what to do?

Racking my brains to save my past memorization. The new way is not so motivating because, u cannot stop. If u stop, u kinda felt "hanging" because the pages are not related to one another. hmm...

Like want to give up. Remembered the atuk who memorize 16juz....

Need a short goal to push me to my long goal.ARGGHH!!

felt like giving up...

if u feel like giving up, read this to motivate urself...

Tahfiz in more mosques!!

If u lived far away from Kampung Siglap aka Tahfiz centre and have great interest in HIFZ/tahfiz, this is GREAT NEWS to u! The tahfiz course will be brought over to many mosques...This is to encourage future "huffaz" in joining..alhamdulillah..

So all of you, young or old, come join us! Irregardless of which location u come from, now it's easier and nearer to learn tahfiz/hifz...so what are u waiting for?
(u can click this image to enlarge/read it)

The mosques involved are: Al-Khair, Sultan mosque, Darul Makmur,Jamiyah Ar-rabitah, tentera di raja, Istiqamah and of course Kg Siglap..

Doa/Supplications

I've forgotten where I got this doa..

Ya Allah ,kasihanilah aku
dengan meninggalkan segala kemaksiatan
untuk selamanya
selama Engkau membiarkan aku hidup,
kasihanilah aku
agar aku tidak memaksakan diri dengan sesuatu
yang tidak bermanfaat bagiku
dan berilah aku rizki berupa pandangan yang baik
terhadap sesuatu yang membuatMU ridha kepadaku.

Ya Allah Pencipta langit ,
Pemilik Agung Kemuliaan
serta Keperkasan yang tidak dapat dicapai oleh siapa pun
aku meminta kepadaMU Ya Allah,
Ya Rahman dengan keagunganMu Ya allah,
Ya Rahman dengan keagungan dan cahaya wajahMU
agar Engkau mewajibkan hatiku untuk menghafal kitabMu
sebagaimana Engkau telah mengajariku
dan berilah aku rezeki agar aku dapat membacanya
dengan cara yang membuatMu ridha kepadaku.

Ya Allah Pencipta langit dan bumi,
Pemilik Keagungan dan Kemuliaan serta Keperkasaan
yang tidak dapat dicapai oleh sesiapa pun,
aku meminta kepadaMu,
ya Allah, ya Rahman dengan keagungan dan cahaya Wajahmu
agar Engkau menerangi mataku dengan kitabmu ,
menggerakkan lisanku dengannya
membukakan hatiku
dengannya melapangkan dadaku dengannya
dan menyibukkanbadanku dengannya
kerana sesungguhnya tidak ada yang dapat menolongku
di atas kebenaran selainMU
dan tidak seorang pun yang dapat mendatangkan kebenaran itu kepadaku
selain Engkau tiada daya upaya melainkan dengan Allah yang Maha Agung

What is inside the kaabah?

http://www.esnips.com/doc/75db0f04-8b59-4643-9a30-4352ca8a3d9c/Interior-of-Kabah

To know more about kaabah, click here

http://www.kabahinfo.net/

more good sites...

http://english.islamway.com/sindex.php?section=erecitorslist another GREAT sites compiling all the many Quran recitors/imams in the Arab. U can choose ur favourite recitors and download their mp3 FREE! I've used this often....very GOOD!

http://www.islamicity.com/IslamiTV/ -tarawikh prayers video in mecca/medina

another interesting hifz blog....

http://wordpress.com/tag/hifz/

Eating raisins

Another tip learned is that Eating raisins can improve ur memory. Use hijriah calendar to note how much raisins should be eaten per day. 1st day of hijriah month, eat one raisin till 15days. On the 16th day, start from 1 again.... (oh, Golden raisins are better than other colour raisins dunno how true..)

There are many variations as to how many should one eat, I heard, u can eat 15 rasins-21 everyday the same amount...depends on ur age.... hmm...

Nowadays there are raisins that have been "recited on" by hifz students sold in Geylang. 50 cents for a small packet. Also there is big bottle of raisins that have been read by Ustazs (teachers/huffaz) cost about $5. Another is a bottle of air zaffaran (saffron water) with Holy Quran recited/wrote on which cost about $5 for small and $10 for big. Also Zam2 water can be purchased at joo Chiat vicinity for $5 per small bottle(dont forget to stand, face the kiblah and doa while drinking the zam2 water) Kinda miss the Zam2 water at Mecca... the zam2 area is so cool...

