Life in Islam

There are over one billion Muslims in the world today. Every single one of them understand the importance of the Qur’an. Over time people have tried to eradicate it, only for Muslims to memorize it and put it back together in the same order again. Millions of people today try very hard to memorize it.

Most people have difficulty memorizing the Qur’an because of the repetition involved.

There are three ways it can be memorized:

People that can read and understand the Arabic Qur’anic text
People that can read the Qur’anic Arabic, but not understand the text
People that cannot read and understand the Qur’anic Arabic text
Generally, most people forget the start of the ayah (sentence). Usually once they’ve memorized a few ayah’s, they stop recalling until it gets to the start of the next ayah. Once the start is remembered, then the rest of the ayah is usually remembered after it. Hence the trick is to have the start of the ayah memorized. This can be a word for each start of the ayah.

Let’s take an example for the very first surah (chapter) of the Qur’an which has 7 ayah.

The full ayah, in transliteration form reads like this

bismillâh ir-rahmân ir-rahîm
al-hamdulillâhi rabb il-âlamîn
ar-rahmân ir-rahîm
mâliki yawm id-dîn
iyyâka na`budu wa iyyâka nasta`în
ihdinâ s-sirât al-mustaqîm
sirât al-ladhîna an`amta `alayhim
ghayr il-maghdûbi `alayhim wa la d-dâlîn

If we take the start of each ayah then we have the below.

bismillâh
al-hamdulillâhi
ar-rahmân
mâliki
iyyâka
ihdinâ
sirât
Now we can use the start of each word on a locus.

Front Gate – bismillâh
Front Door – al-hamdulillâhi
Bed – ar-rahmân
Shower – mâliki
Sink – iyyâka
Cupboard – ihdinâ
Television – sirât
To memorize the start of each ayah, you will need to make a story up with the location and the ayah. For example:

You smash through your front gate and say ‘Bismillah”
You are knocking on your front door and accidently burp. You say ‘Al-hamdulillah’
You get the picture? Now make up stories for the rest of the surah below.

Keep going for the rest of the ayah and challenge yourself to memorize it using the method of loci. To memorize the Qu’ran in general, it is ideal to have a location per ayah. However this would mean over 6000 locations. Some ayah’s are one page long so it’s how you break up that page that will enable you to memorize it better.

English translation below.

In the name of God, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.
Praise be to God, the Cherisher and Sustainer of the world;
Most Gracious, Most Merciful;
Master of the Day of Judgment.
Thee do we worship, and Thine aid we seek.
Show us the straight way,
The way of those on whom Thou hast bestowed Thy Grace, those whose (portion) is not wrath, and who go not astray.
Practice memorizing the above using the method of loci. For example:

Front Gate – In the name of God…
Front Door – Praise be to God…
Bed – Most Gracious…
Shower – Master of the Day of Judgment…
Sink – Thee do we worship…
Cupboard- Show us the straight way…
Television – The way of those on whom Thou hast bestowed Thy Grace…
Memorizing the start of an ayah will help you memorize the ayah, however there are long ayah’s in the Qu’ran as mentioned above. Linking these using the VAI memory principle will connect the ayah so that it is fully memorized.

To recall what you’ve memorized, go to your first loci and try and remember the story you’ve created for the word you associated using the VAI memory principle.

Recall English translation

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.

Try and select a surah from the Qur’an and test yourself. It does not have to be in Arabic. So long as you exercise your imagination, memory principles as well as techniques, it will provide a good foundation for brain development for you.

Aisha raḍyAllāhu ‘anha (may Allāh be pleased with her) reported:

“I heard the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, say, ‘Jibreel, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, kept on recommending that I treat neighbors well until I thought that he would order me to treat them as my heirs’ “[Bukhari].

“And worship Allah and do not ascribe any partner to Him … the neighbor who is near of kin, the neighbor who is a stranger … Indeed Allah does not like anyone who is a swaggering braggart” (Quran chapter 4, verse 36).

A neighbor is one who lives near or next to another. Al-Hasan was asked about the neighbor and said, “The term ’neighbor’ includes the forty houses in front a person, the forty houses behind him, the forty houses on his right and the forty houses on his left.”

Neighbors are the first people whom we can run to in case of an emergency, be it a desperate need of salt or a fire in the night – Subhanallah! How beautiful is our religion that it coaches us to be our best with our neighbors.

