I can't do Hifdh anymore.
The Diary of A Hāfiz - Issue #132
Bismillāh al-Rahmān al-Rahīm
Assalāmu ‘Alaykum!
Alhamdullāh, hope you’re doing well.
Today, I address some other common questions.
Again, requesting your prayers,
- Qāri’ Mubashir
I can’t continue, I’m tired
'Qari, I’m tired. I can’t continue. What should I do? What’s the solution? I feel exhausted and can’t go on anymore.'
I have spoken about this previously and today I'll give you an answer you might not be expecting.
Start again.
If you’re tired, if you feel that you can’t do it anymore, if you’re feeling exhausted, scattered, and distant from your goals and the achievements you want to make, then the solution is simply to start again.
What does it mean to start over? It means that the stage you’re in, the one where you feel tired and unable to continue, consider it a 'resting period.' The only thing you need is continuity.
Perhaps you haven’t touched the Qur’ān for a while? Start picking up your reading again. It’s okay. Many, many, many people have left their Qur’ān reading for a period and during that time felt tired, and they missed their recitation. But they came back, and that period away made them return with strength and avoid the mistakes they were making before.
Yes, I’m speaking to you, the one who has been slipping for many years. I’ve left my recitation for three years and forgot everything, you say.
You can remember it all again, believe me. Believe me, you can recall it all, and very easily. Nothing is stopping you. Nothing is stopping you. You got tired? Everyone gets tired. You got busy? Everyone gets busy. You felt distant? That’s fine. We draw near to Allah because we feel that we’ve been far from Him, and when we feel that distance, it’s our push to come back closer to Allah.
To feel the bitterness of separation from Allah, as if you are in a barren desert, and then quickly run back to Him, like the fearful child running back to his mother, scared but longing for comfort.
Life continues to spin us like a cycle of a washing machine, and we come out of it exhausted but cleansed, just as the clothes come out of the washing machine, shining and clean, washed through and through. The world spins us around and around, we face challenges, we struggle with our Qur’ān recitation, our prayers — maybe these days we felt we weren’t as devoted as we wanted to be, but then we return with strength.
You keep struggling and fighting with yourself, with the days, with the world. The first thing you say when you wake up is: 'Did I do my Qur’ān recitation today, or not yet?' And sometimes you haven’t, so you wonder when to fit it in. 'Can I do it an hour before ‘Asr, two hours in the morning?' Your mind is constantly preoccupied with it.
The message I want to share today is: everything you’re experiencing is natural. Nothing will come to you on a golden platter. There is nothing that will come to you that way. You have to keep trying, striving, and doing your best. Will you get tired? Yes. Will you experience lethargy? Naturally. The important thing is that you return. The important thing is to come back, even if you felt tired and emotionally distant during that time.
Try to avoid distancing yourself from the Qur’ān again. Quickly return to what increases your happiness, peace, and emotional balance — that’s what the Qur’ān does for you. Qur’ān recitation creates emotional balance throughout your day. I’m not saying that you recite for emotional balance because we read seeking Allah's pleasure, but I’m explaining the outcome. The benefit of daily Qur’ān recitation in your life is emotional balance. I’m telling you the outcome, not the reason for doing it.
You are like a rose, and you have to water that rose constantly with love and obedience to Allah so that it doesn’t wither in your hands. Life is passing us by — the victory is in ensuring it passes with the obedience of Allah. Life is fleeting anyway, but it’s what you decide to do with it that matters.
If you fall, get back up. It’s okay to fall, but what’s not okay is staying distant and being content with that distance. Allah does not accept that for us, and that’s enough. Allah says: 'And I did not create the jinn and mankind except to worship Me.' Every soul faces moments of falling short, procrastination, and lethargy. But true success lies in coming back with strength from that distance and saying, 'O Allah, I seek Your help, so help me.'
The key to success
The most important key to memorising the Qur’ān is patience. That’s why you feel like you’re struggling — because even patience itself requires patience.
Your memorisation of the verses requires patience. Your patience in allowing your mind to understand the verse, analyse it, absorb it, and fully comprehend it — all of this requires patience. Repeating the verse and mastering it before moving to the next verse also requires patience. Moving between the verses and connecting them requires patience. Strengthening a page requires patience. The morning sessions require patience, and even maintaining a daily routine requires patience. You need to be patient with yourself, and you shouldn't rush results.
You need to understand that you are rewarded for this patience. Allah says, ‘Seek help through patience and prayer.’ You will not find anything better. They really help in an astonishing way with memorisation.
