How to stop your mind blanking out

The Diary of A Hāfiz - Issue #68

Jul 25, 2023

Bismillāh al-Rahmān al-Rahīm

Assalāmu ‘Alaykum!

Alhamdulillāh, another busy week. I pray this finds you well and that you benefit from it.

In This Issue:

A New Muslims Guide On Memorising The Qur’an: Something I have been thinking about for a long while.
Using Competitions to Help You Memorise the Quran: Using flashcards for your Hifz (Qur’ān memorisation) can be very helpful and for many other use cases
How To Stop Hifz Mind Blanking: Revision. It’s the backbone of any successful Qur’ān memorisation journey.
The Diary of A Hāfiz: A roundup reporting the progress of a brother and a sister in pursuit of memorising the Qur'ān.
Motivation, Tips & Tools: Any resources, tips, and tools shared in the community and more.
Community Highlights & Updates: Make sure you share your experiences, requests and engage with emails for this to be a success.

Let’s get to it!

- Qāri’ Mubashir

🔗 TO READ

A New Muslims Guide On Memorising The Quran (6 min read)

Over the years, Alhamdulillāh, I have had the honour of helping new Muslims with their Qur’ān recitation journeys. I often get asked about how they can memorise the Qur’ān. So I want to share some thoughts with you today and try to guide you step-by-step through the process, providing tips, motivation, and insights to help you succeed.

Using Competitions to Help You Memorise the Quran (6 min read)

One powerful method that often goes overlooked is leveraging competitions to support and accelerate the memorisation process. It’s typically used by certain communities and while others don’t. I want to delve into the benefits of using competitions as a means of boosting Qur’ān memorisation and how they can play a pivotal role in elevating your recitation proficiency.

How To Stop Hifz Mind Blanking (7 min read)

Do you work hard to memorise Qur’ān only to go blank when reciting it to someone? Or perhaps someone randomly tested you and just can’t do it. You go mind blank.

We’ve all been there at one point or another. It’s that feeling of your mind going blank, where you stop at the start or in the middle of an āyah. You can’t think of anything. Sometimes this can happen with other day to day things like remembering where you just put something.

📖 THE DIARY OF A HĀFIZ

This is where we try to learn by watching others memorise. Today I share a roundup reporting the progress of a brother and a sister in their pursuit of memorising the Qur'ān.

Muhammad, 36, still on Surah an-Nisā’

Background: After forgetting what he memorised (half the Qur'ān) and kept struggling to start again. So he decided to share his diary and mission with us. After 19 weeks of struggle, he finally started. It took him a few months to do a few Juz’. He’s a few months away from having a years diary complete.
What he accomplished last week (days 318 to 324):
"I have done a full round of all the first 6 Juz’ over the last week. Now I have started doing a second round completing 6 pages per Juz’. So I’m adding a page per day. I’m finding although it’s a lot to do, it’s been highly effective in solidification."

Iman on a mission to complete her Hifz

Background: “When I was younger, I started memorizing some of the 30th juz, but I never finished and I didn't really think much about memorizing the Qur'ān. I officially started my Hifz journey towards the end of 2018. I experienced some struggles like excessive sleepiness, and I learned later that it was depression. Alhamdulilāh I've been trying to change my lifestyle a bit more after getting some therapy, and I am feeling better than some years ago.”
Current Goal: “Currently, I am memorizing my 12th juz, but I have some weak ajzaa' that I'm also trying to get back, in shā Allāh. My goal is to finish memorizing by the end of the next Hijri year (1445), in shā Allāh.”
Week 4 & 5 Hifz Diary:
“During Week 4, I managed to revise about 3/4 of my 28th juz, Alhamdulilāh.
This past week (5), alhamdulilāh I tried to rememorize 2 pages of 5th juz. Alhamdulilāh I recited those two pages to my teacher. For revision, I practiced the remaining quarter of 28th.
In shā Allāh this week, my goal is to finish revising 28th, as well as 27th and 1rst juz. For my attached lesson, I plan on finishing 5th juz, in shā Allāh.”

👉 If you have any questions, just drop a reply to me and I'll feature the questions and answers in relevant issues.

Allāh grant us all success and ease on this path!

⚒️ MOTIVATION, TIPS & TOOLS

Attitude Is Everything

"One of the biggest factors in me memorizing the Quran was the Institute for Preservation of the Holy Quran. Before I started, I had the idea in mind that it was near impossible to memorize the Quran, and that children who memorized the Quran were prodigies.

