My Hifdh Progress

[Tarek]

Assalamu 'Alaikum Warahmatullahi Wabarakutuhu,


From a kind request from Sister Rassila to update her on my Hifdh Progress, I thought it'd be a good idea to make a public thread about it, so you can all get some sort of idea how it's panning out =)


[For those of you who don't know (I never actually made a public thread about it on this forum) I'm currently in Brisbane undertaking the memorization of the Qur'an... taken time off school for the task]


I arrived in Brisbane on the 31st of January after a loong holiday (my Teacher was overseas, so I had to wait...) & it just so happened I got quite a bad migraine about then, which stayed for two weeks more or less.

So I officially started my quest on the 13th or the 14th (can't remember which lol).

I started from the front, i.e. Surah Al-Fatiha then Al-Baqarah.

Today is the 20th of May & I just completed my third Juz (Verse 91 of Surah Al-'Imran).

The class times vary depending on the season, currently class starts from after Fajr (which is at 5.45am) & runs until 10.30am; students can request a breakfast break at around 8.30. It then begins again at around 2.30pm & continues uptil 'Isha (which is now 7.30pm).


How I Undertake the Memorization

* I'm using "The Noble Qur'an" for my memorization, the one with the English Translation side by side, I'm also memorizing the English Translation

* Currently I target to complete a Juz a month (InshAllah I'm hoping this rate will increase as I memorize more), so far the Juz have been more or less 30 pages each, so I target a page a day

* First I set myself the target: I'll memorize from this Ayah to this Ayah, then what I do is what I call "rounds", so the first time I'll do one 'round' of my targetted memorization, this first round is light & takes very little time, its purpose is to get a faint grasp of the pattern of the Ayat & the general structure of the verses... then I do my next 'round' which is again quite light this time getting more familiar with I want to memorize, then once again the 3rd round, 4th round (each round takes longer & longer as I try to get more & more out of the verses in my memory) then about the 5th/6th/7th round I start to memorize each individual word specifically until I have the whole Ayah in my memory, I do that for each Ayah, until I have that particular page or so memorized =)

I've used a few other techniques but I think this one is the best I've employed.

Then once I think I've got it memorized I then go to my dear teacher & read the lesson to him, he corrects any mistakes I may have & if he approves, I then move onto my next lesson...

...well not quite, that's the Arabic taken care of, but then comes the memorization of the English Translation, which is easier than the Arabic & takes more or less 60-80 minutes.

First I memorize the English of the specific Ayah wholly, then I use a book titled "A Complete Easy Dictionary of the Qur'an" which has more or less the whole vocabulory of the Qur'an word for word [check out the book here: http://islamicbookstore.com/b7601.html , a great book for anyone wanting to get familiar with knowing the meaning of the Qur'an], then I memorize each specific Arabic Word in the book which appears in the relevant Ayah, & then I circle that word with the corresponding Arabic word on my Qur'an with a number so I know which Arabic word means what in the translation.

And then I finish that particular lesson :)


* I also have to constantly revise what I've already memorized.

I try to do half a Juz every 2 days, which is currently going well


Anyways its close to 12am now, I better go to sleep, InshAllah I've still got quite a lot more to write, including about my great teacher (basically the reason I've come to Brisbane) the environment in the Madrassah, & perhaps some other things I can think of, which I'll do soon =)

Please make du'a for me... that Allah blesses me with a strong memorization & that I can more importantly put the Ayat I have memorized into my practical life.

You're all in my du'a's =)


Wassalam

[Rassila]

wa alaikum alsalam wr wb

Barak Allahu feek

so your doing hifdh for approximately 10 hours per day; do you do other things with your sheikh as well like, tajweed or tafseer (is this memorisation with/without tajweed rules?)?

ps. you expecting to finish the quran in 2 yrs iA is it?

jazaks for the update
ws
RaS

[Tarek]

Salam,

^ Yes Qari-Saab [this is what we call him =)] also teaches Qur'an by look, with Tajweed, proper Ahkam, if I make any Tajweed mistake he corrects me... but not the intricate finer details of Tajweed which I've heard is pretty deep stuff.

I used to live in Brisbane around 6-7 years back, this is when I completed the Qur'an by look with Qari-Saab in the space of around 1.5 years & learned to read quite well Alhamdulillah (InshAllah I'll elaborate on this experience in my next post continuing from this initial thread soon).

And yes inshAllah I'm planning to finish in around two years, I think it'll take me max. 2 years 4 months, Allah knows best, make du'a for me :)

Wassalam

[Covered Beauty]

Salamz

Wow quite an experience.

