On Quran Memorization .... Apparently Continued

Stemming from the comments on the previous post pertaining to this topic, I decided to write another post, documenting my observations on Quran memorizing.


What Led to a Change of Heart

My interest was sparked in the summer of 2006 after taking the class Ulum Al Quran in Dearborn, Michigan. Ever since we lost AlMaghrib back in 2005, I have started to join some local young sisters in traveling to other cities to take Almaghrib classes. H was about 6 at the time, and I had no baby, so it was pretty easy for me to travel. The first class we attended as the 'Qabeelah on Wheels' was in Ann Arbor, Michigan. It was there that I overheard some sisters talking about women traveling without mahrams, and I was moved to look up the fatwa. My heart felt uneasy, and it was then that I decided I wasn't going to travel anywhere outside the city limits without my mahram anymore. So for subsequent classes, I dragged hubby with me.

The next class we took was Fiqh Of Love, in Indianapolis, Indiana, which alhamdulillah improved our marriage somewhat. We dragged the kids too, and suffice it to say, it was a big hassle, for they had the flu, and so we left them the second weekend with a Malaysian family. Ulum al Quran was the next class, and for this one, we left the kids with some young Malaysian students, A and Sy, who stayed at our homes. It was this class that transformed my perception on memorizing the Quran. I never placed much significance on it before, but what Muhammad Faqih said during the class changed how I viewed it, alhamdulillah. His advice for Muslim families, is one that I will treasure and try to remember always inshaallah.


Tips from a Hafidh

This was what he partly said during class. He also gave us tips on how to effectively memorize it. What I can recall, are:

1. Sit with earphones in your ears, blocking out every sound
2. Listen to a Qari's recitation, and face a corner or something which will not distract you
3. Repeat the verse you're trying to memorize several times until you get it

For our children, I guess we can modify it to fit our situations.


What about Knowing the Meaning?

I had asked him about the importance of knowing the meaning of the surah when memorizing, and what he said can basically be summed up as:

Even though knowing the meaning is important, when memorizing, that is not the focus. Focus on memorizing the ayah as is, and knowing the meaning will come later on.

Muhammad Al Shareef also said that usually, when studying the deen, one should not start with Arabic, but start with the Quran, even if one does not know Arabic. This is because, once one starts with the Quran, and memorizes it, one will later on be compelled to know the meaning, and from there, one will then be compelled to learn Arabic, and in turn, the whole deen bizinillah.

He also mentioned that the mistake people do when starting with Arabic, is that one goes in depth, and the Quran does not necessarily folllow suit, which is not the case with the other order (Quran first and then Arabic). From personal experience, I can't really shed much light on this one, because I did learn Arabic in secondary school, and my reading of the Quran is very much affected by what I learned of Arabic, which helps a lot in understanding what I read.


Our Different Islamic Cultures Pertaining to the Quran

Here in Columbus, we have quite a big population of Somali, and after spending a lot of time with them, I have noticed that part of their Islamic culture is an emphasis on memorizing the Quran. They have this 'madrasah' which they call 'Dugsi' where kids are trained to memorize the Quran strictly. We did send our kids to this dugsi a few years back, but we later took them out.

Unfortunately, we realized that they were assigning portions of surahs to be memorized to each kid, and we the parents, are the one who are under pressure to administer and oversee this process, which usually involved spending time with each kid who were assigned different portions, and quite big portions they were! In the end, we were tearing our hair out because it was just unrealistic to do so with a certain deadline. Plus, unfortunately, the kids who are sent to dugsi, are those who go to public school, and they bring in pop culture into the masjid, by talking of Hanna Montana and such during breaks or even during classes. We also found out that the masjid that is closer to us were starting to have hafidh classes too, so it was then that we took out the kids from dugsi, and we enrolled them in the program at the closer masjid.

The hafidh at the closer masjid was from Libya, and again, I observed that a lot of hufaadh at our masjid are from this country, mashaallah! However, one difference that I noticed, was that tajweed was included as a focus in addition to memorization by this hafidh. So, it's a step up, inshaallah.

The Desi (IndoPak) are also quite heavy on Quran memorization, and I see this from the Desi community at another masjid about 30 minutes away from where we live. A couple of times, I had attended their events, and mashaallah, kids aged 10 or so were reciting long surahs from memory.

When we were in Chicago for the class History of the Khulafa, Muhammad Al Shareef talked about how the Malaysians and Indonesians are very good at teaching their children the Quran with proper Tajweed. I realized then that our strength is focusing on tajweed. However, being a Malaysian myself, I also realized that our weakness is not focusing much on memorization (in general). At least, memorization is not a significant part of our cultural practice of Islam, as opposed to the Somalis, but sending our kids to someone who will teach them to read the Quran with proper tarteel is very much a significant part of our cultural practice of Islam. Once the child finishes reading the whole Quran, a celebration is in order, and the Quran is then closed forever (loosely speaking), never to be touched again, left to gather dust on the shelves. Some surahs are assigned to be memorized in school, but that's about it. I believe, from some conversations with fellow Malaysians, that it is only recently that Tahfiz schools are revived in Malaysia, where they were functioning 'underground' before.