Once I found out about the Institute from one of my friends, I signed up and saw that they were memorizing half a page per week, which was easy for me. I was moved up with the one page per week group, but that was also easy so I started memorizing by myself and reciting to the teacher the surahs I memorized. I started this process at age 40. Ramadan came and I became busy with cooking and kids. Then after Ramadan, I went to the Institute and found that the elder ladies who were memorizing only a half-page per week had memorized Surahs Al-Kahf, Mariam, and Al-Israa. Because my memorization had weakened since I did not review, I started with them again and decided that even if they were memorizing slowly, I would be consistent. I attended my first Quran competition, and I didn’t get any mistakes in what I had memorized up until then, but my overall grade in the competition was 80% since I didn’t read with proper tajweed. So I thought, why not read with tajweed, and I signed up for the Beginner’s Course in tajweed at the Institute, then intermediate, then advanced, and then obtained my ijazah for the Quran. Then, I was informed that I could obtain the sanad, so I asked what it was and found out it was a certification for memorizing the whole Quran by heart and being tested on it, so I said why not and set my intention. When I started in the sanad program, the teacher wanted us to recite 5 pages per week with complete proper tajweed and no mistakes, so I started writing the Quran and the parts I had to memorize at night when there was no housework and I had free time. My boys (I have 7 of them, the youngest being 21 and the oldest 40), would come and say “Hey mom we want to joke around and spend some time with you, do you love the Quran more than us?” And I would say yes, I love the Quran more than you. You need to start helping me in the kitchen, not coming in my free time when I want to work on the Quran; this is more important and it’s the word of Allah. In 2 years, by doing 5 pages every week, I was able to complete memorizing the whole Quran. Then I had a big medical operation which took me away from the Quran, but as soon as I was able, I returned to reviewing to maintain what I had memorized. Whenever I would get to parts of the Quran with similarities, I would make mistakes. And in competitions, I started doubting myself and the strength of my memorization. I attended a conference on Neural Networking in Linguistics, which taught me many tricks and methods for strengthening my memorization. One statement I kept with me from that conference was to “walk at the pace of an ant and do not stop,” meaning consistency is key, even if moving slowly, when it comes to memorizing the Quran.

Alhamdullilah, after the 2 years in which it took me to memorize the Quran, and the 4 years of reviewing it, I can now recite from any place in the Quran and tell you the surah, juz, side of the page, position on the page, and page number regarding the ayahs. I now maintain my memorization by competing in competitions so I can test my memorization. I was constantly making duaa throughout my memorization process that Allah make it easy for me to memorize the Quran.

As for the struggle, as a woman and a mother, sometimes it feels like our time is more dedicated to others, namely our children and husbands, and making sure that their lives are on track. To make time for the Quran, I took time from my sleep, and when they would go to sleep, I would work on the Quran instead of working on housework. In the Neural Networking in Linguistics conference, they told us a story about a woman in Turkey who memorized the Quran in a stable for horses when it was illegal for people to read the Quran in Turkey. Now this woman has a Quran memorization institution which has more than 2,000 students enrolled. I knew that if this woman was able to do it under those circumstances, then I could definitely find a way to do it under my circumstances if I was sincere in my intention and sincere with myself and Allah. Alhamdullilah, I am currently taking the Quran memorization perfection course. Regarding the future, I ask Allah to allow me to benefit others with my knowledge of the Quran, as I currently do not teach Quran since my husband prefers that I do not teach outside. One day insha Allah, I will be able to help people with the Quran, and inspire them to be of the closest people to Allah, as people who memorize the Quran are the closest to Him. I remember one lady told me that since I am not teaching the Quran, I am just like any Quran on the shelf, and this is not true. Every person will have the opportunity to serve Islam and the Quran, whether it be teaching their children, neighbors, or just having the knowledge of and understanding the word of Allah and having it always with you wherever you go."

⭐ COMMUNITY HIGHLIGHTS & UPDATES

1️⃣ Whoever wants to find a Hifz buddy, a teacher, or make a du’ā request for your journey, this is your space! Just send me an email.

2️⃣ My request is also on-going, share your usual hifz schedule with me. Please fill in the Form.

🎉 What’s new 🎉

I need some volunteers to maintain the groups and communities (Facebook, WhatsApp, Telegram, Discord, etc). If you’re interested, then let me know.

Got 5 seconds? How did you like today's email?

Please share your thoughts, comments, or questions. Tell me what you liked and how I can make these newsletters better for you. You can even suggest anything you'd like me to write about next.

Brought to you by Qāri' Mubashir.