“And We have indeed made the Quran easy to understand and remember, then is there any that will remember?” [al-Qamar [54]:17]
There is always an underlying reason as to why a sister has failed to memorize or failed to continue to memorize the Qur’aan. Some sisters may have stopped because they feel that they don’t have good memory; others did memorize but forgot what they memorized because of a lack of time and commitment, or a distraction that resulted in a permanent diversion. Whatever the case, the person who has left memorizing the Qur’aan has really not come to terms with the greatness and magnitude of what they are missing out on... For, quite simply if they had, they wouldn’t let go of this monumental task.
The cure for this predicament is to first willingly and with strong determination begin the journey back to memorizing the Qur’aan by first seeking Allah’s Help, as without strong determination a person is certainly doomed to failure. Secondly, the sister must retrace her steps and thoroughly investigate the reason(s) as to why she left memorizing the Qur’aan, or in case of another scenario, hasn’t begun memorizing it at all. Thirdly, she must further rejuvenate and restore her stance and clear her mind and refocus herself by reading up on the many rewards awaiting the Haafidhah, something that we’ll shortly cover in this article. It is highly recommended and stressed that a sister who intends to memorize or revise her memorization of the Qur’aan should repeatedly revise the rewards mentioned below so as to keep strong and focused while traversing this difficult yet incredibly rewarding journey in this life and the next. What follows are just a few of the rewards that I was able to gather; therefore, it should be kept in mind that only Allah Almighty alone truly knows the true extent of the rewards that await the Haafidhah in this domain and the next.
As a final point before we begin this journey, sisters are advised to try and memorize these rewards so as to be able to enumerate them to their children and families with the intention to also urge them towards memorizing the Noble Qur’aan.
1. The Qur’aan Outlines Man’s Purpose Here and is A Cure for Weak Eemaan (Faith)
Today we find that many people are devoid of the basic understanding of WHY they exist, even with the many functions that Allah Almighty has so graciously bestowed us with. For all those who care to reflect, the Noble Qur’aan gives a clear and precise explanation of our purpose here. It clearly explains to us Who created this universe and how to please its Creator IN HIS OWN WORDS. Therefore, the first and foremost benefit which the believing woman will achieve and acquire by becoming a Haafidhah of the Qur’aan, a Haafidhah that understands the Words of Allah Almighty, is that the Qur’aan will be a light for her within the dark murky confusions of this life and will help her clarify and determine her purpose, roles and functions within the limited life-span granted and gifted to her here by Allah Almighty. In this way Allah Willing, she’ll then be able to succeed in this life and the next as the Qur’aan is a pure spring from which the Haafidhah can quench her innate thirst of establishing a Slave-relationship with the Creator.
“And I (Allaah) created not the jinn and mankind except that they should worship Me (Alone).” [Al-Dhaariyaat [51]:56]
In this way her Eemaan (faith) will become deeply rooted and firmly fixed into her heart with every word that she will read and memorize from the Qur’aan, with every sentence that passes her eyes, and with every page that her hand turns from the Mushaf. She’ll then be able to successfully re-evaluate her aims in life to naturally sync in with her purpose in life of being an Amatullah (Slave of Allah), as described in the Qur’aan.
A sister who sincerely wishes to inscribe the Words of her Lord onto the slate of her heart will most definitely not allow a day to pass by her without picking up the Qur’aan and memorizing from it. So, while other Muslim women allow days to pass by without allowing their vocal cords to be blessed by the recitation of the Qur’aan, the Haafidhah unceasingly continues on through the Mushaf, her eyes twinkling with flashes of eemaan, her heart alight with enlightenment and her being encompassed with tranquility. How true are the Words of our Lord:
“The believers are only those who, when Allah is mentioned, feel a fear in their hearts and when His Verses are recited unto them, they increase their Faith; and they put their trust in their Lord (Alone).” [Al-Anfaal [8]:2]
Jundub (radhiAllaahu `anhu) said:
“We were young youth with the Messenger of Allaah (peace be upon him), so we learnt Eemaan before we learnt Qur’aan, then we learnt Qur’aan and it increased our Eemaan.” (Nuzhat al-Fudhalaa (383/1))
2. The Qur’aan is your syllabus guaranteeing you success
Dear sisters, success is the opposite of failure. It is to see the achievement of one’s objective in the next life and it is a level of social status in the hereafter, and few are those who will succeed. All those who wish to succeed must purify themselves by turning to the Qur’aan, the syllabus guaranteeing 100% success in both this world and the next. By memorizing it and its meaning, it becomes easier for the Haafidhah to function according to it.
As women, we are always rotating between different roles, functions and responsibilities during the day; sometimes we feel mellow, sometimes high, and sometimes low. By memorizing the Qur’aan the Haafidhah has the words of the Almighty in her heart, guiding her through her trial-and-error processes and saving her from pitfalls.
A writer so eloquently once expressed:
“As you stand in the check-out lanes in grocery stores, you are sure to be barraged by glossy magazines that tell you 5-ways to earn extra money or 7-ways to lose extra weight. If you are a student, you have books that tell specific steps to score higher in your tests. Players are instructed specific steps that guarantee a better score. If you watch TV on a Saturday morning, you will get simple, specific steps to make your home beautiful, or to do a weekend project.
If you follow the instructions in these glossy magazines, most likely you will shed some weight or gain some money. Maybe you can learn a software in 7 days if you follow the step-by-step directions from some 'dummy' books.
It is fine to learn some techniques to enhance our worldly life. That helps our life in this world. We can do things little more efficiently, we may look little better, and we can decorate our homes nicely with few steps.
Would it not be nice to find some instructions, which will make our Hereafter successful? Instead of the advice coming from some writers of glossy magazines, if the instructions came from the Expert, should we not follow it? Of course we should. However, none of the glossy magazines deals with the life Hereafter. How do we find the Expert who can give tips for a guaranteed success in the Hereafter?
Finding the Expert is simple... In addition, the instructions are rather simple... Obviously, the Expert is Allah (swt) Himself.”
So dear sisters, let’s purify ourselves by allowing the verses of Allah to clean our hearts from filth and debris and by polishing it with His Words. Allah Almighty Himself says:
“Successful indeed is the one who purifies his whole self.” [Ash-Shams [91]:9]