Calling yourself a Hafiz

i dont know whether its wrong or not but all i know is from various hadiths Allah describes how he will punish those who boast about what knowledge they have so they can be gossiped about. we should not judge any one though because these people's intention might be only to encourage others to become a hafiz so thats probably his intention

format_quote Originally Posted by cat eyes

might encourage others to become a hafiz so thats probably his intention

i agree with u on this spot on...i only started memorising hardcore after my niece told me she has memorised 27 just of the Quran...it incited a jealousy in me...inshallah, that woke me up!!!

Haha I don't see anything wrong with calling yourself Hafiz if you are a Hafiz. Is it wrong for a doctor to introduce himself as Dr. _____? I mean if you are a young guy, then maybe it will look a little bad to keep insisting on people to call you hafiz, but if you're a grown man then people should be calling you hafiz if you memorized the Quran. It's respect.

i think its wrong to go around and make public announcements about it. but if someone asks, this is slightly different.

Hafiz is an achievement of memorizing the entire Quran and joining a rank of muslims that were elevated by God and the prophet -s.a.a.w.- in the Quran and hadiths. They are the instrument by which the verse was expressed "And we will hereby preserve it (quran)" [15:9]

So yes, there is a lot for them to be proud about, and yes they do get introduced as "he is a Hafiz", and when asked they will identify themselves as such, and yes they can put it on their pages or diaries or articles.

Arrogance and boasting of course ruins any good deed and removes the intentions of it being for Allah's sake alone, so if a Hafiz is getting in people's faces and throwing it around in pride to get worldly gains or admiration, that cancels its reward and reduces the person's action to that of Riya'

It is however part of Sunnah that muslims appreciate and respect Hafiz people, as per the hadith: "It is from revering Allah TaAAala to be generous to the white haired muslim and the carrier of the book of Allah, who is neither boastful nor neglectful of it." Also as part of Sunnah they are most rightful to lead prayers. Their rewards in this life and in the afterlife are many and most grand.

Its not even hard to finish the Quran

Then you should become one quite easily. Impressive to know it's easy for you to memorize over 600 pages verbatim, and be able to recite from memory from any part in it and for any number of verses.

format_quote Originally Posted by aadil77

They memorise it, they'll only know the meaning if they choose to learn arabic or already know it.

Actually that's not accurate. Even if someone by some odd ability manages to memorize the Quran verbatim without actually understanding the Arabic in it, that is not a hafiz. Hifz means preservation, and that is to carry it in the heart and KNOW what it says, and a Hafiz is also required to apply it in his life so as not to be a hypocrite.

Knowing what it means does not necessarily mean understanding all the deep interpretations of all the verses, but understanding the words in Arabic and being able to comprehend the rulings, accounts, orders, and revelations a Hafiz has memorized is fundamental. Otherwise he is not a hafiz, but a parrot, and that is of no use to anyone.

format_quote Originally Posted by Dagless

My mobile phone is a hafiz. I should treat it with more respect really...

lolllllllllllll soon computers/robots will take over the place of Imams and Scholars

Well let's make sure we are all on the same page with each other in what the meaning of "understand" refers to:

What I know to be compulsory for Hifz is to be able to understand the words being recited, what they represent, without tafsir or interpretation.

That means that when a Hafiz recites "BismillahirraHHmanirraHHeem", it isn't just a long complex multi-syllable sound that he trained his tongue to produce without knowing what it is and where the words are. But actually he knows it forms four words: "Bismi LLahi RaHHmani RaHHeem" and that the first word means "IN the name of" and the second is Allah, and the third and fourth are Gracious and Merciful.

However, the definition and interpretation of gracious and merciful as names of Allah and what they really represent and all that, is not necessary to understand at any level for the position of Hafiz.

But to understand the words as words, as a speaker would recognize, as it is translated in Yusuf Ali book for example, that is important.

Hadiths that relate to memorizing the Quran the prophet -s.a.a.w.- always says "Memorized the Quran and applied it...", so it's implicitly clear that understanding what is read is an essential part. Otherwise, like Dagless mentioned above his mobile phone then is a Hafiz.

I also found this in an Islamonline article:

"6- Understanding Is the Way to Memorizing the Qur'an:

An important thing that greatly aids the process of memorizing the Qur'an is to understand the meaning of the verses one is memorizing, and know how they are linked to each other. Thus the memorizer should read the Tafsir (explanation) of the verses that he desires to memorize, and should bring their meanings to mind while he is reciting them. This makes it easy easier for him to remember them.

Knowing the meaning of the verses is extremely important for memorizing the Qur'an, and to increase the rewards of reciting the Qur'an."

In speaking against not understanding the meaning of the words being read, Imam Al-Ajery -r.a.- said:

"The person who memorizes the Quran for this worldly gains and to entertain the people, is the one that reads the letters of the Quran, not knowing what it stands for, not abiding by its rulings..." and he also explains "He will not reach KhoshooAA when the Quran is recited, will not feel sadness, or regret, or cry with the verses."

The Hafiz needs to know when they're pronouncing the word of God, or mentioning paradise or hell, or when a story of a certain prophet is being told, when it starts and when it ends, otherwise their recitation will be extremely lacking. Additionally their rate of mistakes and forgetfulness will be very high if they do not recognize words.

What I also know is that the teachers in Hifz schools in Arabic countries seperate non-Arabic speakers from Arabic ones, and with the non-Arabic ones they would teach them basics of Arabic first, give them a bit of vocabulary, and then when memorizing they would go over each word and translate it (just translate, not tafsir or interpretation), and would teach the verses word for word.

In the end the Hafiz may not be capable of "conversing" or gramatically comprehend a whole article, but they fundamentally understand the verses they read and recognize them.

- Purely reading and reciting the quran for oneself though is different however, and EVERY person capable of distinguishing the characters should read and recite as much as possible, without understanding even, because recitation is an act of worship in itself.

What of the person who has the Quran, the uncreated word of Allah, in his memory? Even if he is the worst person in the world, even if he doesn't know the exact meanings and rulings contained therein, Allah has chosen him to contain inside his breast his word.

I don't believe brother you can find a Hafiz who is the "worst person". The prophet -s.a.a.w.- said that God will not enable evil people to memorize the whole quran.

And as for respect, as per the hadith: "It is from revering Allah TaAAala to be generous to the white haired muslim and the carrier of the book of Allah, who is neither boastful nor neglectful of it." and therefore if a person is ignoring the rulings of the quran and has just memorized it verbatim while ignoring its contents, by this hadith we should not respect or be generous to them.

Wallahu 'AAlam