Also kurma/dates, and buah delima (promegranate) is good for the brains too...and not forgetting banana (brain booster and energy charger)

fyi- It's best if u recite them ourselves(the ayats from Holy Quran)on normal water/zam2/saffron water/raisins or mineral water as a suplication for ourselves...but if u have ur ustaz/zahs nearby, u can ask him/her especially if he/she is a huffaz/hafiz. He is afterall ur mentor, right?So get as much blessings/berkat/doas or whatever as much as u can from him/her...

As for the raisins, i just eat whatever and whenever I felt like eating because I often forgot whether I've eaten or not so I just eat any amount anytime...

Mama's doa is BEST!

Oh another tip, I learned from previous tahfiz/hifz seminars are that ..

If u ever have difficulty memorizing certain surah/ayats, or worse, u felt so LAZY or burdened by many "ups and downs of life" that U felt like giving up, please CALL or asked ur mama to doa (suplication) for u IMMEDIATELY wherever she may be. Mama's doa is EXPRESS normally immediately it will be fulfilled..allahu alam. If no parents, then ur guardian, if not spouse's doa will do too...better still, teach ur kids to doa for u also...

My mama doa for me is something like this (one day I accidentally overheard her doa, felt so touched, loss for words..) " Please let my child be the best Hafizah of 30 juz and of the Best calibre, dunia akhirat. Help her in her journey, Ease her burden, make it easy for her....and let her in return teach the younger generations and be the BEST Al-Quranic teacher...whereby her students will be from all over the world regardless of age...and hope she never ever forget the Holy Quran not even a single letter in dunia and akhirat ...."(amin ya robbal alamin..) and in return, insya-Allah I will doa for my kids similar doas...too..thus this doa will be continuous.... just to share2...

cool headgears for sports...

For sporty muslimahs, now u can exercise in comfort...

myasport.blogspot.com

together for a healthier you....

Books and items that helped my hifz

Often, we need motivations for our quest of hifz. Other than a "Great buddy" for u to practise and check ur hifz, books are important in my life. Anything relating to memory, I will grab!(U can click on image/pic to view enlarge pic)

And second best is my creative Zen $129 (for recording my voice and to check whether I made mistake and also the holy Quran mp3.) and Digital Quran (last time $500 but now less than $100) and not forgetting the "tasbih counter" $3 (not in pic) which is very useful for LONG ayats..Of course, always carry the same Quran that u used to memorize with u always. Nowadays they have tafsir Quran with the exact replicate pages of normal Al-Quran and the tafsir/translations at the side. Can be found in local Islamic or Malaysian shops so its easier for muslimahs to carry around. (as shown above)

In the above books, one of them (in white) "Cara mudah menghafal Quran" (easy way to hifz)has some great TIPS and methods to memorise the holy Quran which I cannot find elsewhere. Tony Buzan book has ways to strengthen our memory by doing some "mind" exercises. And the others have tips on what to eat for ur brains.

Another tip about food intake for future huffaz . ALWAYS eat HALAL food. HALAL-certified and also the money used to buy your food must be from HALAL sources. IMPORTANT!

Last ten days...

So fast, time passes..Ramadan is going to be over soon. Very sad...

Anyway. just to share. When I was first exposed to hifz, My hafiz ustaz actually "Tested" me after first juzuk. His questions aren't that simple like some local schools' hifz test. In fact, I found it the HARDESt. Want to know why?

He asked me what is the ayat before this ayat that he recite...That is why...If he asked what is the ayat AFTER...insya-Allah my mind can immediately answer but he asked what is BEFORE this ayat, immediately, I got to remember where the ayat that he recited came from, what page then remember the "keywords" like the starting of the page ayat...and the middle and the ending of the page..as a result, I failed?!! Too long..panicked never expected...0 out of 10 questions.I was given 30 seconds only to answer.

So, from what I learned from this "failure" is that, I need to remember some key ayats in that particular page...And the irony was that he tested my Juz Amma (juz 30th) the so-called easiest Juzuk of all juzuks. But dont give up, for those who experienced the FIRST hifz test and failed badly like me...insya-Allah persevere, the REWARDS are endless...

And from the new way that I learned recently (memorizing by the last page of every juzuks) , I'm able to remember the page number, the beginning , middle and the ending much better..because I memorize each page individually and they are not connected to the next page which is the last page of the next juzuk. So ur mind has to be "stronger" and "picture" it...Let's hope I can finish the whole Quran using this method, I am interested to spread this kind of technique to others but I must first experienced and khatam/finish the hafazan/hifz first. I hope i dont give up halfway, ya Allah please help me..

