You’ve Wasted Enough Time. Start Properly, Now.

The guilt won’t fix it. The Qur’an will. Here’s the reset you’ve been needing - #179

Qari Mubashir

Sep 09, 2025

Bismillāh al-Rahmān al-Rahīm,

Assalāmu ʿAlaykum!

If your Hifz has been messy, inconsistent, or just plain stuck, today’s issue is for you.

You don’t need:

A perfect memory
Long free hours
A quiet life
Or guilt to drive your day

What you need is the right approach.

We’ve all faced these scenarios:

You stopped Hifz for a while
You forgot what you memorised
You’re busy with work, children, studies
You don’t know where to start again

First thing I want to tell you today is this:

Start again. Every day is starting again.

There is always an opportunity for a fresh start.

If you’ve been struggling with memorisation, if you’re disorganised, if you’ve just come back from a break, if you’ve been busy with the kids or school, it’s completely normal.

You might ask: “But I’ve been too busy at home and I’ve fallen behind in memorisation. What should I do?”

This is the heart of the matter.

All of us are just now getting back after the summer break. Our children, may Allah bless them, are back in school, and by now your life is probably getting back in order.

And now we can truly appreciate the value of the daily portion (wird) and returning to it. All of these are blessings from Allah.

So what should you do with your daily portion now?

If you’ve been disconnected from it for a while, don’t be upset. Don’t get discouraged. You will get back to it, and you’ll regain it strongly, by the grace of Allah.

Even if you’ve been away from it for two years or more, yes, you can come back easily.

You might say: “But I have weak memorisation,” or “I have a mix of strong and weak parts.” That’s okay, we’ll talk about how to deal with different levels of memorisation.

But the first thing I want from you is this:

Don’t put too much pressure on yourself
Don’t be upset or stressed

Stress prevents effective memorisation and revision. What we need is calm and balance.

Just read what you can. So, let’s agree, you and I, on this first principle:

Throw stress in the bin!

Why stress at all? The Prophet ﷺ said: “Allah loves that when any of you does a deed, they do it with excellence.” And stress blocks you from excellence.

So our first agreement is: no stress. Memorise calmly. And remember: just returning to memorisation will help eliminate the stress from your life.

Say it with me: “I’m starting a new life with the Qur’an.”

Second point: How should I look at my daily portion (wird)?

There’s a serious issue here, which is: sometimes we look at our memorisation as a whole, and it becomes overwhelming.

For example, a brother/sister has memorised five parts (ajza’) but forgot them. He/She thinks: “I need to review all five parts today!” Then he/she wonders: Should I start from Al-Baqarah or Al-Imran or An-Nisa?

No! That’s not how we do it.

We need to break things down. Each five parts should be given a whole year to truly master them.

So, don’t rush. Think in small portions. Break it down, review small parts until they are strong.

Let’s say you have 15 parts that you haven’t reviewed in a long time. You can’t bring all that back in one day or night. So remember this golden rule:

Little and consistent is better than a lot and inconsistent.

Third point: Repetition (تكرار)

Once you’ve broken your portions into small sections, you start working on repetition.

Say, for example, you’re reviewing five parts. Each day, you can review a quarter (ربع).

There are two types of wird:

General reading: Read one full part (juz’) daily from the mushaf to stay connected with the flow.
Focused revision: Take one quarter (ربع), repeat each verse 10 or 20 times. Then repeat two verses together five times, and so on.

This is memorisation by repetition.

Use repetition as your tool for return:

Repeat each verse 10–20 times
Then pair two verses, repeat together 5 times
Continue until the whole portion flows

This is repetition-based memorisation.

There’s also something called:

📌 Repetition of repetition: After memorising a quarter, pray with it. Use it in your 5 daily prayers. Pray night prayers with it. Recite it in voluntary prayers.

This deeply reinforces your memorisation.