Your patience with your memorisation, your patience with your daily practice, your patience with reading to your companion or having your companion listen to you, or following a plan and sticking to it — all of this requires patience. Even praying using what you have memorised, holding onto what you have learned firmly, requires patience.
Reciting in Salah
Even if it’s just three verses in each rak'ah (unit of prayer), bring what you are reinforcing. Over time, you will perfect it, and those three verses will become six, and then a page, and eventually two pages. You will experience the bliss of praying with what you have memorised and the bliss of perfecting your memorisation during prayer.
But what I want from you is to be patient with yourself. Give yourself time; don't rush. No one is chasing you. What matters is accuracy — the important thing is that you master the memorisation. Know that you are rewarded for your patience and that those who are most patient are those who master the most. Repetition after repetition, patience was their companion on their journey. They worked on the principle of 'a little, done consistently, is better than a lot, done sporadically' — with patience, repetition, and seeking help from Allah Almighty, along with continuous prayer. Allah will open doors for you and grant you His blessings.
Make Du’ā’
Before every memorisation session, make supplication. Many brothers/sisters have told me, ‘We tried supplicating and reciting salawāt before memorising, and it made a big difference.’
As soon as you sit down, say:
اللَّهُمَّ اجْعَلِ القُرْآنَ العَظِيمَ رَبِيعَ قَلْبِي، وَجَلَاءَ حُزْنِي، وَذَهَابَ هَمِّي وَغَمِّي، اللَّهُمَّ عَلِّمْنَا مَا نَسِينَا، وَذَكِّرْنَا مَا نَسِينَا، وَاجْعَلْهُ لَنَا وِرْدًا بِاللَّيْلِ وَأَطْرَافَ النَّهَارِ، اللَّهُمَّ إِنِّي اسْتَعَنْتُ بِكَ فَأَعِنِّي، اللَّهُمَّ إِنِّي اسْتَعَنْتُ بِكَ فَأَعِنِّي، اللَّهُمَّ افْتَحْ عَلَيَّ فَتْحًا يُرْضِيكَ عَنِّي، وَاجْعَلْ هَذِهِ القِرَاءَةَ خَالِصَةً لِوَجْهِكَ الْكَرِيمِ، لَا رِيَاءَ فِيهَا وَلَا سُمْعَةَ.
'O Allah, make the great Qur’ān the spring of my heart, the remover of my sadness, and the reliever of my worries and sorrows. O Allah, teach us what we have forgotten and remind us of what we have learned. Grant us its recitation during the hours of the night and the ends of the day. O Allah, I have sought Your help, so help me. O Allah, I have sought Your help, so help me.' You repeat this, and say, 'O Allah, open my heart in a way that pleases You, and make this recitation purely for Your sake, without showing off or hypocrisy.' Seek help from Allah, relinquish all reliance on yourself, and surrender the matter to Allah.
The journey of memorising the Qur’ān is an amazing journey, full of beauty, support, blessings, love, struggle and adherence to the Book of Allah, and excellence because you know that Allah is watching you. You don’t memorise the Qur’ān for people, but so that it will intercede for you with Allah on the Day of Judgment.
You’ve memorised the Qur’ān to be among those described as the 'noble and righteous.' You review and memorise so that Allah protects you in this world and the Hereafter. You memorise the Book of Allah so that you can be among the ranks of the memorisers on the Day of Judgment. You memorise and review so that you can adorn your parents with a crown of dignity.
If parents are adorned with a crown of dignity, imagine what kind of reward and honour is waiting for you. You have a grand ceremony awaiting you, a magnificent honour before all creation — and the One honouring you will be Allah Almighty.
So memorize for Allah’s sake, seek His help, approach Him sincerely, renounce your own strength, and seek refuge in Allah. Allah will never let you down. Just as Sayyidah Khadijah (may Allah be pleased with her) said to the Prophet (ﷺ) when he said, ‘Cover me, cover me’ — she said, ‘No, by Allah, Allah will never let you down.’ Make this your certainty in Allah. Allah will never let you down. He will fulfill your wish to memorise the Qur’ān from Al-Fatihah to An-Nas by heart.
You will be able to recite from it whenever you wish, in whatever state you find yourself — whether driving, sitting, or leaning. Whether you’re about to sleep, sitting with your family, or even watching TV, you will be able to recite from the Book of Allah from memory. And just like our mother Hajar, when Prophet Ibrahim left her in the desert and she asked, 'Did Allah command you to do this?' and he nodded yes, she replied, 'Then He will not forsake us.'
