‫بسم ﷲ الرحمن الرحيم‬

‫الحمد & رب العالمين وصلى ﷲ وسلم على رسول ﷲ وعلى آله وأصحابه ومن اھتدى بھديه إلى يوم الدين أما بعد‬

Strengthening Qur'an Memorisation

Abdul-Muhsin bin Muhammad al-Qaasim
Imam and Khateeb of Masjid An-abawiy ash-Shareef

All praise is due to Allah and may peace and blessings be upon our Prophet Muhammad and his Family and
Companions, all together.

This way is excellent for strengthening memorization and its firmness (in the memory), quick memorization
and completing the Qur'an with speed. And this way, with a demonstration with one section (wajh- which is
about eight ayaat) from Surah al-Jumu`ah, is what follows:

1- Read the first ayah twenty times

‫يز ْال َح ِك ِيم‬
ِ ‫وس ْال َع ِز‬
ِ ‫ض ْال َملِ ِك ْالقُ ﱡد‬
ِ ْ‫ت َو َما فِي ْاألَر‬ َ ‫يُ َسبﱢ ُح ِ ﱠ&ِ َما فِي ال ﱠس َم‬
ِ ‫اوا‬

2- Read the second ayah twenty times

َ ‫ب َو ْال ِح ْك َمةَ َوإِ ْن َكانُوا ِم ْن قَ ْب ُل لَفِي‬
ٍ ِ‫ض َال ٍل ُمب‬
‫ين‬ ً ‫ث فِي ْاألُ ﱢميﱢينَ َرس‬
َ ‫ُوال ِم ْنھُ ْم َي ْتلُو َعلَ ْي ِھ ْم آَيَاتِ ِه َويُزَ ﱢكي ِھ ْم َويُ َعلﱢ ُمھُ ُم ْال ِكتَا‬ َ ‫ھ َُو الﱠ ِذي بَ َع‬

3- Read the third ayah twenty times

‫َوآَخَ ِرينَ ِم ْنھُ ْم لَ ﱠما يَ ْل َحقُوا بِ ِھ ْم َوھ َُو ْال َع ِزي ُز ْال َح ِكي ُم‬

4- Read the fourth ayah twenty times

‫ﷲُ ُذو ْالفَضْ ِل ْال َع ِظ ِيم‬
‫ﷲِ ي ُْؤتِي ِه َم ْن يَشَا ُء َو ﱠ‬
‫َذلِكَ فَضْ ُل ﱠ‬

Read these four (ayaat), from the first of them to the last of them, to link between them, twenty times.

5- Read the fifth ayah twenty times

َ‫ﷲُ َال يَ ْھ ِدي ْالقَوْ َم الظﱠالِ ِمين‬
‫ﷲِ َو ﱠ‬ ِ ‫س َمثَ ُل ْالقَوْ ِم الﱠ ِذينَ َك ﱠذبُوا بِآَيَا‬
‫ت ﱠ‬ َ ‫ار يَحْ ِم ُل أَ ْسفَا ًرا بِ ْئ‬
ِ ‫َمثَ ُل الﱠ ِذينَ ُح ﱢملُوا التﱠوْ َراةَ ثُ ﱠم لَ ْم يَحْ ِملُوھَا َك َمثَ ِل ْال ِح َم‬

6- Read the sixth ayah twenty times

َ ‫اس فَتَ َمنﱠ ُوا ْال َموْ تَ إِ ْن ُك ْنتُ ْم‬
َ‫صا ِدقِين‬ ِ ‫قُلْ يَا أَ ﱡيھَا الﱠ ِذينَ ھَادُوا إِ ْن َز َع ْمتُ ْم أَنﱠ ُك ْم أَوْ لِيَا ُء ِ ﱠ&ِ ِم ْن د‬
ِ ‫ُون النﱠ‬

7- Read the seventh ayah twenty times

‫ت أَ ْي ِدي ِھ ْم َو ﱠ‬
َ‫ﷲُ َعلِي ٌم بِالظﱠالِ ِمين‬ ْ ‫َو َال يَ َت َمنﱠوْ نَهُ أَبَدًا بِ َما قَ ﱠد َم‬

8- Read the eighth ayah twenty times

ِ ‫قُلْ إِ ﱠن ْال َموْ تَ الﱠ ِذي تَفِرﱡ ونَ ِم ْنهُ فَإِنﱠهُ ُم َالقِي ُك ْم ثُ ﱠم تُ َر ﱡدونَ إِلَى عَالِ ِم ْال َغ ْي‬
َ‫ب َوال ﱠشھَا َد ِة فَيُنَ ﱢبئُ ُك ْم ِب َما ُك ْنتُ ْم َت ْع َملُون‬

Read from ayah the fifth ayah to the eighth ayah twenty times to connect them.

9- Read from the first ayah to the eighth ayah: twenty times to perfect this wajh
And like this, stick to this way in each wajh for the whole Qur'an and do not increase in a single day more
than eight (ayaat) so that you do not increase over you what you have already memorized, then the
memorization changes and leaves your memory.

If I wanted to memorise a new wajh the next day, how do I do so?

- When you want to memorise the next wajh the next day, then before you memorise the new wajh by the
way I mentioned to you, read from the first wajh (from the beginning) to the end of it twenty times so that
what you have already memorised becomes firm in your memory, then go over to the new wajh on the way
that I pointed to.

How do I bring together memorisation and review?

- Do not memorise Al-Qur’an without review because if you memorised al-Qur'an one wajh at a time until
you complete the Qur’an and then you want to return to what you memorized, you would find yourself
haven forgotten what you memorised. And the ideal way of bringing together memorisation and review, is
you divide the Qur’an into three parts; every ten ajza’ (plural of juz’) is a part. So when you have
memorized ten ajza’ then pause (memorisation) for a complete month for review and everyday review 8
awjah (pl. of wajh).

