format_quote Originally Posted by
squiggle
Is there any way to get one?? I remember a reading a thread ages back on LI about an online ebook that taught you how to acquire one. But I can't find that thread now :raging: Someone posted links to the material as well.
if ur talking about memorizing the quran, this will help inshallah:
Salat and du’a' for memory
improvement
Here we would like to mention one tradition
recorded by al-Tirmidhi in his Sunan, and is
connected to 'Ali, r.a. Once, when he was in the
presence of the Prophet (saws) he complained
about the problem with remembering. The
Prophet (saws) recommended to him to offer a
special Salat and taught him a supplication which
can be recited for improvement of hifz. We are
presenting this tradition in its entirety:
It has been recorded by al-Tirmidhi with
sanad of Ibn 'Abbas that he said: “Once, when we
were with the Prophet of Allah, (saws), 'Ali ibn
Abi Talib came and said: -O prophet of Allah, to
me you are like a father or mother. This Qur`an
is slipping out of my chest so that it is becoming
very hard to me to keep it in my memory.
The Prophet (saws) responded: -Would you
like me to teach you words (a supplication),
which will, by the help of Allah, benefit you and
those whom you teach? That way you will, by the
help of Allah, make lasting in you chest (memory)
what you memorized?
-Yes, teach me, o prophet of Allah – said
'Ali.
-When the night of Friday starts (Lailatul-
Jumu’ah)53, if you manage to get up in the last
third of that night – get up, because that time is
blessed and in it Allah accepts supplications. My
brother Ya’qub told his sons: - I will surely
supplicate to my Lord for you; and he was
intending to do that in the Jumu’ah night. If you
can not get up in its last third, then try in its half.
And if you do not manage even in that part, get
up at the beginning of that night and offer 4
rak’ahs. During the first rak’ah read sura
al-Fatihah and the sura Yasin, during the
second read suras al-Fatihah and al-Dukhan,
during the third rak’ah surahs al-Fatiha and al-
Sajdah, and on qiyam of the fourth rak’ah read
suras al-Fatihah and al-Mulk. Upon completion
of the fourth rak’ah, thank Allah and nicely
express yourself about Him, then bring Salawat
on me and do that nicely. Also, bring Salawat on
other prophets of Allah and seek forgiveness for
believing men and women and your brothers who
surpassed you in religion. At the end, he said:
“O Allah, have mercy on me so that I stay
away from sinning for as long as I live! Have O
Allah, the Creator of the heavens and the earth,
the Glorious and Honorable and Almighty, I beg
you, the most Merciful, calling upon Your Glory
and the Light of Your Face, to oblige my heart to
remember Your Book the way You taught me.
Bless me to read it the way that will please You!
My Lord, the Creator of the heavens and the
earth, You Who are absolute in Your might, I
implore You the most Merciful, calling upon Your
Glory and Light of Your Face, to illuminate with
you Qur`an my sight, to move with it my tongue
and make it easy on my heart. With it make my
chest wide and clean my body. Truly, on the path
of Truth only You can help me and only You are
able to give me the Truth. There is no might no
power except with Allah, the most High, and the
most Glorious!”
“O Abu al-Hasan, you will do that on three,
five or seven Friday (Jumu’ah) nights, and it will
be accepted from you with the permission of
Allah. By the One Who sent me with the Truth,
this has not yet left unaffected any (true) Muslim!
Abdullah ibn 'Abbas narrates: “By Allah,
not five or seven Fridays passed by and 'Ali again
came to the prophet and said: -O Prophet of
Allah, earlier I used to memorize four verses at
once, and each time I wanted to repeat them they
would disappear. Now I memorize more than
forty verses, and when I repeat them I feel as if
the Book of Allah is wide open in front of me.
Also, when I now hear your sayings and pass
them on later, I do not omit one letter from them.”
The prophet of Allah said on that occasion:
110
“You are the believer, by the Lord of
Ka’bah, o Abu al-Hasan!54
54 See: al-Tirmidhi, Abu ‘Isa: Sunan, Dar al-hadith,
Cairo, vol. 5, pp. 563-565, hadith #3570. Sanad (chain of
transmitters) of this hadith is as follows: Al-Tirmidhi
reports from Ahmad ibn al-Hasan, and Ahmad from
Sulaiman ibn ‘Abdurrahman al-Dimishqi, and Sulaiman
from al-Walid ibn Muslim, al-Walid from ibn Juraij, Ibn
Juraij from ‘Ata` ibn Abi Rabah and ‘Ikrimah, and finally
these two from Ibn ‘Abbas. Imam al-Tirmidhi values this
sanad as hasan-gharib.
Analysing the mentioned sanad according to the principles
of the methodology of hadith which deals with the critique
of transmitters of tradition (al-jarh wa al-ta’dil), we
concluded the following:
a) The chain of transmition is connected (muttasil) and
every rawi (transmitter) in it did heard it from the rawi
that had preceded it;
b) The well known authority on hadith Ibn Hajar
al-‘Asqalani, in his famous work Tahdhib al-Tahdhib
and its resume Taqrib al- Tahdhib, gives to the majority
of the mentioned transmitters high marks (thiqatun, hafiz,
faqih), and only to al-Walid he gives a mark saduq,
which is also considered a positive qualification. The
scholars in the field of the science of hadith take the
narrations with such marks as valid evidence for (hasan
narrations). In connection with the mentioned marks and
qualifications consult: Ibn Hajar al-‘Asqalani: Tahdhib
al-Tahdhib, Dar al-kitab al-islami, Cairo, 1993, and
Taqrib al-Tahdhib, Dar al-kutub al-‘ilmiyyah, Bairut,
1993. The names of rawis in the mentioned works are
listed in alphabetical order.