STRIVING TO INSPIRE WRITING COMPETITION: ENTRY 108

18 May STRIVING TO INSPIRE WRITING COMPETITION: ENTRY 108

WHAT INSPIRED/INSPIRES ME TO MEMORIZE THE QURAN?

This article is a personal journey to hifdh, my journey and I hope it inspires at least one sister out there who really wants to do hifdh but is holding back. To my teacher, Haafidha Rayhaana, May Allah bless you for the work that you do and the hearts you inspire!

My Journey began a few years ago, when a close friend of mine at university kept talking about the hifdh madrassah she attended. Everyday when we met, she would tell me about madressah, her teacher and her love for the Quran. On seeing my interest, she persuaded me to attend and I made it clear to her that although I admired her eagerness to do hifdh, and I really wanted to meet her amazing teacher, I didn’t ever think of becoming a haafidha. She said: “Well you don’t have to become a haafidha, but just come to see what our hifdh madressah is like and meet my teacher!” So I agreed. Looking back I thank Allah for this friend when I recall the hadith,
“A person is likely to follow the faith of his friend, so look whom you befriend.” (reported by Abu Dawood & Tirmidhee).

That afternoon, I went to madressah. It felt good, just like the days when I was young and went to madressah. Except now I was 20+, going to a hifdh madressah, with no intention of becoming a haafidha at all, but I was sincere and I felt my heart was searching for something more than just my studies at university.

I walked into madressah, the sound of Quran buzzing in the air, the girls so deeply engrossed in their Quran’s ,that no one looked up and noticed that I was there or that I was new.But I noticed everyone.From university students to girls as young as 8 , all were sincerely memorizing the Quran, subhanallah!

After a while, the teacher got up to welcome me. I opened my Quran, and realised how little of the Quran I memorized compared to the others. Fair enough ,I knew three quarter of the 30th Juz and all the big surahs like Surah Yaseen etc. But these girls were there to memorize the entire Quran! Admirable, but I still didn’t see why girls had to memorize the entire Quran. It was the norm for boys to become huffaadh , to become imaams, to perform taraweeh, and I thought if girls wanted to further their knowledge of deen, they did an aalimah course. Atleast that’s what I thought! And it was these little thoughts that held me back from such a great deed. The only haafidha I ever knew in my life to that point was Rabia Sayed.. and even her story didn’t truly inspire me to do hifdh.

But sitting there, that first day in madressah, something within me awakened. I felt a deep, peaceful feeling amongst the people of the Quran and when my teacher spoke, I was deeply moved by her respect and deep love for the Quran , she revered the Quran in a way that was truly inspiring, and in all my life I have never come across anyone that loved the Quran in that way.She lived by the hadith
“The best amongst you is the one who learns the Qur’aan and teaches it to others.” and “The people of the Qur’an are the people of Allah and His special servants.” (An-Nisa’i, Ibn Majah, and Al-Hakim with a Hasan chain)

It was in her company that the seed of memorizing the Quran was planted in my mind, in my heart in my soul.

But like everybody else who begins to have the beautiful intention of doing hifdh, they find some excuse, some reason why they shouldn’t do it. I came up with every excuse and I will tell you now, that there is no such thing as a weak memory, or no time or being old enough. By Allah, if you have the love in your heart and the deep desire, it will surpass the excuses you make up. I thank Allah that I could move beyond my excuses and that the desire to memorize the Quran for me became like a thirst that is unquenchable, a flame that is inextinguishable.

For me memorizing the Quran is an ongoing journey, and even if I die on that journey, I would die memorizing the Quran!

What truly keeps me inspired towards my goal is the following hadith of the prophet s.a.w “The one who was devoted to the Qur’an will be told on the Day of Resurrection: `Recite and ascend (in ranks) as you used to recite when you were in the world. Your rank will be at the last Ayah you recite.”
[Abu Dawud and At-Tirmidhi]. I am striving to ascend as many ranks as possible, the question is for you to decide how many ranks will you be ascending?

Lastly my dearest sister, Allah (SWT) says in the Quran “And in truth We have made the Qur’aan easy to remember; but is there any that remembers?” (54: 32) This is an open invitation from Allah, inviting you to memorize the Quran, are you going to accept it?

Preserve Allah and He will preserve you. What Allah has given you is His gift to you, what you do with it, is your gift back to Him. So make use of the gifts He has bestowed and use that to memorize the Quran.

Finally the Prophet, sallallaahu alayhi wa sallam, said “Whoever reads the Quran, memorizes it, and acts upon it, on the Day of Judgment he will be clad with a crown of light, its light like the sunlight and his parents will be clad with two garments better than the whole world and whatever it contains.” So they would amazingly ask: “What action did we do to deserve this?” They will be told: “Because your child memorized the Quran!” [Al-Haakim] Subhanallah!!

Muhsina is a student of life, a lover of the Quran, life coach, blogger, freelance writer, and pharmacy graduate who currently lives in Oman