-After a month of review begin with the memorisation, memorising one or two wajh, according to your
ability, and review eight awjah, until you have memorized twenty juz’. When you have memorised twenty
juz’, pause the memorisation for a period of two months for reviewing the twenty juz’, each day reviewing
eight awjah. When two months have passed on reviewing, begin memorisation again every day one or two
wajh, according to your ability and review eight awjah, until you end the memorisation of al-Qur'an
completely.

-When you have completed the memorisation of al-Qur'an, review the first ten ajza’ only, over a period of
one month, each day half of a juz’, then go 'on to the twenty juz’ over a period of one month, each day half a
juz’ and read eight awjah from the first ten ajza’, then go to reviewing the last ten ajza’ of al-Qur'an over a
period of one month, each day half a juz’ with eight awjah from the first ten ajza’, and eight awjah from the
twenty juz’.

How do I review the whole Qur'an when I have completed this review?

-Begin reviewing the whole Qur'an, everyday two juz’, repeating it three times each day, and (like this) you
will complete the whole Qur’an in two weeks. And by this way, you will have, in the course of a year,
perfected the Qur’an completely. And follow this way for the whole year.

What do I do a year after memorising al-Qur'an?

-A year after perfecting al-Qur’an and reviewing it, let your daily portion of al-Qur’an till your death be the
portion of Allah’s Messenger Sallallau `alayhi wa Sallam, for he used to portion the Qur’an into seven,
meaning every 7 days he would complete the Qur'an.
Aws in Hudhaifah (rahimahullah) said: I asked the Companions of the Messenger of Allah (peace and
blessings of Allah be upon him), “How did you divide the Qur’an?” They said” Three suwar (pl. of surah) ,
five suwar, seven suwar, nine suwar, eleven suwar, and the Mufassil, from surah Qaaf until the end.”
[Musnad Ahmad]

-This means from the first day he reads from Surah al-Faatihah to the end of Surah an-Nisaa. On the second
day he reads from Surah al-Maaidah to the end of Surah at-Tawbah. On the third day he reads from Surah
Yunus to the end of Surah an-Nahl. On the fourth day he reads from Surah al-Israa to the end of Surah al-
Furqaan. On the fifth day he reads from Surah ash-Shu`araa to the end of Surah Yaaseen. On the sixth day
he reads from Surah as-Saaffaat to Surah al-Hujuraat. And on the seventh day, he reads from Surah Qaaf to
the end of Surah an-Naas.

-And the Ulamaa’ have summarised the portions of Rasulillah Sallallau `alayhi wa Sallam into their words
“‫( ”فمي بشوق‬Famee bi shawq) which can be translated as “My mouth is longing” or “My mouth is eager.”

-So each letter in these two words is the beginning of one of the everyday portions Rasulillah Sallallahu
`alayhi wa Sallam . The letter ‘Faa’ in the word “Famee” is a symbol for Surah al-Faatihah that shows that it
is his hizb (portion) for the day that he begins with Surah al-Faatihah.

The letter ‘Meem’ in their word “Famee” is for the beginning of his hizb on the second day, beginning with
Surah al-Maaidah.

The letter ‘Yaa’ in their word “Famee” is for the beginning of his hizb for the third day, beginning with
Surah Yunus.

The letter ‘Baa’ in their word “Bi shawq” is for the beginning of his hizb on the fourth day, beginning with
Surah Banee Israa-eel, which is also called Surah al-Israa.

The letter ‘Sheen’ in their word “bi shawq” is for the beginning of his hizb on the fifth day, which will begin
with Surah ash-Shu`araa.

The letter ‘Waa’ in their word “bi shawq” is for the beginning of his hizb on the sixth day, which begins
with Surah was-Saaffaat (as-Saaffaat) .

The letter ‘Qaaf’ in their word “bi shawq” is for the beginning of his hizb for the seventh day, which begins
with Surah Qaaf to the end of Surah an-Naas.

As for the current way that the Qur’an was divided into ahzaab (pl. of hizb), then this is from al-Hajjaaj bin
Yusuf.

How do I distinguish between similar ayaat in al-Qur’an?

- It is best to, when you come across two similar ayat, to open the mushaf to these two ayaat, see the
difference between then, and contemplate it, and put yourself to a test, and during your review the part that
difference repeatedly until you master the similarity between them.
Rules and regulations in memorisation.

1- Your memorisation must be with a shaykh for correction recitation.

2- Memorise everyday two wajh, a wajh after Fajr and a wajh after `Asr or Maghrib, and with this way, you
will memorise the complete Qur’an perfectly (bi idhniLlah) in one year and your memorisation will be
perfect, unless you increase in the memorisation, for if you did, what you memorised will weaken.

3- Your memorisation should be from Suran an-Naas to Surah Al-Baqarah because it is easier. And after you
memorise al-Qur’an your review will be from Surah al-Baqarah to Surah an-Naas.

4- The memorisation should be from a mushaf with the one (same) print to be certain about the strength of
the memorisation and quicker studying the places of the ayaat and the ends and beginnings of the pages.

5- Everyone who memorises (the Qur’an) in the first two years loses some of what he memorised. This is
called the “Marhalatut- Tajmee`”, roughly translated as the “Gathering Stage”. So do not worry about the
Qur’an leaving you or making many mistakes. This is a difficult stage of affliction which shaytaan has a
portion of to make you stop memorising al-Qur’an. So do not pay attention to his whispers and continue
memorising it, for it is a treasure that is not given to just anyone.

Taken from "Shabkati al-Imaam al-Ajurri"

Translated by Ummu Istabraq as-Salafiyyah