Why Just 1 Verse a Day

“Actions are according to intentions, and everyone will get what was intended…”

• Narrated from the Prophet Muhammad (s.a.w), Bukhari & Muslim

Islamically, actions are judged by their intentions, so the beautiful thing about Islam is that unlike most people, Allah does not look at your end results but rather your intentions and actions! So memorize the Qur’an O’ Muslims for if you start now, with just 1 verse a day and die later on in life or even tomorrow, you’d get the rewards of memorizing the ENTIRE Qur’an!

Now for those who say I just want to be a normal muslim and try to tackle my own sins first, I dont have time, I don’t have proper tajweed, dont understand Arabic, what are the virtues? -well don’t stop reading, there’s an easy trick to help you tackle those and eventually become a Hafiz — (protector of the Qur’an) along with a few practical tips!

Let me try to be a better Muslim first:

First of all, the Qur’an was revealed to all of mankind, not just for the sheikhs/students of knowledge but for us laymen as well. So us saying I need to focus on being a better muslim without knowing the Qur’an is an oxymoron/antithesis because the Qur’an was also sent as a form of healing, containing beautiful descriptions of past struggles of peoples and how they actually overcame those struggles, beautiful commands that can guide us in our daily lives to help us stop committing these sins.

For instance, imagine being addicted to the sin of pornography (or any other sin) and then just before you engage in the act, this beautiful verse comes to your head?

Qur’an: Al-Baqarah 2:45–46

وَٱسْتَعِينُوا۟ بِٱلصَّبْرِ وَٱلصَّلَوٰةِۚ وَإِنَّهَا لَكَبِيرَةٌ إِلَّا عَلَى ٱلْخَٰشِعِينَ

And seek help through patience and prayer, and indeed, it is difficult except for the humbly submissive [to Allah ]

ٱلَّذِينَ يَظُنُّونَ أَنَّهُم مُّلَٰقُوا۟ رَبِّهِمْ وَأَنَّهُمْ إِلَيْهِ رَٰجِعُونَ

Who are certain that they will meet their Lord and that they will return to Him.

And then whenever you’re outside, the verse “Tell the believing men to lower their gaze… That is purer for them…” (Surah An-Nur, 30) guides you to not look at any women throughout the day which in turn, makes it easy for you to stop pornography as you wouldnt be thinking about any women later on when you’re alone.

Or when your parents annoy you sometimes, the verse “and be dutiful and good to parents” (Surah Al-Baqaraah, 83) comes to your mind and you stop yourself from speaking loudly.

Or even when you see the oppressed Muslims being prevented from entering their masjids and from worshipping Allah just as past Muslims were? Imagine this following verse coming to your head whereby Allah speaks about how unjust the oppressors are and ends with this:

Qur’an: Al-Baqarah 2:115

وَلِلَّهِ ٱلْمَشْرِقُ وَٱلْمَغْرِبُۚ فَأَيْنَمَا تُوَلُّوا۟ فَثَمَّ وَجْهُ ٱللَّهِۚ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ وَٰسِعٌ عَلِيمٌ

And to Allah belongs the east and the west. So wherever you [might] turn, there is the Face of Allah. Indeed, Allah is all-Encompassing and Knowing.

-motivating you, comforting you and strengthening you with the certainty that the oppressors can never forcefully take our imaan away from us no matter what.

Or even when times are rough, you’re anxious, you’re stressed out about something -questioning if you will attain that thing you really want in life, or if you don’t know how you’re going to achieve or do something later on in life and then the beautiful verses “Say, “It is He who has produced you and made for you hearing and vision and hearts; little are you grateful.”” (Al-Mulk 67:23) and “And [remember] when your Lord proclaimed, ‘If you are grateful, I will surely increase you [in favor]…” (Qur’an 14:7) come to your mind, making you feel at ease, certain with the fact that Allah will grant us more if we are grateful to Him, so there’s no need to worry about that -or even the verses of how if Allah decrees something, no matter what, it will come to you so don’t stress.

One easy way to gain the rewards of being a hafiz by the will of Allah is to:

• First make the intention to memorize the entire Qur’an and then start off small.
• So once the intention has been made, in our busy lives, proceed to memorize just 1 verse a day, consistently.
• And DO NOT think and be overwhelmed by the numerous verses and how long the journey’s going to take because eventually you’ll get there!

Salahuddin Ayub may have united the Muslims, established a new Empire, successfully fought the crusaders and much more!

He might have had a vision to revive Islam from a young age but he too started of small, step by step, until he gradually came at a position of power! He did not overwhelm himself and give up on his dream/long-term goal in life as he understood and realised that good things in life require patience, consistent effort and most importantly, time.

I don’t have time:

Time… ever wondered why Allah, the All-Mighty and All-Powerful who just has to say “be” and it is took 6 days to create the heavens and the Earth when He could’ve done it in less than an instant?

Well scholars say that one of the wisdoms behind it is to show mankind that things of beauty in this world, unlike in Paradise, require time that inevitably teaches us patience! -Showcasing that nothing good that we intend to do happens instantly without an intention/vision and then small chunks of time being spent upon it consistently.

-Whether it be our efforts in raising righteous kids for the Ummah, or spending time on our studies to attain the end-result of good grades, or gradually working hard in our careers to eventually reach a position of power and then open a business to benefit the Ummah, or even the time and patience required to maintain and increase the love and bonding in a relationship and much more! -So the most beautiful things in life require time!

