Hifdh in Motion: ‘Just 10 Minutes’

03 Nov Hifdh in Motion: ‘Just 10 Minutes’

Assalaamu ‘alaykum wa Rahmatullah

Beloved Quran Hearts,

In the course of this week whilst mentoring tahfeedh students, I’ve observed that many of us once overwhelmed by work or academic deadlines, personal responsibilities, social commitments, and day-to-day routines, find ourselves lacking time and enthusiasm. And when this happens, it is often our hifdh commitment which suffers.  We feel that if we don’t have that hour or two, or an exclusive (sometimes illusive!) afternoon to spare, that our hifdh  progress will equate to nothing on the bigger scale of goals, deadlines, expectations, and the ultimate completion.  However, the reality is that most of us are not just memorizing: we are simultaneously studying, working, mothering, volunteering, etc., etc.

Without realising it, we tend to place time sensitive barriers or precedents that impact on our potential progress: and so we would find ourselves saying: ‘Oh, I don’t have a moment to spare today. My hifdh will need to wait until tomorrow…’ 

We believe that it is only when we spend hours or huge chunks of time in one stretch, that we are able to see progress with our hifdh goals. While that may be partially true in certain situations or for some at certain points in their hifdh, let’s gently steer ourselves back to the basics, reminding ourselves that: every minute does count.

 

If I were to ask you: can you carve out ‘just 10 minutes’ in your day and share that with the Quran? Your answer would probably be: “Yes! That’s doable!”                                           

Now, we all are aware that ‘just 10 minutes’ is not enough to complete some revision and learn a new lesson for hifdh. But what if, on those overwhelming, frustrating, disillusioning days, instead of neglecting your hifdh connection you actually connected for ‘just 10 minutes‘. 

What would that do for you? For your hifdh connection? What would that say about your Quran commitment in the scale of your value system? How would that impact on building future sustainable hifdh goals?

And we all know what happens once we begin learning for hifdh, right?  ‘Just 10 minutes’ doesn’t do it for us: we want more, our souls and minds and hearts crave the sweetness, serenity and safety of the Quran… And this in turn sparks gratitude, joy and love: the key ingredients for immersing and re-engaging in our hifdh. 

So the next time you feel exhausted or overwhelmed by whatever is happening in your Life, activate the ‘just 10 minutes’ mode in your hifdh connection. 

In ‘just 10 minutes’ you can…

• renew your niyyah (intention)
• express gratitude (shukr) for your hifdh opportunities
• supplicate (make duaa) about your hifdh challenges
• devise a learning structure for the next 7 days
• Identify 1 thing you could do to make more time for hifdh in your life
• selectively listen to the audio of a weakened surah
• recite out aloud 5 verses twice over, whilst looking into your Mushaf
• memorize (part of) a new verse
• connect with your teacher  for support and feedback anchoring
• pray 2 rak’ah Nafl salah and recite a portion of your favourite surah in Qiyaam 

Wishing you success and joy at every stage of your hifdh journey!

Rayhaanah