As for the last 10 days, May all of us get Lailatul Qadar...amin ya rabbal alamin.

RTM 1 Islamic programs

During Ramadan months, I love to tune in to RTM1 especially late night whereby there are interesting programs such as TERAWIKH LIVE @ Mecca and also the INTERACTIVE recitation of the Quran (TILAWAH AL-QURAN) whereby participants (non-Qari professionals like me) can recite the Holy Quran thru the phone and an Ustaz will give marks and comments. The winner has some interesting prizes like watch RM1000, digital camera, handphones... I really applaud the RTM for doing such programs to encourage people to brush up their reading and be actively with AL-Quran and not let The Holy Quran collect dust in one corner of the house. Hope this kind of program will last not only during Ramadan but I hope non-ramadan months as well.

Some people may comment that it is riak or whatever negativity that relates to this program but let's just discard all the NEGATIVITY and just concentrate on the POSITIVE ones...

I love to watch Islamic programs like Hifz competitions during non-ramadan months, I just hope that there will be more...more and more such programs PLEEEASE. For Singaporeans like me who cannot get RTM 2 or other channels and depend solely on RTM1 for religious programs...(of course we do buy lots of Islamic vcds/dvd too!)

And when watching the terawikh live in Mecca, just wish could be there to experience the terawikh and fasting, just being and doing with the arab people. And the imams are al-Hafiz subhanallah....Theirm elodious voice and the smooth recitation of Al-Quran page after page...WOWs me everytime... Felt like as if there is a tiny Quran within their brains...Hmm..

Really perks me up whenever I felt low and lazy to memorize and revise my old surahs. Just listen to them and the jemaah of millions of people behind them, really motivates u. cos u will be wishing, I hope one day I will be able to recite the Holy Quran like that just by memorizing them...insya-Allah.

It is said memorizing when young is like engraving on a stone, memorizing when old is like engraving on water...

But do not despair, the recent Tahfiz seminar, there is a grandpa age 50 or is it 70+ anyway he has memorized about 16-17 juz ?!!! And my previous classmate is a granny of age 60+ has been able to memorize one ain every week (about 3+ pages) and me at that time is still struggling for just half a page every week..Subhanallah...

If I never revise my old Surahs, definitely it will "run" like the camel who has broken free from its master....I MUST FORCE myself...to revise at least 1 juz every day...One time, i heard my ustaz saying that if u have memorize, its best to "wajibkan" makes it compulsory for oneself to MEMORIZE 1 juz/ the appropriate amount which u will not forget to do. If u ever do forget, then "qadha" the juzuk/surahs ASAP... like when u cannot pray/accidentally forget to pray e.g overslept, u have to "pay back" by praying that prayer so is the same as this...

If u forget to do ur "obligatory surahs" which u often revised systematically everyday then make up for it as soon as possible before, it disappears completely...

alahu 'alam..

www.Reciter.org

This has been one of my favourite online Quranic site. Not only u can select which surah and which ayat u want to see , u can hear some famous reciters and also there is a part where u can test yourself. They will erase some parts of the Quran for u to fill in...

Love it! Very good.....Try it!

www.reciter.org

Have not been blogging lately..

Since Ramadhan, I have been busy, busy, busy to update this blog...

Have finished first phase and getting a break to concentrate on previous juzuks that I had memorized. Memorize is easy but to detain it in my hard disk is difficult but one cannot say the word difficult, must always say "EASY" insya-Allah it will be easy...

Yeah just another tip, read ayat Al-Baqarah 164 as a doa before starting to memorize and also there is a solat sunnat "taqwiyatul Hifz" whereby it is done every friday night preferably (after sleeping, in the wee hours of dawn e.g 3am) 2 rakaat X 2(total=4) whereby the surah to read are Yasin,Ad-dukhan, As-Sajdah, Al-Mulk.It's best done for 3 , 5 or 7 fridays. At the end of it, there is a doa, to get the doa, click here.. All these are steps to enhance ur memory in memorizing the Holy Quran. May God help us all...

At Last ....

Alhamdulillah finish a whole page....in 2-3 weeks? YIKES!!
Too many temptations...too many idling, too many entertainment that takes my mind off HIFZ.But glad that this page is done...now the next one, insya-allah..

Subhanallah..