So let’s see how we can be Productive Neighbors and earn the pleasure of Allah subḥānahu wa ta’āla (glorified and exalted be He):

1. Be Kind

Abu Shuraih Al-Khuza`i (May Allah be pleased with him) reported: The Prophet ṣallallāhu ‘alayhi wa sallam (peace and blessings of Allāh be upon him) said, “He who believes in Allah and the Last Day, let him be kind to his neighbor [Muslim].

Offer your neighbor a ride if you see them walking to the grocery store. Make chicken soup or home-made medicines for the common cold; ie, make sure they are in good health and let them know you are there for them.

2. Be Helpful

If you meet a new neighbor while they are moving in, greet them with a smile and bring them refreshments. Give them a quick run-through of the area in general, where things are located, and what can they expect from the community. If a former neighbor is moving out, then help them with packing, cleaning, and bring them dinner or lunch. If a neighbor is pregnant then organize a “food list” and all neighbors can chose a day on which they can bring food or help out in the house during the last weeks and the early weeks after child birth. Offer a ride to the school if your children go to the same one, or car pool.

3. Give Gifts

When you make something, send some over to your neighbor. Buy an extra box of donuts and give it to your neighbor. Abu Hurairah raḍyAllāhu ‘anhu (may Allāh be pleased with him) reported: Messenger of Allah ṣallallāhu ‘alayhi wa sallam (peace and blessings of Allāh be upon him) said, “O Muslim women! No one of you should consider insignificant (a gift) to give to her neighbor even if it is (a gift of) the trotters of a sheep” [Bukhari and Muslim].

4. Stay Connected

Have tea/coffee once in a while together, visit them, or invite them over to your place. Stop for a one-minute chat when you see them outside. In this manner, you will know if they are sick or in need of something. It will also build your relationship just to know what is happening in your neighbor’s life, as well as give your neighbor a chance to get to know you better as well.

5. Form Hobby Clubs

You can form informal clubs together based on the common things you enjoy. These could be book clubs, craft clubs, gardening clubs, cooking clubs, etc. Plan walks or exercise routines together. It always helps to motivate oneself if such things are done in a group.

6. Be a Good Muslim Neighbor

In addition to the above ideas, here some more ideas of what can you do with a Muslim neighbor.

Organize halaqas– have weekly or monthly talks. Each neighbor should get a chance to host one, or you could make use of the community halls in your community to host them. Organize youth halaqas for the youth of the neighborhood. If you have a mosque in the community, then make it point to use it for the halaqas and ask someone who knows Arabic or tajweed to teach it to the rest. Invite the new neighbor to the halaqas or the potlucks held at the mosque or in the community.

Share Islamic knowledge – Get an extra pamphlet or free books that are given away with Islamic knowledge for your neighbor. Let them know about anything new that you learnt in the deen, maybe a new course that you started or a new website you checked or even a new article or book that you read.

Give gifts on festive occasions – make it a point to get gifts for your neighbor on Eids and share the special delicacies that you make on Eid.

7. A Muslim Relative Neighbor

A relative Muslim neighbor enjoys the maximum rights. So in addition to all the other tips, here is something more you can do to earn that extra hasanaat, inshallah:

Stay connected: Make it a point to meet often.
Share news of the family: Share any family news of marriages, job promotions, illnesses that you have come to know of so that they can also keep in touch with the other relatives.
Invite them – Make it a point to invite them often to the family gatherings that you host.

Having a good neighbor is a true blessing from Allah subḥānahu wa ta’āla (glorified and exalted be He), a blessing which I have been blessed with and am deeply thankful for. Let’s try to be Productive Neighbors and walk on the path shown to us by Allah subḥānahu wa ta’āla (glorified and exalted be He) and His Messenger ṣallallāhu ‘alayhi wa sallam (peace and blessings of Allāh be upon him).

“The best of companions in the sight of Allah Almighty is the best of them towards his companion, and the best of neighbors in the sight of Allah is the best of them towards his neighbor” [Al-Albani].

About the Author:

Sana Gul is a mother of two and a student , learning the Quran and the Seerah. She works for Islamic Lifestyle , a group aiming to help people live their lives according to the Quran and Sunnah.
She also writes for the blog.