I was always brought up in a very practising family, always prayed and read Qur’aan daily but it wasn’t until I was around 16 that my heart really began to draw close to Allaah. A few months before I turned 18, three of my cousins who had also started to practice the deen more, were competing with one another to memorise Juz ‘Amma. I decided to join them and memorise some new suwar so that I could read them in my salaah in the hope that I would have more concentration and khushoo’ (humility) whilst praying. At the time, my intention was to memorise Juz ‘Amma and I didn’t really contemplate the possibility of memorising the whole Qur’aan. So I started to memorise whenever I had some time to spare with no real structure or timetable and mostly it would be only on weekends as I was doing my A’Levels at the time. When I completed my exams, I spent more time memorising and managed to complete Juz ‘Amma Alhamdulillaah. This took about 9 months because of my own laziness and lack of time organisation. When I completed memorising Juz ‘Amma, I found myself loving the Qur’aan so much more and something inside just wanted to keep on memorising. So I started doing a little reading online about memorising and I came across some Ahaadeeth about the rewards of those who memorised the Qur’aan. I didn’t feel I was worthy of being in their ranks but I so badly wanted to do it for the sake of getting my parents into Jannah (Paradise). So I made a timetable for memorising. I set myself a target of memorising one Juz every two months. In the first month, I would memorise the entire Juz and then in the second month I would consolidate what I had memorised the previous month. I followed this for the next three Juz and it didn’t take me six months as I had anticipated because I managed to memorise some chapters much quicker as I used to read them often before. I was also on a gap year so I had more time to do memorisation.
When I completed Soorah Qaaf (the fiftieth chapter), I started university and it was very difficult for me to continue with the pattern that I set due to the workload and lecture timings etc. I spent most of the first few months of university not memorising anything new but just daily reviewing of everything I had memorised so far. I became quite frustrated that I wasn’t memorising new material so I started to squeeze it into my day whenever I can. I would memorise on my way to uni, on the train, whilst eating etc. I also started to go into uni very early in the mornings around 7am and I would sit in the prayer room and memorise. Most days I had the place to myself during those hours so I tried to do this as often as I could. Despite all this, the majority of my memorisation while I was at university was done during the summer holidays. I would memorise intensively during those months and as I memorised more of the Qur’aan, I was able to memorise much faster.
By the time I graduated, I had memorised half the Qur’aan. I was getting a lot of pressure from family to go and find work but I made an oath to Allaah I would dedicate all my time to memorising the Qur’aan until I completed it. I thought having completed uni, I would have all the time in the world but, by the Will of Allaah, I had a large influx of family come from abroad to stay with us along with their kids. I was my mum’s only source of help at the time as two of my sisters got married the year before. The only other siblings I had were too young or male and so automatically, by the rules of our culture they are exempt from housework!
Around this same time, Allaah caused me to cross paths with someone very special. I came across an advert online about a tajweed teacher who studied in Egypt and had a very high chain Ijaazah. I have wanted to learn tajweed since I began memorising but my efforts to find a teacher led nowhere. So I learnt what I could from books, listening to audios and through watching a very good television programme on Iqraa TV (‘Kayfa naqraul-Qur’aan’ – How we recite the Qur’aan) by Shaykh Ayman Rushdi Swayd. I decided to call the sister and she tested me over the telephone by asking me to recite Soorah al-Infitaar, a page from soorah al-Hajj and a third soorah which I can’t recall now. After listening to me, she asked me a few questions about the rules of Tajweed with respect to what I had recited to her and to explain why I recited the verses in the way I did. Some of the advanced questions, I wasn’t able to explain the exact terms. At the end, she said she was looking for sisters who she could teach towards gaining an Ijaazah and to train to become a Qur’aan teacher but she hadn’t found anyone who could recite well enough until she heard me. I was really shocked and overwhelmed to hear her say that because by this time, I was so frustrated trying to find a teacher that I was starting to think I would never get the opportunity to study Tajweed. So I arranged to have lessons with her three times a week, for two hours each day. From the first session I had with her, I noticed my recitation improving maashaAllaah. After two weeks with her, I had learnt so much and completed reciting Soorah al-Baqarah and Aal-‘Imraan to her. She then asked me to teach several of her Beginner and Intermediate students so that the money they were paying would be paid to me and I could use it to continue funding for my lessons with her until I had recited the entire Qur’aan upon her.
