Addicted

I have a confession to make. I have an addiction the like which I have never had before. The addiction to the book of revelation, the last testament, the Quran.

Over the last 4 months, I've dedicated a few hours daily just listening to it's recitation and studying it's exegesis (tafseer). Alhamdulillah, I have managed to memorise 1/30th of it's content and by Allah, how amazing is it that just that small portion has managed to completely change my life.

Alhamdulillah - all praises be to Allah for nurturing my love towards the Quran and may it only grow stronger as time goes.

1 juz in 4 months is nothing to be proud of really as there people out there memorising the whole book within the same time span, but I'd just like to share my method of memorising. Hopefully, someone out there will get some benefit out of it inshaAllah.

1. Have a good exegesis with you. Memorisation has little meaning unless you understood what you recite. As for myself, I prefer listening to reading and I found the tafseer sessions by a Brother Nouman to be extremely helpful. You can find his audio clips here :

Tafseer of juz amma

Tafseer of surah Baqarah

2. Once you've got the gist of the surah, get started memorising. I do this simply listening to the surah repeatedly. For me personally, qari Misharee bin Rashid Al-Afaasee has the most beautiful recitation that isn't too hard to follow. You may download his recitations here:

http://www.audioislam.com/?subcategory=Recitation

3. After you've memorised a surah, get back to tafseer. I personally find that I learn more studying the surah once I've memorised it. You'll also be able to pick up vocabulary that will help you in the surah to come.

4. Recite often. In any free time you have, just try reciting all that you've memorised. It helps if you have a digital version of the Quran so you can always have it with you and check yourself whenever you aren't feeling sure of an ayah.

5. The last step, is actually what I did before I even commited myself to memorising the Quran. I intentionally put it last because, well... let's just say that I understand not everybody is willing to do this...

Let go of music. Completely. It's harder to memorise Quran if you spend more time letting things that are against the teachings of the Quran in your ears more than Allah's Words themselves. Rather, replace the times you might spend with music with the beautiful recitations of the Quran instead. I'm not going to talk much about music here, rather, I'll let Mr. Kamal Al-Mekki who convinced me to stop listening to music do all the convincing you might need.

Obviously, there are alternative views to this issue but the points Sheikh Kamal makes rings with me and I haven't missed music at all since its absence from my life. If anything, more room for Quran is always a better option.

And that's my unqualified method of memorising the Quran. However, I personally think you can adopt any method you want and successfully memorise the Quran if your intentions are pure, for Allah helps those who wants to get closer to Him =)

Wallahua'lam.