Chapter 8

DUAS FOR HIFZ

“It is reported from Hadrat Ibn Abbas t that ‘When we were with Rasulullah r, Hazrat Ali t came there and said: ‘May my parents be sacrificed over you! This Quran has escaped my heart. I do not find power in myself for the Quran’. So Rasulullah r said to him: 'O Abul Hasan! May I not show you such words as Allah U may benefit you through them and benefit those also whom you teach these words and whatever you may learn may stick to your heart.' Hazrat Ali t said: ‘Yes, O Rasulullah! r Please teach me.’ He said: ‘When it is Friday night, if you can get up during the last one-third part of the night, for at that time angels are present and invocations are accepted, and my brother Prophet Yaqoob u had told his sons ‘I shall ask forgiveness for you from My Lord’, that is, he said that he would ask forgiveness for them when the night of Friday would come.’ And if you can't, get up in the middle of the night and if this too is not possible, then get up in the first part of the night and say four rakahs of prayer: In the first rakah Surah Fatiha and Surah Yaseen, in the second rakah Surah Faitha and Surah Ha-Mim Ad-Dukhan, in the third rakah Surah Fatiha and Alif Lam Mim Tanzil as-Sajdah and in the fourth rakah Surah Fatiha and Tabarakallazhi fully. When you have completed the tashhahud, praise and laud Allah U and send darud to me and send it well and send darud to all the Prophets; seek pardon for all the male and female believers and also for those brethren of yours who surpassed you in embracing the faith. Then at the end say:



اللّهم ارحمنى بترك المعاصى ابدا ما ابقيتنى وارحمنى

ان اتكلف ما لا يعنينى وارزقنى حسن النظر فيما يرضيك عنى

اللّهم بديع السموت والارض ذالجلال والاكرام والعزة التى لا ترام

اسئلك يا اللّه يا رحمن بجلالك ونور وجهك ان تلزم قلبى حفظ كتابك

كما علمتنى وارزقنى ان اتلوه على النحو الذى يرضيك عنى

اللّهم بديع السموت والارض ذالجلال والاكرام والعزة التى لا ترام

اسئلك يا اللّه يا رحمن بجلالك ونور وجهك ان تنور بكتابك بصرى

وان تطلق به لسانى وان تفرج به عن قلبى وان تشرح به صدرى

وان تغسل به بدنى فانه لا يعيننى على الحق عنيرك ولايؤتيه

الا انت ولا حول ولا قوة الا باللّه العلى العظيم

“Allahumar hamnee bitarkil ma’aasee abadammaa abqaytanee warahmnee an atakalafa maalaa ya’neenee warzuknee husnan nadharifee maa urdeeka ‘annee. Allahuma badeeus samaawaati wal ardi zal jalali wal ikraami wal ‘izatil latee laa turaamuasaluka yaa Allahu yaa Rahmaanu bi jalalika wa noori wajahika an tulzima qalbee hifza kitaabika kamaa ‘alamtanee warzukneean aqrahu alan nahwil lazee urdeeka ‘annee. Allahuma badeeus samaawati wal ardi zal jalali wal ikraami wal ‘izatil latee laa turaamu asaluka yaa Allahu yaa Rahmaanu bi jalalika wa noori wajhika an tunaw wira bikitabika basaree waan tutliq bihi lisanee wa an tufarrij bihi ’an qalbee wa an tashraha bihi sadree wa an tugsil bihi badaneefa innahu laa yu’enunee ‘alal aqua ghayruka wa laa yu’tihi illaaanta wa laa hawla wa laa quwwata illaa billahil ‘aliyil ‘azeem.

“O my Allah U! Show mercy unto me so that as long as You keep my alive I may give up sins and show mercy unto me so that I may not involve myself in works which may be of no use to me and bestow upon me the care of those things that may please You with me! O my Allah U, the Fashioner of the heavens and the earth. O Owner of Glory and Might and of Honor which nobody can even guess and imagine to acquire. I beg of You, O Allah U, O Beneficient One! In the name of Your glory and the light of Your countenance that even as you have given me the knowledge of Your sacred book, let it be the lot of my heart too to memorize it, and make its reading practicable for me that You may be pleased with me.

