The following is a story that was shared recently in the Hifz community on Facebook. I was asked to share this with you too. The mother of Hafiz Muhammad Umer shares how her dear son memorised the Qur'an at the age of six despite. I share the story with some of my own reflections.
She says:
My 13 year old son, Hafiz Muhammad Umer, Alhumdulillah had completed his Hifz-e-Quran at the age of 6 despite being blind, neurodiverse and with many medical complications.
We have seen time and time again that anyone is capable of memorising the Qur'an, regardless of the amount, regardless of the ability, and regardless of age. I've shared the story of sisters who memorised yet they are blind. I've shared the story of those that were living with tumours yet memorised. I've shared the story of those that memorised at the age of 100, mothers who have memorised after the age of 40, and many other stories.
What I want you to do is, not only become motivated for your own journey, but also learn lessons from each story. Every believer is a mirror for each other. Look at each story like a mirror. What good do you see? How can you attain the same? What lesson can you take and apply into your own life? Reflect over them.
Umm-e-Umer continues:
Lots of people ask me about his journey so instead of answering individually, I thought of making a separate post maybe someone finds it helpful.
My son remained hospitalized till his 2nd birthday due to various medical complications and unfortunately he lost his complete vision just at the age of 1. During our stay at the hospital the little baby had limited access to toys or other fun activities. His only companion was my old mobile in which I had an audio recording of Surah Rahman and some small surah of chapter 30. He loved listening to all but Surah Rahman was his favorite and he used to get calm while listening to Surah Rahman even in severe pain and during infusion.
When we were allowed to give him oral medicines and visit the hospital occasionally, his love for listening to recitation of Quran was distinct. He started playing with his toys at home but used to listen to Quran recitation more.
I have seen the impact of listening to the Qur'an on a regular basis. It has incredible benefits. When I was young, my dad would always play the recitation of the Quran when we were travelling to school, shopping, appointments, or anywhere it may be. This had a direct impact on at least one person and, Alhamdulillah, that was me. There's always going to be someone that will be more receptive to the Quran. I loved listening to it and loved to imitate reciters. I'd copy Sudais, Shuraim, 'Abdul Basit 'Abdussamad, Mishary Rashid al-Afasy and so many others. In fact, listening to the Qur'an became a hobby of mine. I would collect tape cassettes and audio files. You can read more about my journey in The Promise of Ten. But the point is this, that exposing yourself to the Qur'an on a regular basis, will always have an impact, with the grace of Allah.
He had speech delay, when after regular speech therapy he started speaking, we all were amazed to see that he started reciting different verses of the Quran which he used to listen to during the hospital stay.
We, the parents of him are not Hafiz-e-Quran and had no idea of Hifz-e-Quran process. As it is a normal thing that kids get bored with one thing, so I changed the surah in my mobile and after chapter 30 I added surah of chapter 29 and to our astonishment, after few days he started reciting those surah Alhumdullilah.
That was the time when we started to think that he is actually memorizing each surah so we started making proper lessons for him. For that we used mp3 cutter/trimmer to cut the long surah and make daily lessons of 2 to 3 minutes which he used to listen with me or by himself depending upon his mood.
The most important thing was selecting one recitation....as being neurodiverse he used to copy the recitation style as well and I feel it is an extra burden for him. So his complete Hifz e Quran was done by listening to the recitation of Imam Sudais.
He had Echolalia (when a child repeats or imitates what someone else has said) and Allah (SWT) made this neurological disorder a blessing for him as it helped it memorization Holy Quran.
Consistency is the key. I tried my best that his lesson is never missed, we made it short to a verse or two but tried to make sure that he listened, recalled and read aloud daily.
It was not as simple as it seems, as a kid he has his own moods, and we had to work according to his comfort. It was never taken as an academic burden rather I used to make activities for him from Quran e Kareem. For Example Mama, Baba, Umer and Imam Sudais are together, first Imam Sudais (in his mobile) will recite a verse (I will stop audio) then is Umer's turn and then its Mama/Baba's turn and many such activities.
Appreciation along with incentives (as per Umer's mood) played an important role in this journey
I know that it's not a proper way of Hifz e Quran but I tried my best to keep my son comfortable, happy and tried to build his interest in it which was not possible without the blessing and mercy of Allah (SWT).
In this way Muhammad Umer completed his Hifz e Quran at the age of 6. After completing the memorization, revision was even a bigger and tough task. His hard work for revision, learning urdu translation and journey to understand Arabic grammar require separate posts.
All of you are requested to remember him in your prayers that May ALLAH (SWT) accept his efforts and succeed him to achieve his goal of becoming a Sheikh ul Quran.
There are a number of things to observe here.
- The important role that parents have in the memorisation journey
- The importance of consistency
- The importance of catering towards the child, their strengths and nature
- The importance of creating a welcoming, fun, and comfortable environment
And most importantly, never giving up.