May Allah reward you for you efforts and may Allah make it easy for you, ameen.

Keep us updated inshAllah

Salamz

[Tarek]

My Teacher

His name is Qari Fida ur-Rehman.

He finished Hifdh of Qur'an at a very young age & consequently started teaching officially not too long after.

He has made 35 Huffath of Qur'an in total: 10 in Pakistan & 25 in Australia.

I find him really quite a special man... he has basically dedicated his whole life to the Qur'an unflinchingly, & the love he possesses for the Qur'an... is quite beyond words.

He teaches with a rigorous fever of passion which I found out when I first arrived in his class, at about the age of 7 or 8... my reading of the Qur'an was at that point quite meager, nothing too flash to speak of... but consequently within a few months under Qari-Saab, I began to excel blisteringly, improving my reading of the Qur'an many times over & also developing quite a nice reciting voice which was very much due to the Qari, Alhamdulillah. There was always a sort of aura about him, which compelled us students to read the Qur'an with passion.

I ended up completing the Qur'an by look in about 1.5 years, & consequently started Hifdh with him, but then my family moved to Sydney.

This whole experience was so crucial at that young age in my life... this is where I developed my initial love of Islam & the Qur'an (although I barely had any clue as to its meaning), & I can truly appreciate what a great gift the Qari has imparted with me; reciting the Qur'an beautifully & for me it was only fitting that I go back to him & do my Hifdh with him, reliving those memories of my younger days =)

The Madrassah (the place where the Hifdh takes place) has a terrific environment, with the echoing of the myriad voices chanting the Qur'an surrounding one present... with such an environment one is only propelled & encouraged to keep at one's memorization & we students also develop a special bond with each other, seeing one another day in & day out with the Qur'an as our common ground.

All in all it is terrific, & I can never thank Allah (S.W.T) enough for this tremendous opportunity, Alhamdulillah !


Last of all if you are interested here's a couple of download links to me reciting Qur'an... the product of my teacher :)

Surah Qaaf, Verses 1-35:
http://www.zshare.net/audio/603210236ab0be78/

[One of my favourite Surahs, try at the same time reading the meaning of this magnificent Surah: http://www.ummah.net/what-is-islam/quran/noble/nobe050.htm]

Surah Rahman:
http://www.zshare.net/audio/60359838719a43ad/

Enjoy,

Wassalam

[AbdulQader]

Walaykom issalam,

Masha'Allah your teacher sounds great :)

May Allah make the rest of your journey easy and all the more beneficial.

I find it amazing that you are also memorising the English. It seems like a good technique to help learn the meanings and keep them stored for quick access.

Please tell us more...

Give us a basic outline of the morning session after fajr, from start to finish insha'Allah (till 10:30), that would be nice.

It's good to hear from you bro.

Wassalam.

[Rassila]

Tabarak Allah Akhi :)

How many other students are memorising with you and how do the ages vary?

Also, is this progam that Qari Fida Ur-rahman runs, for brothers alone.. or is there a madrasah for sisters too?

(Ps. is Qari his name.. or the title given to him, for being a qari?)



I used to live in Brisbane around 6-7 years back, this is when I completed the Qur'an by look with Qari-Saab in the space of around 1.5 years & learned to read quite well Alhamdulillah (InshAllah I'll elaborate on this experience in my next post continuing from this initial thread soon).
Im guessing, 'by look' here you mean.. youve done khatom al quran, by reading from the mushaf (with basic tajweed). If so, very interesting.

wassalams
RaS

[Saabira]

So where are the Hifdth schools in Sydney?? I'm talking here, Madrassah's like yours where you memorize for the almost the whole day, day in, day out.

[Saabira]

Salam,

if I make any Tajweed mistake he corrects me... but not the intricate finer details of Tajweed which I've heard is pretty deep stuff.



There's finer details?? :O

SubhanAllah, you ve been truly blessed by Allah to have such an amazing experience. Also JazakAllah for sharing your memorization techniques.

[Fazza]

Assalamu alaikum dear tarek

Great to hear from you bro, and missing you dearly here in the sydney community. I look forward to your next visit here and on having you back down here more permanently when Allah ta'ala wills.

Jazak alalh khair for your post bro.