O Allah U! The Fashioner of the heavens and the earth, the Owner of Might and Glory and of Honor which one can’t even imagine! I beg of You, O Allah U the Beneficient One, in the name of Your greatness and Your lustrous countenance that You illumine my eyes with Your book and fissue it on my tongue and remove sorrow from my heart by its blessing and open my chest (for relief from anxiety) and wash all my body with it; because in a right thing none save You will help me nor will give it to me save You. Neither is there any power in me to do good nor the strength to save myself from evil except with the grace from Allah U, the Sublime, the Tremendous.”

“O Abul Hasan! Do like this on three Friday nights or five Friday nights or seven Friday nights. By Allah’s U order your invocations will be accepted. And by that Being Who has sent me with the truth! This invocation has never left any believer disappointed!”

“Hadrat Ibn Abbas t says: ‘Then by Allah U only five or seven Fridays I passed when Hadrat Ali t came to Rasulullah r in a similar majlis and said: ‘O Rasulullah r formerly during the days that have passed I could commit to memory four or similar number of verses and even when I recited them I used to falter, while now I memorize forty or as many verses and feel as if Allah U has inscribed them before my eyes. And I used to hear hadith but when I repeated them a large portion was left out, and I hear the hadiths today and when you relate them I don’t miss a single word.’ To him Rasulullah r ‘O Abul Hasan! By the Lord of the Kabah! You’re a believer.” (Hayat-us-Sahabah, Volume III)

This dua is beneficial for adults who wish to memorize the Quran; with children there general disposition towards the Quran makes it easy for them.

DUA OF THE TEACHER

My own Quran, when I finished Hifz was not solid. With great difficulty I would manage to recite the parts that I had already memorized. This was primarily towards the end of my Hifz when I out of a foolishness to finish as fast as possible, and ignoring the advice of Ustaadh Saab, started taking three pages of Sabaq daily. In the end it all came back to haunt me, and the day after I finished Quran, I returned to start making it solid. However much I tried though, it still didn't come together to the point where I could be comfortable with it.

That year I led Taraweeh in the Muslim Education Center in Morton Grove, Illinois. I had to recite only a quarter of a juz at that time and that too was quite difficult for me. I would study the quarter juz which I had to recite the whole day and would barely be able to pull it off in Taraweeh. This is why Taraweeh is a litmus test for a Hafiz. He can clearly identify how solid his Quran is, where and in what juz improvements need to be made and so on.

After that experience, I returned to Jamia Suffah and continued to recite to Ustaadh Saab to make my hifz as solid as possible. Soon, Alhamdulilah through the barakah of his dua I was able to recite to him two juz daily right after Fajr.

By the time Ramadan came I was able to get a good three months or so of this two juz daily routine. Ustaadh Saab, happy with the progress we had made, recommended that I lead the entire Taraweeh in Jamia Suffah. Still not confident about my ability to recite in Taraweeh but knowing there would be virtually nobody behind me, I willingly accepted.

By way of encouragement, Ustaadh Saab, asked two or three students from the Jamia to stand behind me to give corrections. In addition to this my father and brother would be there, and once in a while a homeless person that lived near the Jamia would also come.

Emboldened by my first recitation and eager to finish the Quran by myself in Taraweeh I started reciting between one and a half juz and two juz daily, thinking that after I am done, I will relax the last ten days and read Taraweeh behind Ustaaz Saab at Noor Masjid.

The Taraweeh began very well, Alhamdulilah, primarily because my first couple juz were very solid due to constant recitation, and I had already started reciting them before Ramadan began.

As I crossed the halfway mark, at the 15th juz I surprised myself by being able to recite one and half juz. However a couple factors such as the 'no fear' factor played a part because all the people praying behind me knew me and vice versa.

In addition I took my time between rakahs to review all my mistakes that I got when I recited during the day to someone (all mistakes were marked with a special mark, so I could identify them quickly).

