“If You Wish to Memorise Something…”

As salaamu ‘alaikum wa rahmatullaahi wa barakaatuh.

Noble brothers and sisters, May Allaah guide you to your success, Knowledge is like an ocean with no shore to bound it, it is too much, so you shouldn't even think that you can comprehend it all, But an intelligent person sets the priorities and starts with what is most important. You should start slow but steady, sticking with little yet mastering it is better than getting hands everywhere but not being able to finish anything properly.

If you wish to memorize something then protect it by keep repeating it. Ibn Al-Jawzi mentions a nice story of Al-Haafith Abu Bakr An-Neysaboori,

“Once he was reading out loud and repeating the text over and over to memorize it and one of the ladies in his house said, “I have memorized it by listening to you how come you didn’t memorize it yet?” So he told her to read it and she did. After few days he asked the lady; “Can you repeat the text from that day?” She said, “I have forgotten it.” So he said, “This is the reason why I kept repeating so what has afflicted you (of forgetfulness) will not happen to me.”

Beware of satanic tricks while you are seeking knowledge.

Unfortunately we find many brothers and sisters when they start seeking knowledge they lack focus, commitment, steadiness and concentration. For instance, a person decides to memorize the Quraan, in the beginning s/he seems to be very committed, rather over excited with strong enthusiasm to memorize it all which may not remain the same after few months, illa man Rahima Rabbi.

First you decide to start from juz ‘Amma but after some time you change your mind and start from the beginning (soorah Al-Baqarah) thinking that memorizing in order is better then starting from the end. Behold!! Soon after some time you stop again and decide to memorize the soorah (chapter) which has fadhaa-il or are recommended to read on daily or weekly basis like Soorah Al-Kahf, or Soorah Al-Jumu’ah or the last verses of Soorah Al-Baqarah etc… , so the end result is not getting anything done properly.

Same thing goes when it comes to reading books, person may pick the book of fiqh and after reading few pages thinks that s/he should read books on ‘Aqeedah and then without finishing the book on ‘Aqeedah s/he jumps on to read the books of Ahaadeeth and so on. The end result is that person can’t even finish one book from cover to cover rather is always jumping from one book to another, etc.

So be careful of these obstacles and be firm and committed in your Talab al-ilm (seeking knowledge).