# What practical techniques help me memorise the Quran? *Practical tips: understanding the words, a fixed place and time, familiarisation and accumulating verses* - URL: https://muftiabulayth.org/r/-lbz11113su/s/3/ - Date: 2014-01-18 · Kind: lesson · Transcript tier: machine · Recording: How to memorise the Quran- Mufti Abu Layth (8:00–13:38) - Status: general teaching - Watch from the start of the segment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-lbZ11113SU&t=480s - Recording page: https://muftiabulayth.org/r/-lbz11113su/ **Topics:** Memorisation and recitation; Goals, habits and willpower **Summary (not a quotation; machine-made, unchecked):** Understand the words and translation first, keep a fixed place and a time that suits you, familiarise yourself with each verse before a break, then memorise the verses cumulatively, practise them in salah and recall them at night before reading to your teacher. In the hadith, Ali went from struggling with four verses to recalling forty. **Checked position (checked by two independent reviews, not by the channel):** Mufti Abu Layth recommends understanding the words and translation first, memorising in a fixed place at a time that suits one, familiarising oneself with each verse before a break, then memorising the verses cumulatively, practising them in salah, recalling them at night and reading them to a teacher the next day. **Evidence, his words at 11:31:** “repeat the first one and the second one and then do the third one so you're doing it like that so you're kind of adding them along it's an accumulative effect” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-lbZ11113SU&t=691s) ## Longer summary The segment opens with the end of the hadith: the Prophet swore by the One who sent him that no believer has done this without it serving him, and Ali returned five or seven weeks later, as Ibn Abbas relates, saying that where he used to struggle to keep four verses he could now recall forty at once; Mufti Abu Layth encourages anyone wishing to memorise the Quran to practise it. He then gives further tips. Knowing Arabic is a great help, and before memorising one should go through the difficult words from a separate book and read the translation of the passage. One should keep the same place for memorising, so that being there signals that it is time to memorise, and choose a time that works, noting from his own experience that people struggle in the afternoon and find the early morning or the evening easier, though this may be personal. He describes his method: well before the memorisation session, read each verse of the day's portion enough times to recite it without looking, moving on even if the previous verse is forgotten, since this is only familiarisation; then take a break, and when the session comes recite the first verse until it can be recited from memory, add the second, repeat the first and second together, then the third, accumulating until the allotted portion is complete. He advises practising the portion in salah, trying to recall it at the end of the night to make it fluid, and reading it to one's teacher the next day before taking the next portion. He closes by hoping the advice helps, asking viewers to share it and their own experiences so that each contributes what they have learnt on their journey, and asking to be remembered in their duas. ## Sources and names cited - Ali ibn Abi Talib - Ibn Abbas - report: ali said he found it difficult to retain the quran and the prophet taught him to pray four rakahs on the night of friday and a dua so it would stick - salah ## Transcript (machine tier, 8:00–13:38) [7:38] Allah and that no none can grant this to me except you oh Allah and that there is no strength and no might except through you and then the prophet Sall alhi wasallam saidan he said you do that either three Fridays or five or seven inshallah and he says he says and the prophet some of the re said he said that that he who has sent me by he who has sent me that this that a Believer has never done this except it served it served [8:17] him now Abbas says that I can't recall whether it was five weeks later or seven but he saysi came back and he said he said four I would take four verses and I would struggle to kind of keep them and and he said and now if I came across 40 he says I could recall them like that this people is something that I would encourage you all to practice those of you that wish to uh gain an acquisition of the book of Allah by memory do that [8:56] please in addition to that there are several other tips as well um like first of all the Arabic language if you are doing that it will be a great help I would say if if you do understand the Arabic language then whatever you are about to memorize go through all the difficult words from a separate book and understand them try and read the English translation as well to what you're going to what you will be memorizing try and keep the place and the position of where you memorize the same so it becomes almost like a you that the moment you're in that place you know that this is my place of memorization try a time that [9:35] works for you best some people the morning works for them others you see the evening works for them quite often I mean people have sometimes usually I I mean from my personal experience I found that people have struggled if during the afternoon to commit things to me memory whereas during the morning the early hours or during the evening it's been much easier for them but that may just be a personal thing so use a particular place where you know that when I'm here I'm memorizing have no disturbance go over it if you can go over the words before if you if you've leared or are learning Arabic and the [10:14] translation so you know what it means now sit down to begin your memorization and I would say whatever you have chosen the page that you will be memorizing as an example try to before you to begin what what I've always found has been very helpful that let's say if I was going to begin memorizing after M but now I'm going to take a break so I will be memorizing in let's say 2 hours time so what I would do now is I would sit down I would get what I would be learning and I would go over each verse that I will be [10:53] committing to memory inshallah and what I would do is I would read it enough times to be able to read it without looking at it so I could just look up and read that verse once and now stop once I can do that move on to the next verse even if I've now forgotten the first verse that's okay this is just a familiarization process so I've done that with every verse now once you've done that now you go on your break that you because you weren't planning on doing your memorization then you're going to do so after a while you can in between you can read you can read the translation can do this but have a [11:31] break then come back to when you're ready in your place where you commit uh yourself to memorizing and now what and once again I mean you can try what works for you a good technique has been that now when you start to go over that verse you recite it a few times until you can look away and read it now look back at it now with the next verse after it except this time once you've looked away with the second verse and and you've committed that to memory repeat the first one and the second one and then do the third one so you're doing it like that so you're kind of adding them along it's an [12:09] accumulative effect until you reach your your allotted portion for that day okay and then once you can kind of look away and recite the whole thing then alhamdulillah you can kind of practice that on a few occasions then what I found has been of great help has been to also practice that in your Salah and then to leave it maybe now after you've had a full break maybe towards the end of the night just just at any point just try and recall it because this will also it will really help you know making the whole thing [12:49] very fluid okay and it will add great fluency to your to what you've memorized okay and then once you've done that perhaps the next day or however you've organized it with your teacher read it on to him and you're ready for your next portion right that said people I hope that's been of some help um please feel free to share that with other people if you've had other experiences then share your experiences as well and each person just contributes what they've experienced and they've learned through their particular Journey themselves and may be of some help to others who come [13:28] after do remember me in your kind duas ## Cite Mufti Abu Layth Archive, segment -lbZ11113SU/s/3. https://muftiabulayth.org/r/-lbz11113su/s/3/ Not a fatwa: these answers were given to specific people at specific times. Ask a qualified scholar about your own situation.