The Optimal Method for Memorizing the Qur’an
Question: The inquirer says, “I read a ḥadīth in one of the magazines in which the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) addressed ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib (may Allah be pleased with him) when he complained that the Qur’an kept slipping from his memory. The Messenger of Allah said to him:
‘O Abū al-Ḥasan, shall I not teach you some words through which Allah will benefit you and anyone you teach, and by which He will make firm in your breast what you have learned?’ ʿAlī replied, ‘Indeed, O Messenger of Allah.’ He said:
‘When the night of Friday arrives, if you are able to rise during the last third of the night— for it is a time witnessed (by the angels) and supplication therein is answered—then do so. If you cannot, then rise during its middle; and if you cannot, then rise during its first part.
Pray four rakʿahs: in the first rakʿah recite the Opening of the Book (al-Fātiḥah) and Sūrah Yā Sīn; in the second, al-Fātiḥah and Sūrah Ḥā Mīm ad-Dukhān; in the third, al-Fātiḥah and Sūrah as-Sajdah; and in the fourth, al-Fātiḥah and Sūrah al-Mulk.
When you have completed the tashahhud, praise Allah and extol Him beautifully, invoke blessings upon me and upon all the other prophets, seek forgiveness for the believing men and believing women and for your brothers who preceded you in faith, and then say at the end:
“O Allah, have mercy on me and grant me the blessing of looking only at that which pleases You concerning me. O Allah, Originator of the heavens and the earth, Possessor of majesty and honor and of an invincible might, I ask You, O Most Merciful, by Your majesty and the light of Your Face, to bind my heart to the memorization of Your Book as You have taught me, and to grant me to recite it in the manner that pleases You concerning me.
O Allah, Originator of the heavens and the earth, Possessor of majesty and honor and of an invincible might, I ask You—O Allah, O Most Merciful—by the light of Your Face, to illuminate my breast with Your Book, to loosen my tongue by means of it, to expand my chest through it, to relieve my heart with it, and to cause my body to act according to it. None helps me toward the truth except You, none grants me success except You, and there is no power and no might except with Allah.”’