how to memorise the

Amina Saeed of the UAE had always dreamed of making an achievement in Islamic studies, so she decided to memorise the Quran and participate in international contests to fulfill her dream.

Motivated by her 25 brothers and sisters, who memorise parts of Quran, she outperformed them and managed to memorise the entire holy book in just 100 days.

The 19-year-old Amina, a student at the Sharjah college of Shariah and Islamic studies, then travelled to Jordan to participate in an international Quran memorisation contest. Amina was sure she would excess in the contest but had not expected she would outperform all other participants from 15 countries.

“I got the top position in the contest in Jordan and I am proud to make this achievement for my country,” she said, quoted by ‘Emarat Al Youm’ daily.

“I had always wanted to memorise the Quran and I was encouraged by the fact that all my 25 bothers and sisters, who are older than me, memorise parts of the holy book…I have spent an average 12 hours a day in an intensive Quran memorisation course until I memorised it all in just 100 days.”

Amina said she had already won second and third prizes in local contests but added that her biggest achievement was that she snatched the top position in the Amman contest, which was attended by scores of Muslims from 15 nations.

“I used to memorise parts of the Quran when I was a child at schools in Dubai…when I became 17 years old, I decided it was time to memorise all the holy book…I succeeded in doing so in just 100 days and was ahead of all my brothers and sisters and their children, who all memorise parts of the Quran.”Amina said she would keep reading the Quran daily to maintain her ability to control every word in the holy book, which has 114 suras (chapters), comprising more than 6,300 Ayat (sentences) that include in excess of 77,000 words.

Taken from Emirates 24/7

We asked you last week about why Ya’qoob, ‘alayhis-salaam, used a word that is used for blind people to address his sons who are not blind. The answer to this is that the use of this word is significant because the sons of Ya’qoob may not have been physically blind, but indeed their hearts were blind. So Allaah wants to convey this to us and has selected this word whilst referring to their act of searching for Yoosuf and Binyameen.

This week’s question

This week’s question is yet again from Soorat Yoosuf and this time we go back to the wife of al-‘Azeez and her desire for Yoosuf, ‘alayhis-salaam. Before we mention the aayaat, we need to give you a little background on ways of showing emphasis (tawkeed) in the Arabic language. When reading the translation of the verses of the Qur’aan, you often come across the words Surely, Verily and Indeed. These are the English subtitutes for conveying the emphasis in the Arabic origin. In Arabic, there are many ways of showing emphasis. From the most common are the use of the words Inna (إِنَّ), qad (قَدْ) and laqad (لَقَدْ) as well as a specific use of the letters laam and noon known as laam/ noon of emphasis. The laam of emphasis is simply implemented by adding the letter laam to the beginning of a verb. The letter noon on the other hand is added at the end of the verb and can either be noon saakin (lesser emphasis) or noon mushaddad (greater emphasis). So consider the following aayah:

قَالَتْ فَذَلِكُنَّ الَّذِي لُمْتُنَّنِي فِيهِ وَلَقَدْ رَاوَدتُّهُ عَن نَّفْسِهِ فَاسَتَعْصَمَ وَلَئِن لَّمْ يَفْعَلْ مَا آمُرُهُ لَيُسْجَنَنَّ وَلَيَكُونًا مِّنَ الصَّاغِرِينَ

She said: “This is he (the young man) about whom you did blame me (for his love), and I did seek to seduce him, but he refused. And now if he refuses to obey my order, he shall certainly be cast into prison, and will be one of those who are disgraced.” (Yoosuf 12:32)

The first highlighted word is originally yusjana and has had both laam tawkeed added at the beginning of it and noon tawkeed (mushaddad) added at the end. So therefore this is a very strongly emphasised word (i.e. that Yoosuf will be imprisoned). The second word was originally yakoona and has had laam tawkeed added at the beginning and noon tawkeed (saakin) added at the end. So we know right away that this second word is emphasised less than the first.

Compare this aayah to the ayah below:

وَاسُتَبَقَا الْبَابَ وَقَدَّتْ قَمِيصَهُ مِن دُبُرٍ وَأَلْفَيَا سَيِّدَهَا لَدَى الْبَابِ قَالَتْ مَا جَزَاء مَنْ أَرَادَ بِأَهْلِكَ سُوَءًا إِلاَّ أَن يُسْجَنَ أَوْ عَذَابٌ أَلِيمٌ

So they raced with one another to the door, and she tore his shirt from the back. They both found her lord (i.e. her husband) at the door. She said: “What is the recompense (punishment) for him who intended an evil design against your wife, except that he be put in prison or a painful torment?” (Yoosuf 12:25)

In this second aayah, there is no emphasis applied and the verb is as it is in its original form. In both verses, it is the wife of al-‘Azeez who is speaking. Contemplate on these three verbs and ponder over the context in which they are used. Why do you think she has chosen to emphasise her speech in one place more than the other and then not to emphasise at all in the second aayah?