Manual of Quran Memorization Techniques and Strategies

Bismillah, alhamdulillah wa salat wa salam ala Rasulullah

When I began my memorization of the Quran I did extensive research into the techniques used for memorizing. In this post, I have compiled together all the techniques for memorizing Quran that I could find. It’s really amazing to see the diversity of strategies employed throughout the Muslim world.

Of course, it is crucial to memorize with a teacher. You can download it here: Manual of Quranic Memorization or read below. Feel free to share more techniques and strategies in the comments.

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Classical Mauritanian Method:

Day 1

Copy out the page of the Quran that you want to memorize.
Read it until you get a fluent at it and have it memorized a little.
Repeat what you memorized 500 times (yes you read that right). You will occasionally read it while looking at the text. But go easy on yourself and take breaks in between. Use a misbah (rosary beads) to keep track and take breaks between every 100. It will take about 4.5 hours to do this if it is one page of Quran that takes about one minute for once through.

Day 2

Do the exact same as Day 1 for the new material (copy out the text, memorize, repeat 500 times).
Return to Day 1’s material and repeat it 150 times.

Day 3

Do the exact same as Day 1 for the new material (copy out the text, memorize, repeat 500 times).
Return to Day 2’s material and repeat it 150 times.
Return to Day 1’s material and repeat it 50-75 times.

Day 4

Do the exact same as Day 1 for the new material (copy out the text, memorize, repeat 500 times).
Return to Day 3’s material and repeat it 150 times.
Return to Day 2’s material and repeat it 50-75 times.
Return to Day 1’s material and repeat it 10 times.

Day 1: 500 reps
Day 2: 500 reps+150
Day 3: 500 reps+150+75
Day 4: 500 reps+150+75+10
Day 5: Same as Day 4 but read everything together a few times to ensure proper connections are made.

Benefit of this method is that you do not have to review so much. But doing this method means you will hear the verses repeating themselves in your head and even dream of reciting them due to the intensity of it. The merit of this method is it is GUARANTEED in sha Allah!

Alternative Mauritanian Method

Same routine as above but the numbers are changed to reflect the following

Day 1: 50 reps
Day 2: 50 reps+25 reps
Day 3: 50 reps+25 reps+10 reps
Day 4: Same as Day 3 but review it all together for proper connections

This is meant for people who do not have so much time to spend on it. However it should be noted this will still take a great deal of time to do. The problem with this method is that it means one will have to review more often in order to have it stick.

One could make up for this deficiency by implementing the Strategies, that are in the the last section of this book.

Another Mauritanian Method
(via. Shaykh Tawfeeq Chaudry)

Day 1: 100 reps
Day 2: 50 reps
Day 3: 10 reps
Day 4: 5 reps
Day 5: 2 reps

This is all for one section that you are memorizing, you will have to adjust it using the same pattern mentioned in the Classical Mauritanian Method

Singapore Method:

Read until fluent which means at least 10 times
Then recite it 50 times alternating between 5 times looking at the Quran (open book) and not looking at the Quran (closed book)

The Singapore Method has a number of other helpful techniques that are mentioned in the Strategies section of this book.

Circle Method for Review
(African Sub’is)

Get a group of students who have already memorized the part of the Quran
Everyone recites one ayah each
When a person makes 3 mistakes (or however many) they are out of the circle
Repeat until the entire Juz is complete

Strategies

What has been mentioned above are methods that have been proven to be successful in places around the world. The prerequisites for these methods are sincerity, hard work and perseverance.

There are other strategies, tips and tricks that will also help a person in memorizing the Quran. They are important and in a sense, require an awareness of the Book of Allah and the practical points in the believer relating to it. Although you may heard some of these before we’ll go through these carefully to fully appreciate the value of them.

As mentioned earlier having a Quran teacher is important for a number of reasons:
They will correct your mistakes and help you with your weaknesses
They will keep you on track and not allow you to slack off
They will also help with the tajweed and qiraat of the Quran, so that you will not only memorize the ayahs, but how to also recite the ayahs beautifully

Pick a mushaf (Quran text) that you are already comfortable and familiar with. It should have the following:
Easy to read Arabic
Translation of the meaning
Differentiation marks for dividing Ruku, Rub, Nisf, Suls, Juz

Subhana kallhumma wa bihamdika ash-haduna la illaha illa ant astaghfiruka wa atubu ilayk, ameen.