In the Name of Allah, Most Compassionate, Most Merciful
Apart from the infamous "practice, practice, and practice!" advice, there are many other ways you can retain what you've memorized in this class. Here are a few tips and ideas that may help (have a copy of the Quran with you, we'll be going over a few examples):
Understand the Meaning:
Pay attention to the meaning of the verses. Outline the occurrences or course of events in the story, the characters, the location, the time, etc. Jot down these along with key words that will help you remember the order of the story on a piece of paper, practice the verses while going down the list to help you remember. For an example, verses 30-37 in Surat Al-Baqarah outline the event of the creation of Adam (a.s.). My outline can look something like this:
The characters: Who is involved?
- Allah (swt)
- Adam (a.s.)
- The Angels
- Iblis (Satan)
- Hawa (Adam's wife)
The Location: Where is this taking place?
- Heaven (Jannah)
- Earth (Al-Ard)
The Course of Events: What is happening / taking place?
- Allah (swt) tells the angels that He is creating a successor/leader/vicegerent (Adam).
- Angels ask if this creation (Adam) will cause mischief and shed blood.
- Allah (swt) replies "I know that which you do not".
- continued...
Of course this would not be of much use to those who do not know Arabic in order to remember what the verses are in the Quran. Don't worry, you have other options!
Look for Patterns:
Pay attention to verses and stories that are repeated. Verses 32-35 in Surat Al-Baqarah is another good example, all of the verses begin similarly:
32 - Qaloo (They said)
33 - Qaala (He said)
34- Wa Ith Qulna (And when We said)
35- Wa Qulna (And We said)
Take verses 40, 47, 122 in Surat Al-Baqarah. Two of the verses are exactly identical, one is very similar. Or verses 47-48 and verses 122-123 in Surat Al-Baqarah. This helps a lot, but confuses just as equally. You can try to focus on the characters or the minute changes instead in these instances to avoid that confusion.
Understand the Meaning:
Pay attention to the meaning of the verses. Outline the occurrences or course of events in the story, the characters, the location, the time, etc. Jot down these along with key words that will help you remember the order of the story on a piece of paper, practice the verses while going down the list to help you remember. For an example, verses 30-37 in Surat Al-Baqarah outline the event of the creation of Adam (a.s.). My outline can look something like this:
The characters: Who is involved?
- Allah (swt)
- Adam (a.s.)
- The Angels
- Iblis (Satan)
- Hawa (Adam's wife)
The Location: Where is this taking place?
- Heaven (Jannah)
- Earth (Al-Ard)
The Course of Events: What is happening / taking place?
- Allah (swt) tells the angels that He is creating a successor/leader/vicegerent (Adam).
- Angels ask if this creation (Adam) will cause mischief and shed blood.
- Allah (swt) replies "I know that which you do not".
- continued...
Of course this would not be of much use to those who do not know Arabic in order to remember what the verses are in the Quran. Don't worry, you have other options!
Look for Patterns:
Pay attention to verses and stories that are repeated. Verses 32-35 in Surat Al-Baqarah is another good example, all of the verses begin similarly:
32 - Qaloo (They said)
33 - Qaala (He said)
34- Wa Ith Qulna (And when We said)
35- Wa Qulna (And We said)
Take verses 40, 47, 122 in Surat Al-Baqarah. Two of the verses are exactly identical, one is very similar. Or verses 47-48 and verses 122-123 in Surat Al-Baqarah. This helps a lot, but confuses just as equally. You can try to focus on the characters or the minute changes instead in these instances to avoid that confusion.
Visualize the Quran :
While reading and memorizing the Quran, pay close attention to the locations of the verses on the page. Take mental shots of the verses in the Quran and close your eyes when you recite it. Your goal is to memorize the page exactly as it is, being able to reference the verse numbers and recall the page so that you can read it off from your memory.
Listen and Repeat:
Listen to audio clips of your favorite reciter and repeat with her/him. Open up the page you are memorizing and play the clip at the same time, read along with the reciter. Test classmates, not only do they get practice, but hearing them several times alone can help you memorize as well. You can also download MP3's of the audio from online at IslamWay or listen to the Quran Radio by visiting the link on this blog.
Suggestions for reciters: Mahmoud Al-Husary, AbdulBasit AbdusSamad, Tawfiq AsSaaigh, Muhammad Jibreel.
Practice and Review:
Probably one of the most important means of memorizing the Holy Quran. Review the passages by reading them after Salah or reciting them during your Salah. Students in this class will be paired up with a partner for practice tests and reviews as well. Oh and of course: Practice, Practice, and Practice! :)
Have any suggestions, tips, advice? Feel free to share by commenting on this post!
Listen to audio clips of your favorite reciter and repeat with her/him. Open up the page you are memorizing and play the clip at the same time, read along with the reciter. Test classmates, not only do they get practice, but hearing them several times alone can help you memorize as well. You can also download MP3's of the audio from online at IslamWay or listen to the Quran Radio by visiting the link on this blog.
Suggestions for reciters: Mahmoud Al-Husary, AbdulBasit AbdusSamad, Tawfiq AsSaaigh, Muhammad Jibreel.
Practice and Review:
Probably one of the most important means of memorizing the Holy Quran. Review the passages by reading them after Salah or reciting them during your Salah. Students in this class will be paired up with a partner for practice tests and reviews as well. Oh and of course: Practice, Practice, and Practice! :)
Have any suggestions, tips, advice? Feel free to share by commenting on this post!
A few more tips, if you don't mind:)
ReplyDelete1) If u try memorizing something by heart all at once, u will forget it soon. But if u do it at intervals, it helps. If u try to memorize 3 pages by repeating them 100 times at once, it isn't as effective as it is if you do it by repeating them a few times in the morning, a few times in the evening, a few times before sleeping, a few times the next day, and so on for 4 or 5 days, u pretty much get to know it.
2) It's very fruitful if u repeat the new lesson at night about 10 times before u sleep, and revise it early the next morning too (about 5 times). That one really helps. One of my teachers told me to do that while I was memorizing the Quran, and it worked wonders.
3) Make sure that after you're done revising each day, READ TO SOMEONE ELSE! You won't be able to catch all of your own mistakes by yourself. Also, have the person mark your mistakes (with a pencil) in your Quran so that you can go back and fix them later.
4)There are 3 things that u daily ought to attend to.
---Memorizing a new lesson. (Lesson)
---Revising your yesterday's lesson and the lessons from 3 days before that. (Lesson revision)
---Revising a part of the rest of what you have memorized.
5) When u memorize, recite loudly---for that will employ ur sense of hearing in addition to your sense of vision. If you recite in a very low voice, it's not nearly as effective, since you don't use your sense of hearing much.
Those are some very good tips as well. JazakAllahu khair for sharing. Also, about noting things down on the Quran, I head but am not too sure, that it's best you don't. Allahu A3lam, but I would suggest writing those down on a sticky note (also great for remembering Tajweed rules as you read) and keeping it bookmarked so you know where and what your mistakes were/are.
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