An
Interview with Umm Saalih, A Grandmother Who Completed
Memorizing the Quran at Eighty-Two Years As Read by
Dr. Saleh.....
Al-Hamdulillaah
(All-Praise is due to Allah), the One Who said (what
means):
"And in truth We have
made the Quraan easy to remember; but is there
any that remembers?" Surah 54:32
Many
all over the world memorize the Qur'aan, and it is
not strange to see the YOUTH memorizing the Noble
Quran at an early age. Al-Hamdulillaah, the One who
made the Quran easy for remembrance, had made it easy
for Umm Saalih age 82.
In
an interview with Umm Saalih, she was asked the following
questions:
Q1:
"What was the reason
that drove you to memorize the Qur'aan after so many
years?"
She said, "I always hoped to memorize the Quran from
the time I was young. My father always used to invoke
Allaah for me to become one of the memorizers
of the Quran, like himself and like the elder brothers
of my family who memorized it.
So I memorized in the beginning about three parts
and then after I completed the age of thirteen, I
got married and became busy with the household and
the children. After I had seven children, my husband
died. They (the children) were all young so I took
the time to raise them and educate them, and then
after they grew up and got married, I had more time
for myself. Therefore, the first thing I directed
myself to focus upon was the Qur'aan.
Q2:
"Tell us about your
journey with the Noble Qur'aan."
She said, "My younger daughter was going to high school
and she was the closest of my children to me and the
most beloved, because she stayed with me after her
older sisters got married and got busy with their
lives, and because she was a quiet girl, upright,
loving, and good. In addition, she was interested
in learning the Noble Qur'aan, and her teachers encouraged
her.
Furthermore,
she was very enthusiastic and always told me
of many women who were driven by this great motivation
to memorize the Qur'aan, and this is where I started."
Q3:
"Tell me about your
way of Memorization."
She said, "We assigned ten verses (meaning
her and her daughter who was going to high school).
So each day after Asr, we used to sit together. She
reads and I repeat after her three times. Then
she explains the meaning to me, and after a while,
she repeats that three times. On the next morning,
she repeats them to me before she goes to school.
She
recorded also the recitations of Ash Shaykh al Husary,
Rahimuhullaah, repeating each verse three times and
thus I continued to listen most of the time. Therefore,
the next day we would go to the next ten verses if
my memorization was good.
Then she said, "Over four years and a half, I memorized
twelve Juz" according to the way I described to
you. Then this young daughter got married. When her
husband knew of our task concerning the memorization,
he rented a house close to me, close
to my house, so that he could allow the continuation
of the memorization.
In addition, he, May Allah reward him used to encourage
us and sometimes sit with us listening, explaining
and teaching.
Then
after three years of her marriage, my daughter got
busy with the children and the household and our schedule
was interrupted, but that did not make her give up.
To the contrary, she sensed that my eagerness for
the memorization was still established so she looked
for a special good teacher to continue the
journey under her supervision.
So, I completed the memorization by the success
of Allaah and my daughter is still working to finish
the memorization of the Glorious Qur'aan. She has
a little left, In Shaa Allaah Ta'aala.
Q4:
"This motivation
of yours, did it have an effect on other women around
you?"
She said, "It really had a good strong effect.
My daughters and stepdaughters were all encouraged
and worked on learning and teaching the Qur'aan to
their children and learning it themselves.
Q5:
"After finishing
the Noble Qur'aan, don't you think about working on
memorizing hadith?"
She said, "Now I have memorized ninety hadith
and In Shaa Allaah I will continue the journey. I
depend, in my memorization, upon the tapes and upon
the Qur'aan radio station. At the end of each week,
my daughter comes and checks for me the memorization
of three hadith, and I am trying now to memorize more.
Q6:
"Over this period
of memorization of the Qur'aan, did your life change?
Was it affected in one way or another?"
She said, "Yes, I went through a major change
and I tried always, all praise is due to Allaah, to
obey Allaah before I started the memorization. However,
after I started the task of memorization, I began
to feel a self-comfort, a great self-comfort
and all worries began to move away from me. I even
reached the stage of freeing myself from all these
excessive worries concerning fearing for the children
and their affairs, and my morale was boosted.
I
had a noble objective to work for and this is a great
Ni'mah (Favor) from Allaah, upon me, since we know
that some women, when they get old and they do not
have a husband, and their children got married, may
be destroyed by the empty time, thoughts, worries,
and so forth. But, Al-Hamdulillaah, I didn't go through
this and I made myself busy with a great task and
a great objective.
Q7:
"What do you say
to a woman of your age who wishes to learn and memorize
the Qur'aan yet she is worried about it and feeling
unable to?"
She said, "I say to her there shall be no despair
with the firm, sincere and truthful determination.
Begin with sincerity, firm determination and dependence
on Allaah at each time. And remember that at this
age you should have the time for yourself. However,
do not use your time to only go out or to sleep and
so forth. Rather, busy yourself with righteous work.
And
if you have a mother then exert the effort
to teach her, and there is no better favor upon a
mother than one of her righteous children aiding her
to be close to Allaah."
Presented
on the 1st of Muharram 1426, Feb 10th 2005.
Originally published in Ad-Da'wah Magazine, no.1552,
17th of Rabee' Al-Awwal 1417, corresponding to Aug
1, 1996.
Shukran
for Your Kindness in visiting our site,
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Dr.
Rashid M. H.
NumberOneInQuran.Com
Memorise The Holy Quran In Record
Time
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