Why Do Many Muslims Attach as Much Importance to Memorizing the Quran as to Studying Its Meaning?
Why do many Muslims attach as much importance to memorizing the Quran as to studying its meaning?
According to the teachings of Islam the Quran is Allah’s eternal speech, in terms of its meaning as well as its letter and sound and is the last of the heavenly books revealed by God to the last of His messengers, Muhammad (pbuh). The Holy Quran occupies a pivotal position in Islam since it is also the book that forms basis of the religion of Islam and is its foremost source of knowledge. This is why we Muslims attach so much importance to it and show utmost respect to it. It is the book memorized, recited and studied by millions of Muslims every day.
One of the specific features of the honorable Quran is that it is a Book that can be committed to memory. We Muslims have attached a great significance to memorization of the Quran for several reasons. In Arabic this process is termed hifz Al-Qur’an and the person who memorizes the
Qur’an in its entirety is referred to ashā fiz Al-Qur’an. The tradition of memorizing the Quran goes back to the time of the Prophet (saws). He himself knew Quran by heart and encouraged others to memorize of it as much as possible. One of the essential reasons is that committing Quran to memory is one of the most dependable ways to protect it from any change or deformation. Qur`an is a major source of Islam, be it in case of doctrinal, legal, moral or any other regard. That is why committing its text to memory (hifz) is of vital importance. In addition, the Quran has to be committed to memory, or at least some of its parts, also because of worship. It is well known that every believer is obliged to practice the prescribed daily prayers regularly. In the course of those prayers it is must that something from the Quran be recited by heart. Because of that, it is necessary that every believing man and woman have some smaller or larger parts of the Quran memorized. If we also take into account the fact that, in addition to the five
According to the teachings of Islam the Quran is Allah’s eternal speech, in terms of its meaning as well as its letter and sound and is the last of the heavenly books revealed by God to the last of His messengers, Muhammad (pbuh). The Holy Quran occupies a pivotal position in Islam since it is also the book that forms basis of the religion of Islam and is its foremost source of knowledge. This is why we Muslims attach so much importance to it and show utmost respect to it. It is the book memorized, recited and studied by millions of Muslims every day.
One of the specific features of the honorable Quran is that it is a Book that can be committed to memory. We Muslims have attached a great significance to memorization of the Quran for several reasons. In Arabic this process is termed hifz Al-Qur’an and the person who memorizes the
Qur’an in its entirety is referred to ashā fiz Al-Qur’an. The tradition of memorizing the Quran goes back to the time of the Prophet (saws). He himself knew Quran by heart and encouraged others to memorize of it as much as possible. One of the essential reasons is that committing Quran to memory is one of the most dependable ways to protect it from any change or deformation. Qur`an is a major source of Islam, be it in case of doctrinal, legal, moral or any other regard. That is why committing its text to memory (hifz) is of vital importance. In addition, the Quran has to be committed to memory, or at least some of its parts, also because of worship. It is well known that every believer is obliged to practice the prescribed daily prayers regularly. In the course of those prayers it is must that something from the Quran be recited by heart. Because of that, it is necessary that every believing man and woman have some smaller or larger parts of the Quran memorized. If we also take into account the fact that, in addition to the five