I've forgotten the Quran!!! 😳
The Diary of A Hāfiz - Issue #103
Bismillāh al-Rahmān al-Rahīm
Assalāmu ‘Alaykum!
Hope you’re all doing well. Allah grant ease and blessing. We’re already at the half way point of the Month of Ramadan. It’s flying but are you flying towards Qur’ān?
Today I reflect over all of those that need to re-memorise Qur’an, having forgotten it.
Requesting your prayers,
- Qāri’ Mubashir
🔗 MUST READS
How To Re-Memorise Quran When You’ve Forgotten It (8 min read)
I have forgotten the Quran that I memorised, how to memorize forgotten Quran? How do you approach memorising or revising the Qur'ān once again when you've forgotten the majority of it? These are the questions.
So let's say, for example, you memorised the Qur'ān when you were young and then due to a lack of review, eventually you began forgetting many parts. Many Juz' become weak, others remain near-strong and others nearly forgotten. Your Qur'ān becomes this confused mix of personalities. In one place you feel like you're an ill patient, on other side, you feel like you're friends.
So over the years, you've been trying to remember, trying to revise but nothing has been going your way. You're busy with work, you're busy with life at home with family, and you don't have much time due to these commitments. Perhaps, you get distracted after work, or you feel lazy, you're not motivated and you try to engage with the Qur'ān but it doesn't click. You say to yourself, you'll memorise after praying Fajr but you go back to bed.
There will be many things that are happening but the one thing that you want to happen (Hifdh ul Qur'ān!), isn't?
Why is that?
📖 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 (1 year, week 29):
“I have tried to change my timings but it has been a struggle to keep up with Ramadan to be honest. I am still at 10 pages of the 7th Juz’ and for review (so I paused memorising for the week), I’ve been reciting a Juz’ a day but by looking. As I do this after Isha, the timings are getting later and later, I’m becoming more pressed with fatigue. At Fajr, I get lazy. It’s a battle I’ve been facing for a long while and a battle I will continue to fight. This is not over, Muhammad, you will beat this! I have also been reciting the Qur’an and currently on Surah al-Hajj. My focus now will be to complete the Qur’an by looking as soon as I can by shifting that to another time so that I can give myself more time for my memorisation and review.”
🧕🏿Halima, 47, school teacher
Background: A 47 years old Black American Muslim school teacher. 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 Maidah with Ustadha Sofia.
Week 17:
“O people, you are the ones absolutely in need of Allah; and Allah is the One free of all need, worthy of all praise.” Qur’an, 35.15
Allahu Akbar what a blessing we are immersed in. I sat in the dark cold room after prayer. Only one of two lanterns were dimly lit on the shelf. The flickering light reminded me of my heart, heed your healthy heart. Allahu Allah Allahu Allah....I am absolutely in need of You, content with You and I love You. I never want this sweet feeling to go away. It's Ramadan vibes, racing ayahs fill my thoughts but there's so much to do....kitchen filled with dirty dishes, laundry piles, papers to grade, and the Quran on the stand. Let's review a bit and wash in the morning I tell myself, excitement in the air although I'm craving a nap. Allah accept. Allow us to lead lives of purpose and contentment. Amin.
🧑💻Hasan, 27, busy full-time engineer
Background: Hasan memorised the Qur’ān when he was young but unfortunately he forgot it. Just over a year ago, he tried to resume his memorisation and managed to do up to 7 Juz’. But then life threw it’s challenges and his memorisation came to a stop. He got in touch last week with Qari’ for his time and has resumed his memorisation with a new plan.
Week 3: After finishing Juz’ 1 and 2, he has complete the 3rd Juz’. He usually reviews a quarter at Fajr and then recites to me during a window of my current availability. He struggled a bit with the second half of the 3rd Juz’, so I had him do it again, and it is now much better, Allāhumma Bārik lahu
👉 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
Todays motivating words:
“I only tasted the full enjoyment of my Hifz when I perfected it, and I only perfected it when I tired myself. However, all that tiredness was forgotten when I experienced the enjoyment of reciting Quran Kareem in all conditions.”
Half of the month of Ramadan remains, this is your time to shine. It's your chance to dive deep, to revise and reflect like never before. You've got this golden opportunity to strengthen your bond with the Quran, to perfect your memorisation, and to feel what the person said, as quoted above.
So, don’t waste a single moment. Because trust me, every bit of effort we put in now will pay off big time.
What’s the most common thing in the stories you hear of those that have memorise the Qur’ān? Constant effort, constant trying, constant fighting, and this push and pull didn’t strip them off a result in the end. They’ll tell you, it was those moments where they put up a fight, where those that produced the best results.
You’ve got this!
⭐ COMMUNITY HIGHLIGHTS & UPDATES
🎉 What’s new / recent 🎉
Hifz Camp: Something is coming.
Finding My Half has now around 30+ profiles and there have been a few people that have connected.
Check out Impact and share your thoughts.
I’ve had some feedback from the collection of tools - in particular the Hifz Tester. I’ll working to make that even better with further works in the pipeline.
The community groups (WhatsApp / Telegram, etc) are growing and if anyone wants to get involved as admins/mods please let me know.
The Hifz Buddy Finder now has over 100+ people and it’s growing fast. Get your profile. I have further people in the waiting list and I’ll add them onto the database soon.
📢 📢 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 30+ profiles, it needs a push, would you mind sharing it?
If you have anything to add, have hifz stories, want to share your own journey, have tips, have teachers, have anything you want to add to the weekly emails, do let me know.
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Brought to you by Qāri' Mubashir.