By Nurul Nur Adilah Abd RahmanÂ
Al Quran has given wisdom and blessings in the life of Nur Ashikin Danial. This 24-year-old beautiful IIUM student started memorising the Holy Quran at the tender age of 18 and successfully completed her task within a short period of time, specifically a year and a month with distinction.
Memorising the Holy Quran was not a part of her initial plan. Who would have thought that Allah had actually worked out her future and granted the youngest of six pair of siblings with the ability to be a Haafizhah, and bestowed her with success in both fields; religious and academic studies? Indeed, it was an honour for this Kelantanese lady.
After her graduation from Darul Quran, she pursued her tertiary education in the science stream at IIUM Centre of Foundation Studies. However, she decided to switch her current course to her true calling, which was Islamic Revealed Knowledge in order to enhance her religious knowledge.
When asked why she memorised the Quran, she simply smiled and said, œI would not have become the person I am today if not for my beloved friend, who included my name in the application.
Her story began when her friend deliberately included her name in the list of applicants to Darul Quran. She managed to go through a round of successful interview which earned her a place in the prestigious institution. Unfortunately, her best friend (the one who wrote her name) failed the interview. Upon hearing the news, Nur Ashikin was grief-stricken, to the point of having second thought about pursuing her studies there.
œInitially, I felt like quitting because the training was very strict. The most challenging part for me was when we had to memorise six pages of the Quran every day without fail. That alone was a difficult task for me as I was a beginner in memorising Quran. I am grateful because I had a teacher who willingly helped and provided me with guidance, all the way till I was able to handle it by myself. She reduced the number of pages and allowed me to memorise three pages when I first started.
Nur Ashikin was kind enough to share with us some tips on how to memorise the Holy Quran efficiently:
œRead one page of the Quran until your reading becomes clear. Try to maintain your reading with proper Tajweed simultaneously. Proceed and read one ayat repeatedly- at least 5 times. Be sure to keep your eyes directly set on the ayat. Repeat the ayat without seeing the Quran.
œAfterwards, repeat the aforementioned method for the subsequent ayat.
œUnderstanding the ayat helps in your memorisation. Do Tasmi with your friends and finally, write down the ayat in order to improve your memorisation.
Nur Ashikin later explained that the challenging part of memorising the Quran was not the memorisation part alone. The biggest challenge was when we have to embed it all into our memory. œMemorising is much easier as compared to embedding it in our memory. There are many things that we need to observe and be responsible about when we want to memorise.
She added: œWe need to be able to focus so that itll be easier for us to do murajaah afterwards. However, we still need to repeat our memorisation every day. Sometimes I will memorise while seeing the ayat or vice versa. In addition, its best to hear the recitation of Quran from different Masyaikh as it helps with your murajaah too.
Nur Ashikin recommended us to do our memorisation after fajr or maghrib as it is said to be the best time to do so. She also emphasised the importance of a Haafizhahs diet. œOur diet needs to be taken care of during the process of memorisation.Try to avoid from eating junk food, snacks and food that are sour.
After listing the do’s and donts down, Nur Ashikin shared a story about her favourite Surah and how she was able to memorise it easily. œThere is this one time when I heard my friend reciting Surah Anfal and I felt in love with it instantly as it was a unique surah to me. I am also attracted to Surah Taha, which in my opinion, has a beautiful message in it.
Being a Haafizhah was not an easy feat. There are times when you are forced to face with countless challenges in the process to be one, as mentioned by Nur Ashikin herself.
œI remembered the hardest time was when I had to memorise Surah Maryam. I was on the verge of tears and almost gave up as it was too hard for me to memorise. The words were very beautiful but it was really difficult for me to memorise the words in Surah Maryam.
She also mentioned that there is always wisdom for her when she became a Haafizhah. She automatically takes care of her aurah as well her personality, and strive to be a better individual. In terms of studies, she noticed that her attitude changed and became more diligent during studying. She felt the difference and that everything became much easier for her.
Nur Ashikin managed to maintain her CGPA well in IIUM and was even included in the Deans list; definitely something to be looked up upon.
When asked about the specialty and benefits of being a Haafizhah, she smiled and replied: œMy Murabbi (teacher) once said: The one who keeps the words of Allah in her heart during her lifetime will be given a crown in the hereafter. That crown will then be placed on her parents head as a sign of respect. Other than that, its not only the blessings that we attain from Allah. Everything will become easier in terms of understanding in this world.
To this day, there was never a time when Nur Ashikin quivered and stopped feeling grateful on becoming a Haafizhah. Al-Quran has provided her with countless guidance, blessings and shed light in her life. She has indeed benefited a lot from the Holy Quran, without any doubt.
“Lets try to memorise the Quran, not just for the sake of attaining rewards in this temporary dunya, but to be able to utilise it with our lives later on in the hereafter.”***