We are all on a journey to perfect Hifz. We all make mistakes that we want to iron out. But what are mistakes? How do you track and note them?
One thing you should never do with mistakes is to freak out.
Mistakes can happen. At times unexpected - you lost focus, you were nervous, you were anxious or you were too comfortable and passive.
What are Hifz mistakes?
What is considered a Hifz mistake can differ from teacher to teacher, from person to person, from standard to standard, or from system to system.
Mistakes can include things like:
- fluency
- pronunciation
- forgetfulness
- missed words
- wrong words
- wrong āyah
- mixing up āyāt
- Tajweed
Mistakes can be benchmarked
For example, you can't have any mistakes in something new, or you can have an allowance of x number of mistakes in x number of pages, surah, or Juz'.
Some will place restrictions on the total number of mistakes and how frequently they are made.
How do you note mistakes?
I recommend students to note mistakes in a way that is either mentally or in a way that they prefer as everyone has a certain style.
However, my recommendations include:
Use a notebook or journal specifically for mistakes and notes to make your own observations and reflections over the day. The mistakes are anything from fluency (speed breakers) and recitation errors. Also additionally adding frequency. These can be in the form of a diary style, bullet journal, or tables for example.
Make a note on the Mus'haf by underlying in pencil, if you make it again, another line. If you get it thrice, it's going to need attention.
Use a coding system on the Mus'haf itself. H is a harakah mistake, so you circle the harakah and write H in pencil over the harakah. F is for fluency. P is for pronunciation. M is for missed. F is for forgotten. Then for Tajweed, you may add a T. So like this develop your own correction key system.
What some of the community say they do with mistakes
"I maintain a book classifying it accordingly as ..date..name of surah...completed aayah for the day...and at the end I make another column for mistakes or remarks.. so next time I read I give special attention to the aayahs I made mistake."
"I use colorful transparent sticker. Each colors indicate different mistake I made."
"I use a pencil for mine, and try to visualize the mistake on the page. I also have a journal to record the mutashaabihaat that confuse me for each specific surah. With my 4 daughters, I mark in pencil and leave it until they have done it 5 times corrected."
Another perspective:
"I believe never mark your mistakes or write them anywhere. It takes too much time. And Hifz can not be treated like normal studies where you can make notes and revise those notes. If you revise your mistakes then mistakes will pop up in other areas. The aim of hifz is to do as much tilawat of Quran as possible. And concentrating on mistakes deviates from that aim. But how to remove mistakes then? One way is to listen to your preferred Qari a lot. So that when you recite by heart the Qaris voice is played in your mind and you know that his voice will be right so you can pray that what you hear in your mind. Another way is tasmee or reciting to others. When someone points out your mistake it registers in the mind."
That’s the difference between active and passive recall. Always have students develop an active process. There’s a balance required!
Regarding mistakes, you should also consider the articles on how to deal with maintaining the past and forgetting new memorisation.
How do you track mistakes?
May Allāh grant blessing!
