Aslam

Praise be to Allah.

Raising children to follow Islam from an early age, teaching

them to memorize the Book of Allaah and educating them is the Sunnah of the

Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) and is regarded as

a very important matter, especially in this day and age. But it is something

that many people neglect with regard to their children and those under their

care, and they get distracted by things that will be of no benefit to them

in the Hereafter and may indeed harm them, and make them emotionally

attached to those who do not even deserve to be mentioned, let alone taken

as role models, such as actors, sports players and singers.

We appreciate our sister’s question and we ask Allaah to make

her steadfast and to help her in this matter and others, and to decree

reward for her on the Day of Judgement. What can be greater than meeting

one's Lord with a record of good deeds which includes guiding others to do

good or sharing in establishing good?

With regard to this little sister and teaching her to

memorize Qur’aan, we advise our sister to do the following:

1-Start with that which is

easiest to read and memorize, namely Soorat al-Faatihah, then with the last

juz’, working from the end. Starting with something easy helps one to move

on to more difficult material. Moreover she will have a real need for that

when she starts to learn the prayer.

2-The amount to be memorized

every day should be small, so that she will be able to memorize it and it

will be easy for her to memorize what comes next. This amount will vary from

one child to the next, depending on his or her intelligence and memory.

3-Review often so that what has

been memorized will stick. Do not let any day go by without memorizing

something new and reviewing the old.

4-Encourage her by giving her a

prize every time she finishes a juz’ – for example – and memorizes it well.

5-Start to move from prompting

her and having her repeat, which is usually the first stage in memorization,

to teaching her how to read, so that it will be easy for her to read the

Qur’aan by herself at times when her sister or teacher are not present.

6-Let her get used to reciting

what she has memorized in her prayer, whether that is obligatory or naafil

prayer, once she reaches an age where prayer is required of her and she can

understand it.

7-Let her get used to listening

to what she has memorized on tapes or on the computer, so that she can hear

both a good pronunciation and good recitation, and she can review and

consolidate what she has learned.

8-Choose a good time for

memorization when there are few distractions – such as after Fajr or between

Maghrib and ‘Isha’. Avoid times when she is hungry, tired or sleepy.

9-Praise her for what she has

memorized in front of neighbours and relatives, so as to encourage her and

encourage them to do the same thing; at the same time, pray for refuge for

her with Allaah for fear of the evil eye and envy (hasad).

10-It is essential for

her to have one style of Mus-haf with no changes, so that the layout of the

verses will be imprinted in her memory.

11-You should encourage

her to write out what she has memorized so that she may combine learning how

to write with reinforcing what she has memorized.

And Allaah is the Source of strength.