Hafidh of the Qur’an

cavedave

I just read today about people memorising the Qur’an. I had heard of it but not realised it was so popular. 'The total number of hafidh and hafidhas currently alive in the world has been estimated in the tens of millions.'

Has anyone here done this?

Do you think it changed your mental abilities?

Changed your faith?

Did you do it in your native language, one you are fluent in or one you were learning?

Apologies if I am using the wrong terms I am not a Muslim. I just find it fascinating that someone would go to the immense and impressive effort of memorising over a megabyte of text. And I wonder what people who have done it feel about the experience.

hivizman

Memorising the Qur'an (or at least parts of it) is something that all Muslims need to do in order to perform the daily prayer properly. In the first two rakat (series of actions) forming part of each prayer, it is necessary to recite, in addition to Surah al-Fatiha (the first chapter of the Qur'an), either a chapter (surah) from the Qur'an or at least a long verse or sequence of verses. The chapters at the end of the Qur'an are quite short - for example, Surah al-Ikhlas (Chapter 112) consists of four verses totalling 15 words. This surah is particularly favoured for recitation, because Muhammad is reported as saying that reciting this surah is the equivalent of reciting a third of the Qur'an.

Unlike Christian or Jewish services, where sacred texts are read from a Bible or from scrolls, Muslim prayer is entirely oral, so it is necessary for a significant number of Muslims to memorise the Qur'an. Indeed, Muslims argue that this memorisation has helped to preserve the accuracy of the Qur'an, while written texts such as the Bible have suffered from scribal errors over the centuries and hence there are differences among the various surviving manuscripts.

The Qur'an was revealed in Arabic, and versions in other languages are regarded as human interpretations of the meaning of the Qur'an, rather than as divinely inspired. Hence the Qur'an must be memorised in Arabic. Since over 80% of all Muslims are not Arabic speakers, they must learn the Qur'an in what is to them a foreign language, written in an alien script. Hence, many of those who have memorised the Qur'an can recite it perfectly but do not understand it in its Arabic form.

cavedave

Hence, many of those who have memorised the Qur'an can recite it perfectly but do not understand it in its Arabic form.

Really thats amazing!

According to the NYT article learning the Qu'ran takes about 5000 hours.

The children, ages 7 to 14, are full-time students, in class 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, even in the summer. But they are not studying math, science or English. Instead, they are memorizing all 6,200 verses in the Koran, a task that usually takes two to three years

Doing that in a langage you cannot understand is incredible.

Unlike Christian or Jewish services, where sacred texts are read from a Bible or from scrolls, Muslim prayer is entirely oral, so it is necessary for a significant number of Muslims to memorise the Qur'an. Indeed, Muslims argue that this memorisation has helped to preserve the accuracy of the Qur'an, while written texts such as the Bible have suffered from scribal errors over the centuries and hence there are differences among the various surviving manuscripts.

Presumably the various translations of the bible also contributed to scribal errors and general drift in the content.

There is no special technique for memorizing the Koran, except for pure repetition.

Is this true in all cases or are there techniques and tricks others use to aid memorisation?

hivizman

There are two important things that help in learning how to recite the Qur'an. The first of these is the fact that recitation isn't just saying the words - there is a technique of recitation known as Tajweed. This determines such factors as how letters are pronounced, how words are combined, which letters are not pronounced, the length of vowels, and the tone used in pronunciation. People learning to recite the Qur'an often learn the recitation "holistically", in accordance with the rules of Tajweed, and just as it's easier to remember the words of a song if you know how the tune goes, it's easier to recall the recitation if you have learnt the words within the structure provided by Tajweed.

Secondly, many passages of the Qur'an use devices such as rhyme, rhythm, word repetition, assonance, and other structures that help in learning. For example, the seven verses of Surah al-Fatiha involve various patterns, including repetition and rhyme - the verses end with "-eem", "-een", "-eem", "-een", "-een", "-eem" and finally "een" sounds, giving a nice pattern that helps in memorisation.

whydoc

sp. thanks to Hivizman, there is nothing to add. but i think the first in the last International competition of the Qur'an was from Indonesia.from The best qaari's to listen to is imam "Muhammad Rif'aat"