Memorizing Qur'an

Asalaam Alaikum (Peace be with you),

For Muslim men and women, there is a huge reward for memorizing the Qur'an. Some people do memorize the whole book and such a person is called a hafidh (guy) or hafidha (girl), but for the rest of us, we try and memorize as many suwar or chapters as possible. For example, the Qur'an is divided into 30 sections or juz and the last juz contains many short suwar, and is usually the place where most people begin to memorize the Qur'an from. Many of these chapters also have great significance in terms of not only the content, but their recitation.

My own efforts to learn Arabic, especially for the purposes of reading the Qur'an in Arabic have been stymied because of my own laziness, but I have been trying of late to memorize more of the shorter suwar or chapters. For example, I've finally memorized Al-Kafirun (The Unbelievers) in the last few days and it's such a beautiful sura (number 109). I've used three sources to help me - Mount Hira, an amazing website for Qur'ran memorization; the recitation of Shaykh Mishary Al-Afasy; and my friends who have helped with my tajweed or pronunciation. It's an absolute blessing to know so many hufadh (plural of hafiz) whom I can call up anytime to help me with pronouncing the Qur'an properly.

May Allah (SWT) give me the taufiq to memorize as much Qur'an as possible and may He reward all those people who have helped me along the way.

Please see the video below for the recitation in Arabic with English subtitles.