Good stuff bro, keep going :)

Theres so much stuff i would say with regards to the way you are giong about it - questions and also some tweaks i would suggest, but one thing you are not concerned about is timing - you are willing to let it take time and you have it on your side since you are very young. So no point pointing it out

But bro theres one very serious thing id point out - have you considered using the standard mushaf instead of the one you are using now? i ask this because the one you are using bro - its surely not availabel in that format in all parts of the world? and as im sure you will realise and know yourself, your brain fucntions by almost imprinting the page of the mushaf in the brian - so that when you are reciting from memory its like you are trackiing the page you learnt. IN light of this, unless you are SURE you will always have this mushaf (and remember, life can be very long and very short, and circumstances change, theres nothing to guarantee that it will always stay with or that it will be available wherever you go in the world) then i would recommend switching to the standard huffadh codex quranic mushaf used the world over (with the exception fo the indian subcontinent where they use the persian script; though even there im sure the standard uthmani script mushaf is available). This is becuase in future when you ever need to revise etc, and should your mushaf be lost, then it will make it more difficult for you. But i guess you can always relearn using the standard mushaf if you lose the company of your mushaf that youare now using :P

ANyways, thats just a suggestion bro, do with it as you please.

Apart from that, what can i say bro. just know that you are very fortunate ;) good stuff, and put it to good use. INsha Allah next time you are here for a while we'll have a good heart to heart about progress. insha Allah keep all muslims and budding huffadh in your duas, may Allah grant us all Hifdh al Quran Al Kareem.

Wassalam!
Faraz

[Tarek]

Assalamu 'Alaikum w.w.b,


Please tell us more...

Give us a basic outline of the morning session after fajr, from start to finish insha'Allah (till 10:30), that would be nice.Well I don't know if there's anything specific... class starts after Fajr & the students arrive & we just get on with our memorization/revision etc. & thus it continues until the end of the day /smile


Tabarak Allah Akhi :)

How many other students are memorising with you and how do the ages vary?

Also, is this progam that Qari Fida Ur-rahman runs, for brothers alone.. or is there a madrasah for sisters too?

(Ps. is Qari his name.. or the title given to him, for being a qari?)

Quote:
I used to live in Brisbane around 6-7 years back, this is when I completed the Qur'an by look with Qari-Saab in the space of around 1.5 years & learned to read quite well Alhamdulillah (InshAllah I'll elaborate on this experience in my next post continuing from this initial thread soon).
Im guessing, 'by look' here you mean.. youve done khatom al quran, by reading from the mushaf (with basic tajweed). If so, very interesting.

wassalams
RaS All in all there are perhaps I'd say 30-40 students, including full-time, part-time, by memorization & by look ... how many specifically doing memorization I'm not exactly sure, but a hazardous guess would be around 15-25.

There are 5 other full-time students with me doing Hifdh, this includes Qari-Saab's two sons.

The ages vary dramatically /smile ... from 5 years of age (these would be learning Arabic) to around 35... there's no age limit... but the majority are between I would say 7-16 years of age.

lol "Qari" is a title given to him, it's not part of his name (you would have to be a pretty audacious & confident parent to name your child that upon their birth... they would have to live up to the name without stint! /smile)

The Qari teaches boys only, lol he told me his experience with boys & girls in one class... not too good (apparently they would just sit & gape at each other) ... his wife conducts classes for girls from Mon. to Thurs. 4-6pm.


Im guessing, 'by look' here you mean.. youve done khatom al quran, by reading from the mushaf (with basic tajweed). If so, very interesting. Yes that is correct... this is the technique he employs & it was fantastic for me :)

[Tarek]

Continuing on my replies...


Great to hear from you bro, and missing you dearly here in the sydney community. I look forward to your next visit here and on having you back down here more permanently when Allah ta'ala wills.Ahh yess... InshAllah I'm gearing up for that... let's say I'm looking for a sufficient array of knowledge & experience present in my entourage before I settle somewhere permanently & really get to work /smile


Theres so much stuff i would say with regards to the way you are giong about it - questions and also some tweaks i would suggest, but one thing you are not concerned about is timing - you are willing to let it take time and you have it on your side since you are very young. So no point pointing it outlol go ahead... yeah time is not a factor worrying me... I'd prefer to take my time & do the job properly & get a Strong Memorization.

If Allah wills this memorization will stay with me for however long I live, so it's imperative I do it properly.