This Taraweeh was like a protected cocoon: it saved me from having to lead people I didn't know, I was able to look at the Quran in between rakahs, and had lots of time to go back and correct my mistakes in Taraweeh. Everything was blissful and serene. There was no heart pounding and no sweating.

That all changed when I got to the 20th juz. Ustaadh Saab's father had become very sick in Dera Ismail Khan, Pakistan. Ustaadh Saab had to catch the earliest flight out to Islamabad.

Ustaadh Saab leads Taraweeh at Masjid Noor, which is a sizable masjid in Chicago, and the headquarters of the local Tablighi Jamaat. Due to the fact that in the middle of Ramadan a substitute wouldn't be found so quickly, I had to lead Taraweeh there in his place starting from the 17th Juz.

It would be hard to imagine what was going through my mind at that time. Getting stuck between a rock and a hard place would have been easier. Coupled with the thought of having to lead so many people, there would also be senior huffaz behind me and should I hesitate for a split-second a correction would surely come from behind.

My voice was getting scratchy as it always does, and I had to use Ustaadh Saab's remedy which is honey and milk warmed and placed inside a nicely insulated thermos. I have to say that really helped, and the credit for suggesting that to me goes to the second Ustaadh at Jamia Suffah, Qari Abdus-Samad Saab (db). With my voice getting better, I was able to proceed with ease because I had to recite only one juz everyday, and my practice of reciting two juz everyday to Ustaadh Saab made one juz easy, Alhamdulilah.

One minor incident did happen, on the 28th juz I faltered thrice in the same surah, and the person correcting me each time was standing directly behind me. It was a grave voice, coming quickly like lightning, and struck me like that too. I would just pause to repeat the verse which I had faltered on, when I got the correction all three times.

When one is reciting and receives correction so quickly, it is quite unnerving and makes you start thinking about the mistake, which in turn causes more mistakes, and takes away from the attention one is supposed to have in Salah.

The next day I found out that the person behind me was a scholar (Alim) from India who had his own Hifz school there. That was a fact I didn't want to hear, because it makes you even more uncomfortable to know that the person behind you is of that caliber. Praise be to Allah U he only came when I was on the 28th juz! I proceeded to review my recitation with more caution and was able to finish Alhamdulilah without further incidents like these.

Alhamdulilah I finished my Quran on the 27th night of Ramadan. I made dua and proceeded to do itikaf for the remaining days in the Islamic Community Center.

The gist of this long story is that when Ustaadh Saab returned, the people who had prayed Taraweeh behind me and knew that Ustaadh Saab was my teacher commended him saying I had done a good job. He mentioned that sometimes dua is asked for and sometimes it is just given from the heart, and the latter has a greater effect. After that Taraweeh, my confidence in my memorization grew and I became quite comfortable in my recitation. So dua has a power of its own that should never be underestimated. In addition one can see how encouragement from the Ustaadh is beneficial, and the dua that is the result of listening and responding to this encouragement is a benefit on top of that benefit. Asking the Ustaadh to make dua for his student is essential to hifz. Looking back on my hifz years, I wish I had asked for dua earlier instead of waiting for a situation to transpire that would cause my Ustaadh to make dua for me.

DUA OF THE PARENTS

My mother always said that she made dua that Allah U make one of her sons a Hafiz. When my brother finished his memorization of the 30th Juz my mother thought that he would be the one. Then he stopped.

When I started my memorization of the Quran, my mother used to tell me that she often made this dua. Then Alhamdulilah when I had memorized a little more than two-thirds of the Quran my mother reminded me again about the dua that she made regarding one of her sons becoming a Hafiz. My brother was present on this occasion and he asked, "Why don’t you make dua that both of your sons become Huffaz?’" My mother then immediately made dua that both her sons should become Huffaz. Alhamdulilah, my brother has already recited Taraweeh with me once, and has memorized more than two-thirds of the Quran. May Allah U make is easy for him to complete it. Ameen.

So the dua of the parents and the dua of the Ustaadh is very important and essential. Besides, it is very easy to obtain. Their duas carry a lot of weight.