- As read by Dr. Saleh as Saleh رحمه الله
Al-Hamdulillaah (All-Praise is due
to Allaah), the One Who said:
وَلَقَدْ يَسَّرْنَا الْقُرْآنَ لِلذِّكْرِ
فَهَلْ مِن مُّدَّكِرٍ
"And in truth We
have made the Qur'aan easy to remember; but is there any that remembers?"
(Al-Qamar 54: 32)
Al-Hamdulillaah,
the One who made the Qur'aan easy for remembrance, had made it easy for Umm
Saalih age 82 years. 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 Qur'aan from the time I was young. My
father always used to invoke Allaah for me to become one of the memorizers of
the Qur'aan, 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 Sheikh al-Husary رحمه الله, 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. Otherwise, we would postpone taking additional verses until the day
after. Moreover, we assigned the day of Friday to review the memorizations of
the entire week. And this was the journey from the beginning."
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 Allaah 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, Insha-Allaah."
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 Inshaa-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, Alhamdulillaah, I
didn't go through this and I made myself busy with a great task and a great
objective.
Q7:
"Didn't you think at one point, to join one of the circles focusing on
teaching the Noble Qur'aan?"
The
answer was, "Yes, some of the women suggested this to me, but I am a woman
who got used to staying at home, and I don't like to go out every day, and Alhamdulillaah,
my daughter sufficed me from all difficulty and I was so happy while I was
learning from her. My daughter had set an example in goodness and righteousness
which we rarely find in our days.
She
started this task and journey with me while she was an adolescent and this is a
critical age many people complain of. She used to pressure herself so that she
could have spare time to teach me, and she used to teach me with kindness and
wisdom. Her husband was a good help to her and he exerted a lot of effort. I
ask Allaah . to give them success and to bring their children up on
uprightness."
Q8:
"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 their 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."
Q9:
"Now what would you say to a woman who is still young? What would you
advise her?"
She,
(may Allaah preserve her), said: "Preserve Allaah and He will preserve
you. Make use of the favor of Allaah bestowed upon you from health and ways and
means of comfort. Use that to memorize the Book of Allaah. This is the light
which enlivens your heart, your life and your grave after you die.
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.}
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