I've been practising my 4 ayats of Al-Baqarah from 135-138 and been reading aloud in my solat. Without me realising it, my son and my hubby can recite to me the ayats without having to look in the Al-Quran. Subhanallah..

My hubby heard me recite in my prayers one time and then he just recite it back to me without knowing anything or where the ayat come from which surah...and my 3 year old son actually finishes up my ayat for me...

My baby hum along with me everytime, I start taawudz..
Subhanallah...

If I have TONS of money...

Hmm...niat to abolish all buta huruf. Meaning to educate all ages on how to read Al-Quran. But basics only. If one have a strong basic of Holy Quran then one can proceed to any mosque or private institution that is "mushrooming" over the years. Sometimes, one can be shy especially as u grow older. But heck the shyness, U ar ethere to learn. Anyway, u will get lots and lots of pahala dunia and akhirat. (both earthly and hereafter rewards)

If I have the money, I will want to create a school like kinda of asrama/hostel where one can stay there and live with a hafiz and learn from him. Preferably from Mecca/Madinah. (No I'm not discriminating) Hehee...but my Ustaz is from there. Anyway its just preference, all hafiz are great especially the devotion, time planning and especially the melodious voice in reciting the Holy Quran from the heart. Witness it at Makkah Al-Mukarramah and U will be Amazed. Syahdu.

Back to my so called DREAMS. My dream is to built separate schools for different sexes. Also have facilities like indoor swimming, basket ball court, socccer pitch for each building. To accomodate the
current modern technology, Hafiz-in training not only must be good in ukhrawi subjects but they can also succeed in the worldy affairs e.g be a doctor, pilot... Also sports such as swimming are good for them. (Isnt there a hadith saying about swimming?) Also they will learn many languages so that they can spread the word of Islam anywhere in the world without having to face the barriers of languages.

But of course this school must be recognised by local government so that they can take the local exams and vie for places in local universitites too..thus have many choices apt for them.

Also courses for all kind of classes for all ages can be held there too kinda modular or short-term program. Even pregnant mum with baby inside them . To learn hifz so that their child will be one too! Maybe a playgroup or preschool too for kids as young as 18months. (cause I see many preschools/playgroup but none is Quranic base)

I wish that I am the richest person on earth and I can have these schools. Anyway if any millionaire or billionaires who have lots of money to spare, u can think about this idea of mine. It will be the first state of the art Hifz centre.

I remember the words from the show a night at the museum by the President "If can be dreamt, it can be done.." Something like that.

Ok so enough about my dreams. Let's focus on current situation. I must start somewhere....Yeah, I must finish my HIFZ!

dunia hanya sementara..

..dunia ini hanya sementara
gelak ketawa hanya seketika
tangisan hiba duka dan lara
itulah erti kata dunia

Akhirat itulah dunia sebenar
tanpa ia tiadalah dunia
dunia ini ujian sementara
tapi manusia selalu terleka

Masa itu emas pepatah kata
tiada siapa pun mengendahkannya
masa muda terbuang saja
dengan keseronokkan dosa

"I'm always struggling to stay afloat
admist all these sins I still am fear
fearful of the LORD, The Almighty
fearful that HE won't like me"

Ya Allah maafkanku
kerana sia2kan hidup ini
tanpa ikut jalan lurus
yang Engkau tetapkan
dari jalan hidup
yang Engkau gariskan
ampunilah diri ini
yang lemah dengan cobaanMu
kasihanilah diri ini
yang tak mampu ku bersihkan
noda2 hitam dosa hati ini...
tolonglah diriku, ya Allah...

Ayat 137 done!

Alhamdulillah, though I'm in a slow start..I get to finish up 3 ayat within a week..

Still a long way to go, but insyaallah can MAKE it!
But when I first started this..a lot of things came into my mind, I worry about many things, anything , any tiny thing...everyting..kinda crashed into my concentration. And so I decided to just leave it to God.Berserah and Bertawakal to Him and I felt @ peace.

Tips..

Attended a Tahfiz seminar recently and I learn some tips..
1) wake up before Subuh
2)Wudhu and solat any sunat prayers
3)Istighfar 3X "AStaghfirullah alazim"
4)Selawat 3X"Allhumma solii ala muhammad..."
5)Read Surah Ikhlas 1X "Qul hu wallahu ahad.."
6)REad surah insyirah 1X "alam nashyrah laka sodraq..."
7)Read surah Al'ala till 6 ayat "Sanuq ri u ka..." repeat 3X and put ur hand @ ur heart.
8)Now then u can start memorizing

Also the DON'ts..
1)Dont eat coriander leaves
2)Dont eat fish head
3)dont drink ANY drink that contains any dead ants
4)Dont read anything while u are at the cemetery. (if u need to read, read outside the cemetery vicinity..if u want to doa /read Quran as a gift to the loved ones, u can read at home..or read thru hafalan/by memory and not look @ the Quran in the cemetery..)

wallahu alam bisowab...