Allah has never forsaken us, nor will He ever do so. What you need is patience, reliance on Allah, and repetition after repetition. Repetition is the simplest, most effective, and beautiful method to attain perfect memorisation. Whoever repeats frequently knows what they want, and walks towards their goal with steady and firm steps.
Don’t be upset or frustrated. Seek Allah’s help, gather your resolve, and as soon as you finish reading this, go and open your Qur’ān, set a plan, and begin. Say: 'In the name of Allah, we begin, and upon Allah, we rely.'
Read more:
🔗 How To Revise Quran In Your Salah [Namaz] (7 mins)
🔗 Read This Now If You Feel Like Giving Up Hifz (12 mins)
🔗 Keep Your Connection With The Quran Alive (5 mins)
Tools:
🔗 Motivation Generator
🔗 Hifz Buddy Finder
📖 THE DIARY OF A HĀFIZ
This is where we try to learn by watching others memorise. A roundup reporting the progress of two brothers and a sister in their pursuit of memorising the Qur'ān:
👳🏼♂️ Muhammad, 36, founder
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 (Year 2 Week 6 complete):
“Revision is still the ongoing process and after reading last weeks newsletter, I realised I needed to make a shift, so I’ve made an effort to repeat more.”
🧕🏼 Aaliya
Background: I'm 28 and I started memorizing full time about 2 years ago. I have almost 17 Juz memorized Alhamdulillah. I go to a masjid hifz class everyday and I'm trying to increase my daily revision to 2-3 juz. I'm hoping recording weekly diaries will motivate me to be more consistent and inshAllah help others who read it too.
Week 9:
“I'm still focused on revision this week, I have stopped sabaak. I'm trying to stay patient with it, even though I really want to continue memorizing.
But focusing on revision is definitely worth it. Alhamdulillah it feels so good to be able to recite well. I have started reciting 4 paras daily. I never thought I could do that much Alhamdulillah. It doesn't feel overwhelming. It's challenging but doable. Two out of the four parahs are repeat parahs, so that helps.
I recite one new para everyday, it's like my 'sabaak', then I repeat the 'sabaak' para from the day before. Today, my 'sabaak' is 10th. So tomorrow, my 'sabaak' will be 9th (I'm going backwards for revision), then I will recite 10th again, along with 2 other easy parahs.
I have strengthened half of my paras now, from 30-27, and 14-10. Inshallah next week I plan to strengthen 9th through 1st. Ya Allah, all praise and thanks are to You for gifting me with this. I ask that you grant us all consistency and sincerity in our recitation, and accept from us all.”
🧕🏿 Halima, 47
Background: Halima is a homemaker, volunteer and part time tutor. She has 3 adult children who are in university and grad school, Alhamdulillāh. She began memorizing the Quran about 5 years ago. It's been on and off with different teachers and motivation levels. She was inspired as a child to memorize Quran but my family lacked the access to a madrassah due to financial costs. She is the oldest of eight children. As a child she had never read more than the last ten surahs. Later in life, she rekindled her connection with Allah swt, and began taking tajwid classes in 2011, then finished her first reading of a khatam of Qur'an to her teacher in tajwid, from then her hifz struggles eased a bit. Currently, she is memorizing Surah al Araaf with Hafidha Jamela.
Week 41:
“Alhamdulillahir Rabbal alameen. Memorizing Surah Araf 44 - 51. Revision rememorize Surah Anaam 9 - 35. Barakah Allahu feek.”
👉 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!
⭐ COMMUNITY HIGHLIGHTS & UPDATES
What’s new / recent
A number of you have messaged or emailed in regards to finding a hifz buddy but also listing as a teacher on the directory listings, in shā’ Allāh, I am still dealing with these at present.
Following some requests and pledges of support for these humble efforts, I have turned on paid subscriptions for those who may also want to support the work. I’ll be hoping to do monthly group calls with anyone that does, in shā’ Allāh.
📢 📢 Requests
1️⃣ My request is also on-going, share your usual hifz schedule with me. Please fill in the Form. (I have had several which I will add online soon)
2️⃣ Those of you that are teaching or have an institute can get listed on the Teachers directory.
3️⃣ Finding My Half has now around 40+ profiles, it needs a push, would you mind sharing it?
4️⃣ If you have anything to add, have hifz stories, want to share your own journey, have advice, have teachers, have anything you want to add to the weekly emails, do let me know.
5️⃣ If whatever advice, motivation, strategies I have shared have helped you memorise please, check out Impact and share your thoughts.
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