“But fam, I don’t have time.” -say no more. Just start off with memorizing ONLY 1 verse per day.

Thing is, we all say “we don’t have time” but successful people make time because they realise that in reality, time is abundant in our daily lives.

You yourself as well as me know this very well, we tend to waste time literally by:

• Just sitting on our desk and doing nothing instead of studying (10mins)
• Scrolling endlessly through our feed on Instagram/FB (20–30mins-1hr), etc.

There’s just no control or that sense of liberation from this dunya. We have too many mood-swings throughout the day, being unproductive and all that, there’s just no blessing in our time today! Whereas successful people, i.e Prophet Muhammad (s.a.w) had accomplished so much in just 22 years of prophethood! Completely revolutionizing Arabia, not just physically, but also the stubborn hearts of the peoples -part of the reason we waste time is because we dont have a long-term goal/vision in life which I’ll speak about in another blog-post😉.

So, memorize 1 verse after Fajr, or before you sleep, or on your way to work/uni in the train, or even when driving play that particular verse on repeat in your car!

Thus eventually, day-by-day, step-by-step, you’ll get there! Perhaps even team up with a friend of yours or anyone from the msa?

Think about it, you’re at uni right now and by the time you finish your degree, let’s say you have 3 or 4 years or however much left -if you memorized JUST 1 verse daily, in:

• 1st 4–5 weeks of a UNSW Term, you’d memorize all of Surah Mulk (where if a person recites it before sleeping everyday, he is protected from the fitnah/punishment of the grave).
• Less than 1 Year, you’d memorize all of Surah Baqarah (that’s said to be a good summary of the entire Qur’an and one of the two surah’s that’d argue on your behalf on the Day of Judgement!)
• 4 Years, you’d memorize soooo many beautiful Surahs with beautiful descriptions about life, psychology of peoples, gratefulness, commands, beautiful stories of our past Prophets and how they overcame their struggles and SO MUCH MORE!

Fam, I don’t understand Arabic and don’t know tajweed so no point in memorizing The Qur’an first:

That’s more of the reason why you do just 1 verse daily!

Tajweed: So if you don’t know tajweed, you can install a Qur’an app on your phone (Al Quran) that consists of color coded arabic that tells you when to stretch a letter or when to do a ghunna for 2 counts so you don’t have to worry about it -memorize with the tajweed. Or you can also click play on a verse to see how the reciter recites it and thus imitate it.

Arabic: If you don’t understand the arabic -well once you memorize a verse, read the translation under it so that every time you read that verse in your prayers, the translation as well as the arabic verse eventually gets stuck in your head and that’s it! -You now know the memorized verse with its tajweed and the translation as well.

So again, everytime you read a verse in your prayers, you now know what it means.

Practical Tips:

• Learning to Live the Surah: Choose any surah, small or big that speaks to you, a surah you’d enjoy memorizing and slowly unravelling its deep meanings the more you recite it.
• Listen to short talks about the surah by Omar Suleiman or Nouman Ali Khan (or anyone else) on YouTube in order to learn its meaning/circumstance of revelation/uniqueness that showcases its relevance in our daily lives!
• Can even download the app “Al Quran” that contains the Quran and the tafsir by Ibn Katheer on each verse -allowing you to literally live the Quran and see that verse all around you.
• Team Up: Team up with your best friend or anyone you’re comfortable with (can be a family member as well) where you’d memorize 1 verse everyday and then send it to the other person over a WhatsApp voice recording of your recitation as proof whilst the other person would perhaps do the same or atleast send a voice recording of their recitation of the Qur’an daily.

-keeping both of you in account, reminding each other about the Quran and eventually In Shaa Allah, being shaded under the Throne of Allah on the Day of Judgment.

• Allocate a time: Personally, I’ve allocated a few minutes after Fajr to dedicate myself to the Qur’an because it’s the time where I and even most of us are undoubtedly free at and a time where our minds are fresh.
• Consistency: Now if you’re going to be memorizing a new verse daily, it’s important we dont forget it easily. So recite that same memorized verse in your 5 daily prayers.

So if you’ve memorized 7 verses throughout the week, recite those 7 verses together during your Maghrib Salah for instance.

This will literally make it sooo easy for you to ensure those verses are stuck in your head bi iznillah!

Virtues of memorizing the Qur’an:

Whoever memorizes Qur’an and acts upon it, Allah will reward them and honour them greatly for that, so that they will rise in status in Paradise to a level corresponding with what they memorized of the Book of Allah.

‘Abd-Allaah ibn ‘Amr narrated that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said:

“It will be said to the companion (memorizer) of the Qur’an:

Recite and rise in status, recite as you used to recite in the world, for your status will be at the last verse that you recite.”

[Al-Tirmidhi (2914) and Abu Dawood (1464) narrated from]

‘Aa’ishah narrated that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said:

“The likeness of the one who reads Qur’an and memorizes it is that he is with the righteous honourable scribes. The likeness of the one who reads it and tries hard to memorize it even though it is difficult for him, he will have two rewards.”

[Al-Bukhaari, 4937]

Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said:

“Fasting and the Qur’an will intercede for a person on the Day of Resurrection… The Qur’an will say, ‘O Lord I deprived him of his sleep at night, so let me intercede for him.’ Then they will both intercede for him.”

[Narrated by Ahmad, Al-Tabaraani and Al-Haakim; classed as saheeh by Al-Albaani in Saheeh al-Jaami’, no. 3882]

By Junaid Ahmed