule causing Plan B to be unlikely. Plan C can be to recite as you commute to work or go to your place of study, or whilst you do house chores. Using “dead time” or “in-between time” (الأوقات البينية) is a sure way to fit in something rather than nothing.

Listening to what you memorised aids with revision, but this is passive and therefore not enough. You must recall actively for you to revise and consolidate effectively.

*Note: Everyone is different, it may well be that you find Far Revision more difficult than New Memorisation and Near Revision, so adapt the advice given accordingly.

وَلَقَدْ يَسَّرْنَا ٱلْقُرْءَانَ لِلذِّكْرِ فَهَلْ مِن مُّدَّكِرٍۢ

‘And We have indeed made the Quran easy to understand and remember’ [al-Qamar 54:17]

Besides reviewing, be mindful of being excessively interested in worldly matters. This can lead to attachment to the affairs of the dunya and a hardened heart.

PARTS IN THIS SERIES

  1. Introduction
  2. Errors in Recitation
  3. Stuck on a Difficult Verse
  4. Similar Verses (المُتَشَابِهَات)
  5. Struggling to Recall How the Next Verse/Page Starts
  6. Struggling to Recall How Verses End
  7. Forgetting
  8. Being Consistent
  9. Lack of Motivation
  10. Difficulty Focusing
  11. Not Reflecting and Understanding
  12. Reflections & Resources