One thing that stood out to me from all these observations, was that the Malaysians and Indonesians place emphases on knowing how to read the Quran. This is what the other cultures lack. Their young children may memorize the Quran, but they don't necessarily know how to read it, yes, even the Arabs. On the other hand, we may know how to read the Quran perfectly, but we don't necessarily have a love for it such that it will push us to memorize it. This is one of the reasons I feel very blessed to have set foot here, in the United States, where I am able to mingle with Muslims from other cultures. The differences, if handled in the right manner, can open up our minds as we learn about them, not in order to dig a deeper trench of separation, but in order to build a bridge of understanding each other.

My Somali sisters, mashaallah, have shared with me the secrets to their memorization of the Quran, or portions of it. Some have said that when they were young, their mothers would recite the portion of the Surah they were to memorize to them, and they would memorize it this way. And when they're bigger, and able to read the Quran themselves, they would do it themselves. Knowing the meaning probably didn't come until much later, with increased exposure, knowledge, and wisdom.


Reading the Quran: An Art?

Growing up, I used to just read the mushaf without bothering to look up the meaning. It was only unil I was of college age that I began to ponder on the practice. And now, I see that more and more of us Malaysians are realizing that we should also know what these verses are saying, rather than reciting them with perfect tajweed and tarteel, alhamdulillah.

I have had a conversation with one Malaysian who expressed her sentiment about the Quran in this way,

"Reciting the Quran is an art."

I guess I can't disagree with that, for it is true in a way, as the Prophet SAW told us to recite the Quran in as melodious a voice as possible, but that is not where it should stop.

Alhamdulillah, I feel that I have truly been blessed with good company in all the places we have lived in the United States, and I pray that Allah continue to place us in good company, that will help guide us to Him. So, I also feel that I have the advantage of combining the strengths of all these cultural practices pertaining to the Quran and applying them in our family; tajweed and memorization.


Too Old To Memorize?

As for issues with age, here is the story of an 82 year old grandmother who managed to memorize the whole Quran with the help of her grown daughter, mashaallah. I had met UmmReem's sister at The Texas Dawah Conference in Houston, Texas in December 2007, and UmmReem, also happened to have written a guide to help your child memorize Quran at a young age, for her daughter Reem, had memorized the Quran y the age of 5 or 7 if I'm not mistaken, mashaallah.



Problem with a Different Learning Style

When talking to UmmReem's sister Sd, she told me of her experience of homeschooling her children. It seems that one of her children is very much like my N, in terms of learning style. Where her sisters and brothers excelled in memorization, she seems to struggle. That sounded very familiar to me, so she talked of how she modified her teaching style with that daughter.

With Surah As Shams, she would draw pictures of the sun, moon, day, night, earth, sky etc as she taugher her daughter each verse, and it seemed to help.

With the kids, I had done a similar thing back in maybe 2003 where we had made an accordion book. On each page, they had to draw the representation of each ayah in Surah As Shams. We also did it with Surahs An Naas and Al Ikhlaas, where I had them write out one word from the ayah where they could not draw pictures.

With N, hubby sought another way to maintain her interest, by actually sitting with her and telling her the story of the surah she was working on. She seems to be one that has to interact with what with she is learning, whereas S and H are the typical 'school' learners that are content to be spoonfed information. Now however, they are all immersed in the story behind each surah everytime we ride the van, where hubby would turn on Muhammad AlShareef's Touched by An Angel.

Back to Sd's daughter, Sd told me that when she expressed her frustrations to her husband, he had told her,

"Don't worry about it, when she gets it, she'll get it,"

and this is one advice I also take when it comes to dealing with N.


Don't Push Them

That brings about another point to ponder on. Both Sd and I were listening to the lecture given by Dr.Mamdouh at the Texas Dawah Conference, and he had mentioned this scenario of not pushing the kids to memorize if they're not ready for it. I think, we parents sometimes get carried away in this 'race to memorize the whole Quran by age ____". I have seen people who memorized the whole Quran at a young age, and then forgot it, because memorizing it was part of the culture.



Ihsaan

It truly behooves us, as Muslims, to have a level of awareness in whatever we are doing, so we don't get carried away in our acts of worship such that they become just part of our daily routine, be it memorizing the Quran, praying, or wearing the hijab. Subhanallah, I really think this is the hardest part of practicing Islam; doing it at a level of Ihsaan. It is not an easy level to reach, and every day, as we go about our daily routine, it is so easy to do things without thinking about them, and especially in including our children in these routines, it is so easy to transfer that mindset to them. This is my daily struggle, as a Muslim, as a parent.


Last night, I was on a teleconference call with DiscoverUlife Life Coach, on a call titled How To Live a Life of Zero Regrets. She said that there are 3 kinds of failure. The first failure struck me the most:

It's when, on the Day of Judgment, you come to Allah, having done all the right things, NOT in the right way.



So Inshaa Allah...

May Allah protect us from that, and may Allah guide us to the straight path. Ameen.

May Allah purify our hearts, our intentions, and accept our deeds. Ameen.