After one month, I got married Alhamdulillaah and was teaching a lot of sisters. My teacher moved away quite far so I couldn’t carry on with my lessons and she eventually returned to Egypt to continue studying for an Ijaazah in the other recitations. I was really sad but Alhamdulillaah, within a few weeks my husband and I moved out of London and up north to Sunderland. This was a difficult place for us to live but Allaah brought about so much blessing for me in terms of my memorisation. I didn’t know anyone there and because I was a niqaabi in a totally white area with a husband who had a beard on him, the amount of racist comments and looks we got made me feel so uncomfortable that I spent most of my time at home. Ramadhaan was a month away and I had still one half of the Qur’aan left to memorise. I set myself a target of completing it all by the end of Ramadhaan. My husband thought I was insane and I didn’t quite know how I was going to do it myself but I promised myself I would try. So from then on I spent literally every minute of my day doing nothing but memorising or reviewing the Qur’aan. During weekdays when my husband was at work, I had absolutely no distractions and was completely secluded. By the time Ramadhaan started, I had memorised from soorah at-Tawbah up to Soorah al-An’aam. As there were approximately four weeks in Ramadhaan, I decided to dedicate a week to each of the four soorahs that were left. So I spent one week memorising soorah al-Maaidah, one week on soorah an-Nisaa, one week on Aal-‘Imraan and one week on soorah al-Baqarah. I thought it was impossible to do it but that didn’t deter me. I’ve always been the sort of person who likes to be challenged and the bigger the challenge, the more determined I become to overcome it. Alhamdulillaah, by Allaah’s Will and with His assistance, I managed to meet my target and finally complete memorising the Qur’aan. I was extremely overwhelmed with emotion and struck with an unexplainable fear when I was memorising the last aayah I had left of the Qur’aan that I actually hesitated from doing so. I’ve never experienced such joy, happiness and fear all combined in a single moment until then.
Looking back on it now, if I had not had the distractions of university and other things, I think I could have completed memorising the Qur’aan much faster. I realise that Allaah blessed me with a lot of things that made the journey to memorising the Qur’aan easy. I have always had a very good memory and could quickly memorise new things. I was also fortunate to have been able to learn to read fluently at a young age. Other than my Tajweed teacher, the only other person to have taught me the Qur’aan was my father. I learnt to read from him, at home with my other siblings and when we were able to read fluently, it was routine in our household to have an hour of recitation together every morning and after Maghrib (sunset) prayer. My brothers and sisters would all sit in a circle and recite a verse each whilst my dad would listen to and correct us. We would start from the beginning of the Qur’aan and when we reached the end we would start all over again. I believe this helped me immensely not only in terms of improving reading fluency but also making the process of memorising easier as I was familiar with all parts of the Qur’aan.
Having completed memorising, the hardest thing now is regularly maintaining and reviewing it so I’m not made to forget. In addition to reviewing the Qur’aan during my prayers, I also have a timetable where I review approximately five juz every day so that I complete reviewing of the whole Qur’aan every six days. Depending on the pace I’m reciting at, this can take 3 to 4 hours every day. With the many distractions of life, it can sometimes be difficult to stick to this but I try to make sure I do it after praying fajr so nothing else preoccupies me.
I would advise anyone who is thinking about memorising the Qur’aan to get started right away and to not postpone it for whatever reason Shaytaan may plant in their minds. I’ve heard a lot of sisters who say they don’t want to memorise because of fear that they will fall into the sin of forgetting. This is from the tricks of the devil and anyone who thinks this is a sign of piety is mistaken. Memorising the Qur’aan will change you profoundly, believe me.
My goal in life now is to study the different recitations InshaaAllaah and to learn Tajweed in depth so I can teach the Qur’aan and serve the Ummah through it. I pray Allaah facilitates a way for me to fulfil this goal and that He accepts this deed from me and enters my parents into Jannah, that He makes my husband and our children from the People of the Qur’aan and that He makes all our hearts return back to the Qur’aan. And may Allaah’s peace and blessings be upon the Prophet Muhammad, his Companions and all those who follow them upon goodness till the Last Day.