So now, you have:

No stress
Breakdown method
Repetition and reinforcement

Fourth point: Reading from the Mushaf

Read directly from the Qur’an every day. This helps fix the visual layout of the page and corrects your mistakes.

It strengthens your memory and helps you remember where verses are located.

So, you need:

Wird from memory
Wird from the mushaf

Fifth point: Try not to memorise alone!

A partner keeps you accountable. A group gives you momentum. A teacher corrects your course.

Memorising in isolation is the fastest way to stop.

This is why I’m trying to create Hifz Camp and thinking of launching classes (if interested, get in touch).

Remember, reading the Qur’an repels sadness, worry, and even illness. Chronic stress causes diseases. But the Qur’an brings healing and peace.

So take it easy. Everything is simple, by Allah’s will. Just follow these steps with calm and sincerity.

In the end, what matters most is:

That you memorise
That you review
That you return to your daily portion
And that you become a flower of the Qur’an — wherever you go, you blossom.

✅ Your Action Plan

Re-enter Hifz without guilt
Break down your review into manageable pieces
Read and revise from the Mushaf daily
Repetition is your friend, not a punishment
Recite what you’ve reviewed in prayer
Find a group or teacher, and stay connected

🔗 Read more:

- Can You Memorise The Qur’ān On Your Own?

🤲 Requesting your prayers,

- Qāri’ Mubashir

📖 THE DIARY OF A HĀFIZ

This is where we try to learn by watching others memorise. A roundup reporting the progress of our brothers and sisters in their pursuit of memorising the Qur'ān:

🧕🏼 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 56:

“I'm almost halfway done with juz 18!! I finished sura mu'minun and just started sura nur. Alhamdullilah it is going fast. I'm also keeping up with daily revision.

I have still been getting distracted on the weekends with family but Alhamdullilah I'm still pushing myself to revise even with extra noise and half concentration. I can't wait for the perfect time/conditions because it might never come. And at least during the week, I'm able to focus well. Ya Rabi, thank you for this gift. Grant me steadfastness and increase me in obedience to you. Ameen.”

🧕🏼 Aisha

Background: I'm a 36 yr old, mother of 6. Getting married while memorising the Qur'an, my hifz got weaker and eventually led to forgetting it. Came across this wonderful website by Qari Mubashir and learnt many tips, connected with my childhood friend as a hifz buddy. Hoping to complete hifz with a strong revision!

Week 43:

“Assalamualaikum warahmatullah,

I've only revised a few surahs here and there but nothing worthwhile yet.

Also been watching motivational videos of how people memorised the Qur'an, their struggles and ultimately reaching the goal, one thing was common in all these stories and that was to renew your intentions when things get tough.

So I'm in a state of retrospection and praying that Allah purifies my intentions, inshallah.”

👳🏼‍♂️ Muhammad

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 38 and has been the most consistent of our diaries despite continued struggles.

Year 3 Week 01:

“I’m into Surah at-Tawbah, Juz’ 10, though I’ve missed a few days, I’m progressing. Now I plan to change my routine slightly and to get more accountability in place.”

👉 If you have any questions, just drop a reply to me and I'll feature the questions and answers in relevant issues. If you want to join the diaries, get in touch also!

Allāh grant us all success and ease on this path!

⭐ COMMUNITY HIGHLIGHTS & UPDATES

It’s been a tough few months for me with various challenges so there’s an inevitable delays with things. Keep us in your prayers!

Still in progress: I’ve had more feedback on the Hifz Tester and will look to update the tool.
There are now even more of you waiting for Hifz Camp, I’ll be working towards opening this very soon, in shā’ Allāh. Bear with me. Things are going to get interesting.

📌 Your Turn: How Did You Find This Post?

🔥 Reply & let me know what helped you most today.

💬 Reply & tell me: What’s your biggest struggle in Hifz right now? Have a question? Reply to this email (or answer the question below) and let me know—I’ll try to feature your question in upcoming posts.

Answer this question