Phase 1-Al Baqarah

Actually I've started this on 3/8/07. Page 21 of the Holy Quran. Ayat 135 of Al- Baqarah. As I'm starting anew, I am slow.. Now is already 8/8/07 and I've just memorized the 2nd ayat:136.

By right I'm supposed to memorized 1 page each day. Maybe I took too much time writing. Because I'm also trying out writing as it is said to strengthen ur hifz. True enough. I can visualise the sentence as I memorize them. But it took longer than expected.

ayat 135-136 of Al-Baqarah.
My target is that by end of this month, I should be able to get the hang of it and follow the true schedule -of 1 page per day.

By doing this blog, I'm also actually revising what I've learned to be shared with others..alhamdulillah.

New method, new beginning.

I'm trying a new method of memorizing.It is said that this is a TuRKISH method.

This method requires u to start by phase.
Phase 1 is to memorize from the last page of every Juzuk. In my case(I'm Using the Mekkah/Madinah Quran)and so it should be every 20th page of every juzuk.

1) Memorize last page of juzuk 1 on day 1
2)Memorize last page of juzuk 2 on day 2
This will continue till the end of the month with me meorizing the last page of the 30th juzuk.and so my phase 1 is complete.

Next phase 2,
I wil memorize the 19th page of juzuk 1, then next day 19th page of juzuk 2...but please link 19th page to 20th page when u are memorizing them.

and so the phase continues till phase 30..

that is what I can share for the time being as I'm a newbie in memorizing..

I've tried starting from the front Juzuk Al-Baqarah but the motivation is low because it seems endless...

And I've tried memorizing from juz 30, 29,28...this is much better because the surah is short and u tend to get motivated by the number of surahs accumulated..

and the turkish method will be one of my last method to try out. Because I hope by memorizing each juzuk regularly, I will be highly motivated to complete the phases and end up completing them around 600 days about 2 years...insya-Allah.

U can DO IT!

I am still pursuing this dream of mine to be Hafizah one day,insya-Allah. I've been to many places learning ways of HIFZ (memorizing the Holy Quran)and I found that this method is the BEST for me, a newbie dummy starting out...

Anyone can learn hifz or be Hafiz. But u need to have basic strong foundation in Tajwid (rules of reading the Holy Quran). And to get these is thru a GOOD teacher that can teach both theoretically and practically. Once that is achieved, u can start memorizing the simpler surahs from Juzuk 30 starting with An-Nas, Al-Falaq and Al-Ikhlas and so on. As u go further and further the surah will lengthen and it will be harder but tell yourself "it's EASY". Because once ur mentality think that it is HARD, then half of the battle is LOST. but if u keep telling yourself it's easy..insya-Allah, u can DO IT!

After juzuk 30, pursue 29,28 and till 25. After that, u can start from Juzuk 1 (the long surah) By then, u already had a good practise and has train your mind well thus will be able to memorize easily.

The main thing is that while memorizing the new, the old surah MUST not be forgotten. And thus a GOOD teacher, friend or anyone that has GREAT knowledge in HIFZ/Quran can be ur HELPING hand, a buddy to your QUEST. It is said a lost memory is like a camel who was tied securely and when it escape, u will have great difficulty chaining/chasing the animal down.

Sometimes,boredom sets in. That is a fact. Mind gets lazy and refuse to memorize anything, then take a break for awhile ,limit the hours of repetition or pamper yourself once in a while. dont force yourself, so HARD that eventually, u turn away from this beautiful QUEST and wave the white FLAG.

Remember only the CHOSEN ones are given this opportunity. If u have the niat then CONGRATULATIONS, u are given the invitation to be one of the important people in the world and hereafter! The bearer of Al-Quran.

Whatever it is, Don't GIVE up! Everyone can memorize , just open your heart and give ur BEST SHOT!Practise, practise and practise is IMPORTANT! My duas is for u,me and the others who are together in this QUEST!

TIP:If u cannot memorize a certain sentence/ayat or u are starting out, read that particular sentence at least 40 times. If it's too long,break it into smaller parts.