But bro theres one very serious thing id point out - have you considered using the standard mushaf instead of the one you are using now? i ask this because the one you are using bro - its surely not availabel in that format in all parts of the world? and as im sure you will realise and know yourself, your brain fucntions by almost imprinting the page of the mushaf in the brian - so that when you are reciting from memory its like you are trackiing the page you learnt. IN light of this, unless you are SURE you will always have this mushaf (and remember, life can be very long and very short, and circumstances change, theres nothing to guarantee that it will always stay with or that it will be available wherever you go in the world) then i would recommend switching to the standard huffadh codex quranic mushaf used the world over (with the exception fo the indian subcontinent where they use the persian script; though even there im sure the standard uthmani script mushaf is available). This is becuase in future when you ever need to revise etc, and should your mushaf be lost, then it will make it more difficult for you. But i guess you can always relearn using the standard mushaf if you lose the company of your mushaf that youare now using :PI'm afraid this form of the Mushaf & I have had a spectacularly affectionate bond & relationship for the past two or so years... so much so I cannot even imagine using another Mushaf for my memorization... but yeh if for some strange reason I can't get hold of this Mushaf I'm sure I can always switch to a more common one /smile


INsha Allah next time you are here for a while we'll have a good heart to heart about progress. insha Allah keep all muslims and budding huffadh in your duas, may Allah grant us all Hifdh al Quran Al Kareem.

Wassalam!
Faraz InshAllah /smile, & yep they're definitely in my du'as, I'll be coming over in the next school holidays, so we can perhaps meet then.

tc,

Wassalam :)

[Tarek]

Salam once again,


Quote:
Originally Posted by Tarek http://www.sydneymuslimyouth.com/smyforum/images/styles/nature/buttons/viewpost.gif (http://www.sydneymuslimyouth.com/smyforum/showthread.php?p=47525#post47525)
Salam,

if I make any Tajweed mistake he corrects me... but not the intricate finer details of Tajweed which I've heard is pretty deep stuff.


There's finer details?? :O



Definitely... one brother (if I remember correctly more or less) put the learning of Tajweed in the context of "whatever I learn seems very little... the more I learn I find that the Knowledge of Tajweed is like an ocean".



SubhanAllah, you ve been truly blessed by Allah to have such an amazing experience. Also JazakAllah for sharing your memorization techniques.
Without a doubt... Alhamdulillah I can never thank Allah for His Uncountable Blessings on me in every sphere of my life,


"And if you would count the graces of Allâh, never could you be able to count them. Truly! Allâh is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful." (Ch16:V18)



Waiyyakum :)



So where are the Hifdth schools in Sydney?? I'm talking here, Madrassah's like yours where you memorize for the almost the whole day, day in, day out.
lol if i had a sufficient answer to that question perhaps I could have stayed in Sydney /smile


Wassalam

[Rassila]

I'm afraid this form of the Mushaf & I have had a spectacularly affectionate bond & relationship for the past two or so years... so much so I cannot even imagine using another Mushaf for my memorization... but yeh if for some strange reason I can't get hold of this Mushaf I'm sure I can always switch to a more common one /smile

Actually akhi, honestly this is interesting, as im surprised your teacher hasnt mentioned anything to you about the type of print your memorising from. Its quite an emphasised aspect of hifdh. Many shuyookh dont allow their students to memorise from a printing other than that of the standard mushaf; for many reasons including those mentioned by br Fazza above

kheir inshallah, why dont you ask him about it and see what he says? (this is for your own benefit inshallah)

[Fazza]

JZK for your post bro

And jzk for the phone call too - i will get back to you - its an okay from mummy but that was never the problem, as i told you. khair.

Anyways, yeah do ask the qari sahab bro, see what he says; though im sure hes noticed by now.

Also i had a similar thing to you giong - a mushaf i thought i would never part with, until realised that if i was to ever lose access to it, was it to be lost, was i for whatever reason begin living elsewhere, or in future with all the prophecies to come about islam were we to be separated from what we have access to in the way of these special printed masahif printed, then i would be stuffed.

The test for this is: try using a mushaf other than the one you normally use for a surah/page that is not that well imprinted in ur memory (either casue u did it ages ago and ahve forgotten parts of it or one u did recently) and then see how much harder it is to piece it toger than if you were to just be using the mushaf you are using normally.

It makes a world of difference.

just a suggestion though; whatever you are comfortable with.

Wassalam

[Tarek]

Salam,

Yes my teacher did tell me to use a full Arabic Mushaf initially, but I argued otherwise & wouldn't budge from my position of using this particular Mushaf.

In the end he said it's up to me.

And I won't be changing from this Mushaf... this is what I'm comfortable with & I don't see any problem with it /smile

Wassalam

[Abu Muhammad]

:as:
:ma:, good stuff Tarek.
May Allah help you in your struggles.
From your fellow student...
Youcef
:as: