Fatima Barkatulla – Hifz Journey, Sacrifice, Revision & Routines

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The founder and CEO of hesitant to speak to each other discuss their journey and struggles with memorizing the Q Guinea Surahs and their desire to move back to their original country. They emphasize the importance of balance and a flow in learning, as well as the need for a platform for women to practice recitation and a platform for female students to practice recitation online to improve confidence and memorization. The speakers emphasize the importance of learning and making an impact for parents, particularly in setting up classes for events, and for parents to practice and instill a love for their children.
AI: Summary ©
Bismillah, alhamdulillah, wassalatu wassalam ala rasoolillah, dear brothers
and sisters, assalamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh.
Welcome to this special session with Sheikh Shabbir
Hassan.
I was just thinking, Ustadh Shabbir, that this
is like ilmfeed meets ilmfeed, like this is
our first, I think it's the first time
we've ever spoken to each other on screen.
Yes, that's true, inshallah.
Alhamdulillah, brothers and sisters, I already told you
a little bit about Sheikh Shabbir.
He is one of the, you know, hosts
of the ilmfeed podcast.
We know each other actually from, I think
we were both in the Alimiyyah program at
Ibrahim College, and we both graduated from that.
And I know that he is the CEO
and founder of Nikah Co.
And is there anything else I've missed out?
No, yeah, just teaching and authored, like yourself,
Ustadhah, a book on Surah Yusuf, so alhamdulillah.
Yeah, mashaAllah, I've got a copy of your
book.
Can you share with everyone the name of
the book so that they can...
Yeah, the title of the book is A
Beautiful Patience, so it's taken from the phrase
in Surah Yusuf, and it's basically 40 life
lessons from Surah Yusuf.
That's the concept of the book.
MashaAllah.
And of course, you are a hafidh of
Qur'an, mashaAllah.
Sheikh Shabbir, just to let you know, our
parents, they're all parents who are aspiring to
raise hufadh.
Either they have begun the journey already, or
they're in the middle of the journey, or
some of them actually, they're expecting a baby,
or, you know, they're like really thinking ahead
and trying to prepare, because they have this
desire and wish and intention, mashaAllah.
So, I was really hoping that in this
session, you could share with us, first of
all, a little bit about your hafidh journey,
and then some of the, perhaps, the techniques
that...
So, in the last week, for example, we
went through the discipline, the process of doing
hifth, right?
And I shared some, like, routines that people
could have for a typical day, whether they're
doing hifth in a hifth class, like after
school, or if they're doing it, you know,
at home with a tutor or online.
But it's always nice to hear from somebody
who's actually done it, you know, what was
a typical routine for you, for example, and
some techniques.
And then, if you could share with us,
please, you know, after that hifth journey has
ended, or at least once you've graduated from
memorizing the Qur'an, what does maintaining the
hifth look like?
JazakAllah khair.
Bismillah ar-Rahman ar-Rahim.
Alhamdulillahi rabbil alameen.
Wa salatu wa salamu ala Rasooli l-Kareem
wa ala Ali Musa fi jama'een.
Once again, As-salamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa
barakatuh, everyone, and jazakAllah khair for joining.
It's really nice to know that we have,
you know, parents, especially, tuning into sessions like
this, and looking ahead, or planning ahead for
their children.
Usually, the kind of hifth resources out there
are for those who are actually looking to
memorize the Qur'an themselves.
But as parents, we play a huge role.
Alhamdulillah, I myself have a daughter.
In fact, she's turning three tomorrow, insha'Allah.
So keep her in your du'as.
So it's nice to have sessions like this
where parents can, insha'Allah, look ahead.
So for me personally, my hif journey, it
actually came to an end, I mean, officially
memorising Qur'an, about 16 years ago now.
So I did it when I was fairly
young.
I started in my very early teens, in
terms of officially and formally memorising Qur'an.
My journey began a little bit earlier than
that, in fact, in terms of learning Qur
'an and having the motivation and the zeal
to memorise the Qur'an.
Started from a young age.
I think mainly the influence came from just
listening to a lot of reciters, wanting to
memorise the Qur'an, wanting to recite like
them.
So I would listen to a lot of,
you know, back then, just going back maybe
two decades, this was in the Haram, you
really only knew two reciters.
That was either Sheikh Abdulrahman Al-Sudeis or
Sheikh Al-Shuraim.
And those are your two classical reciters, the
voices of the Haram back then.
And just listening to lots of reciters and
wanting to memorise the Qur'an.
So alhamdulillah, for me personally, although, as I
mentioned very shortly, my parents had a huge,
huge role, but the actual initial desire to
memorise the Qur'an, that actually came from
me.
So it wasn't that my parents pushed me
or anyone asked me or, you know, or
brought it up to me.
It actually came as a huge shock to
my parents.
And I'll tell you why, because just to
give a bit of background, so I grew
up in a town or a city called
Exeter.
That's in Devon, so southwest of England, quite
far, especially if you're from the major cities
like London and Birmingham and so on.
So further down south, this is, you know,
a 99 point something percent, you know, white
population, non-Muslims.
I mean, I was like the only, you
know, Muslim in school, as they say, you
know, only, only, you know, brown face in
school and, you know, very few Muslims at
the time, very few Muslims.
The masjid that we had at the time,
like many small towns, just like a small
house, if that, and, you know, very small,
tight-knit community.
So that was my kind of upbringing.
So, you know, being brought up in a
fairly remote part of the country, having, alhamdulillah,
still had access to a masjid, small Muslim
community, but very different to what perhaps, you
know, those in major cities are accustomed to
growing up in.
So that was my kind of thing.
So now at the time, you know, things
have changed now, but at the time when
I was growing up, this is going back,
you know, like I said, more than two
decades ago, you know, there wasn't, I mean,
the masjid offered the daily prayers.
There were some basic classes, you know, of
course, just learning the Arabic alphabet and some
basic Islamic studies.
But definitely in terms of like hiv and
things like that, there were no facilities for
these kinds of things.
So for me, the only option was to
move to a different city within the UK.
And it just so happened that we knew
a few people based in Leicester in the
Midlands.
And my father then made the decision because,
I mean, I wasn't the kind of kid
who was happy to go to a boarding
school.
So that was option A, go to a
boarding school.
For me, I wasn't happy to do that.
I mean, I was, you know, probably 10,
11 at the time.
I didn't want to go to a boarding
school.
I couldn't leave my family behind.
So initially what I did was I moved
to London for like a year and a
bit with my khala, so with my aunt.
And I just studied in London whilst living
with her.
But then again, I got homesick, went back
to Exeter.
And then my parents made the decision, my
father, like to leave everything behind and to
literally move, relocate from Exeter to Leicester, which
is, I mean, it's a huge move because
my parents had been there for many years
by this point.
My dad's got his work and everything, business,
everything there.
So he actually left everything behind, moved to
Leicester, brand new territory for us.
We had no relatives there.
We just had a few family friends.
That was it in Leicester.
And literally had to get a new home,
like rent a home, get a new job,
get a new everything, just restart life once
again, just because of my desire to memorize
the Quran.
So I'll never forget the sacrifice, especially my
father made, you know, for me just to
go there.
So now I'm like in my, as I
said, I'm probably like 12 years old now,
13 years old.
You know, I'm in secondary school.
So I enrolled in an Islamic school during
the day.
And then in the evenings, I'm now going
to madrasa.
So it's a fairly busy schedule.
So it's all day there.
And then in the evenings, I'm at madrasa
for at least, let's say three hours or
so.
That's the kind of normal schedule for us,
right?
Two and a half, three hours is minimum
that you're there in the evenings.
And that's where officially, like I said, formally
my journey, it began at a young age
and I completed my jurisdiction within about just
over three years.
So Alhamdulillah, by the time I finished my,
or was coming to the end of my
GCSEs, I was about 15 years old then.
That's when I finished my jurisdiction.
And once I finished and I stayed after
a few months and did my revision and
things, then my family made the decision to
move back again to Exeter.
So that's when they moved and everything after
that was all on me.
So then even when we did Alimiyah and
we went to Ibrahim College, like, you know,
again, that feels like, you know, a long,
long time ago now.
But that was, again, that was me having
to move, again, away from family, made a
solo move to London to study and I
lived in London for seven, eight years.
So there's a lot of moving back and
forth, Alhamdulillah.
But I guess the blessing of the UK
is that, you know, you have the option
to do that.
I mean, it's not a huge move.
Like in America, if you're going from state
to state, for us, you know, it's a
long journey, but three and a half hours,
four hours, you know, it's really not, it's
not too bad when you think of it,
you know, because in the UK we have
these options.
So Alhamdulillah, that's essentially what we did.
I spent those years in Leicester.
So I was young.
I had the advantage of being young, you
know, being in school, less kind of things
going on for me.
So as they say, the younger you are,
you know, the easier it is to memorize.
And it's so true.
Like, you know, if I was to try
to memorize now, although it's not impossible, and
I always tell the story of how, you
know, it was almost like an anomaly that
in our class of students who are all
similar age, you know, in our early teens,
we had one, you know, uncle we used
to call him.
Uncle, I think his name was Abdul Rashid.
And he used to come to the class
as well.
His own children used to come to the
madrasa.
It just shows you, right.
But he had a desire to become a
hafidh as well.
So although he started many years before us,
like maybe two, three years before us, he
didn't finish until maybe two, three years after
us.
It took him a lot longer, more than
double the time.
But every day he would be there without
fail.
He'd come late because of work and things.
He would come at least an hour late,
but he was there every single day.
I remember he showed up every single day.
And that's like an inspiration for parents or
those who think that, oh, well, I'm older.
So I can't do it.
And just off that, I always give the
example of the, you know, the sahaba.
Most of them weren't very young when the
Qur'an was actually revealed.
I mean, the Prophet himself was 40 when
the Qur'an first started to be revealed.
And then the majority of it, like the
Madani surahs were like in Medina, which is
like almost 13, 14 years later.
So, you know, these companions, I mean, they
were like in their 40s, 50s, 60s trying
to memorize the Qur'an.
So it's not impossible.
It's not impossible.
You know, and we have examples of this
today of people who are memorizing.
So anyway, that's just me giving a little
bit of my background in terms of where
it began for me.
Can I just ask you something quickly?
Because you just said, I mean, three years.
That's actually not very long.
Like compared to like, say, my sons, actually,
they took a lot longer and they started,
one of them started when he was like
eight or nine.
OK.
And he finished just before his GCSEs.
And the other started a bit later and
then he took a break at GCSE and
continued later.
So I just want to ask you, like,
what do you think the reason for that
was?
Like, that was quite, that's quite rapid.
Like, what had you done before you started?
So before I had started, I had been
to like madrasa and I had memorized some
like surahs, like, you know, like the surahs
Yasin and the surah Mulk.
Like I started with that.
And I believe, oh yeah, yeah, interesting story.
So I unofficially had memorized Juz 30 and
Juz 29, just from listening to the recitation
of it.
Again, this was like maybe when I was
10, 11 years old.
I just used to listen like almost every
single day, just used to be playing in
the background.
And I just memorized those two Juz.
So I had some exposure.
I wasn't like straight into it.
But I mean, back then, I mean, what
I used to be told was the average
was about three years.
So that's kind of what you're aiming for.
When you're being told that, that's what the
average, you're kind of aiming for.
And I think it comes down to the
level of commitment.
So I don't know about like your sons
Ustada, but like for us, like I said,
I mean, it was minimum three hours every
evening, including some Saturdays.
Like I remember like a lot of Saturdays
we used to go in.
So it was fairly intense.
It was fairly intense.
But having said that, I mean, we did
pick up quite a lot.
Like as we progressed, you know, that one
page a day would, you know, gradually become
two pages.
I just became the norm every single day,
two pages, sometimes even more.
So, yeah, I don't know.
Maybe it's because of level of commitment.
I don't know if, I don't know if
that's what it comes down to or not.
Insha'Allah, that's excellent.
Yeah, so, yeah, if you could tell us
about your, I mean, that was very inspiring,
you know, that your parents were actually willing
to physically move.
And I think that's very, there's a message
in that for parents, you know, especially our
parents who are listening and watching that if
you really want something, you know, you might
have to actually get out of your comfort
zone.
You have to show Allah that you really
want it.
And sometimes you might have to either move
house or travel, you know, whatever, whatever it
might take, right?
Absolutely.
Yeah, absolutely.
So yeah, a hundred percent.
So I think Alhamdulillah now, even in Exeter,
we have Hif classes, like we have a
purpose built Masjid.
So I think in the last 20 years,
things have changed where now in almost every
city in the UK, you have a Masjid,
you have Hif and things like that.
And you have online options now and so
on.
So there's a lot more, Alhamdulillah.
But yeah, in terms of the Hif journey
and in terms of what kind of helped
me, I think number one, being in a
madrasa, being surrounded by others who are doing
it.
I always say that environment is a huge
factor when it comes to memorization.
It's a motivating factor, especially when you're younger.
I mean, kids, you know, just love the
competition, just love, you know, they thrive off
this kind of competitive environment.
So for me, that's what it's all about,
having these friends around me who are also
memorizing and we're competing with each other and
we're trying to outdo each other.
We're trying to memorize more than one another.
And that was huge.
I mean, I know, I personally know, I
have friends and students now who are trying
to memorize and maybe they're a little bit,
you could say, older.
Maybe they're in their twenties, maybe they're in
university, maybe they're later than that.
But they honestly are, you could say, struggling
in the sense that they're just trying to
do it themselves.
You know, they're just like, they have a
tutor, maybe they're doing it online and they're
literally just, you know, memorizing themselves and doing
a bit day by day.
But they're struggling because they don't have an
environment.
It's very, very difficult.
So being in that environment and being in
a city like Leicester, especially where we were
living, I mean, mashallah, if you've been, you
know, it's surrounded by masjids and madrasas.
Everywhere you look is Muslims.
It's like Whitechapel in London or something.
You've just got Muslims everywhere.
That helps, honestly.
It really, really helps.
So being in an environment, I think number
one is, for your kids in an environment,
even if it's not the area itself, but
it's putting them in a madrasa, making sure
they have a teacher, other students, you know,
being around other aspiring hufadh.
I think this is a huge thing because
they really, really would, would want to compete
with the others.
So that's number one.
That really personally helped me.
I think the second thing that helped me
was my routine.
And again, it was, you know, this was
partly me anyway, wanting to do this, but
also my parents really, you know, they really,
you could say made sure that I stuck
to it.
So for example, on, you know, weekdays, firstly,
I would rarely get time myself to do
much in terms of like, we had a
TV.
We had, I had a games console, but
for example, my dad implemented, I could only
play on the weekend.
I only had a set time on weekends.
And to be honest, in between I didn't
have much time either.
I mean, watching TV and things, things of
that nature, I couldn't do anyway because I'd
be at school all day, come back, you
know, there's a small gap in between.
I'm like eating and trying to get ready
for madrasa.
Maybe I might see something, but that's it.
Come back.
It's too late anyway.
You need to start getting ready for bed.
So that was a good thing.
I mean, which is a challenge that I
know parents are going to look at that
now and be like, well, it's completely different
now because back then there wasn't the social
media and there wasn't the technology that we
have now on the phones and so on.
But I think that helped me a lot.
Like not having that screen time, not being
exposed to the TV and stuff.
My parents were balanced in the sense that
they let me play games, they let me
watch some TV, but it was very set.
Like it wasn't just whenever I wanted to.
It wasn't just whatever I wanted to watch.
There were set times, like I said, some
weekends.
So that helps as well.
I think that's a big thing.
So yeah, having a balance with that and
in terms of, yeah, as I was saying,
the routine, right?
So my routine was the following, you know,
the time you memorize anyway is, as you
know, is the most important thing.
The time that you allocate for memorization is
super important.
So the time that I allocated and that
I encourage anyone to, it has to be
the morning time for various reasons.
One of them being the spiritual Islamic reasoning,
which is the barakah aspect.
There's more barakah in the mornings as per
the dua of the Prophet.
Also, just, you know, in terms of practically
speaking, it is the best time.
Your mind is fresh.
You know, there's less going on.
It's quieter.
So what I would do is every evening,
this was like, you know, as I'm coming
to the end of my time at madrasa,
so I've done my reading, I've read to
my ustaz.
Now what I'd start doing already that evening,
that same evening, is I'm looking ahead at
tomorrow's, tomorrow's portion that I'm going to memorize.
And all I would do, I wouldn't try
to memorize it.
I would just look over it.
So if it's a page, as an example,
I just look over that page.
I just read it again and again.
That's it.
And then what I would do...
Do you do that in bed or like
before bed?
Before bed.
Yeah, so sometimes it would be in madrasa.
If I finished like my bit early, I've
got time now.
You can't leave early, so I'm just still
reading tomorrow's stuff.
Or if that wasn't the case, I'd come
home before bed and I'd just read over
again and again.
So I personally don't like the method of
reading one ayah and then just repeating the
ayah again and again and again and then
moving on to the next ayah.
Because for me, that disrupts the flow.
Because obviously, when you're memorizing, there has to
be a flow.
You need to go on to the next
verse, next verse.
So when I'm reading beginning to end, there's
a flow.
So that's how I memorize.
So I just read beginning to end, beginning
to end, that portion.
But I wouldn't, at any point that evening,
I would never just look away and try
to memorize it because I know my brain
is gone.
It's the end of the day.
I'm exhausted.
Just reading, that's it.
Now, when I wake up the next morning,
and without fail, I'd be up the next
morning early before going to school and things,
that's my memorization time.
And I promise you, and obviously, again, this
is the advantage of being at the young
age I was, literally within 15 minutes, 20
minutes, I'm done.
Because not just because of the morning time
and because of my age, and those are
great advantages, but it was the routine that
I had of the night before, my mind,
my brain has already absorbed.
It's already familiar with the verses.
It hasn't fully memorized, but it's familiar.
These are kind of, you know, the length
of the verses, if there's a, you know,
if there's a flow and things.
So the next morning, all I have to
do is just, I'm just looking away and
trying to memorize it.
And it happened very, very quickly.
But that required me having to wake up
earlier before school and doing that.
And the rest of the day, I'm chilling
in the sense that I'm not stressed about,
while I'm at school, I need to memorize
my portion.
And that's what a lot of people do.
And then the stress doesn't help with memorization.
So I'm done.
Now I come back from school.
I go to Madarassa and I know my
part.
I've got it there because I did it
in the morning.
So, and obviously, you know, I'm not saying
that I was always super disciplined.
Obviously, your parents also keep you, have to
keep you, make sure that you're on track.
You're up in the morning.
You have memorized it.
Even I remember, by the way, till this
day.
So I don't know how, if Madarassa's do
this today, but we used to have like
a diary and every day it says on
the diary, okay, if you've read your portion,
was it good to be rated fair, good,
or like very good or something like that,
depending on how you did it.
So there's a diary every day.
And my dad, every single day would check
it like every day.
And he'd be like, so why was it
just good today for?
Why was it?
Why was it fair?
You know, and, and he'd question me all
the time.
So that kind of like, there's that accountability
there.
Like, I don't want to disappoint dad.
I mean, I don't want to disappoint myself.
Like I was competitive, so I wanted to
do it.
But then it was like, oh my God,
I'm going to be questioned.
He's going to put me under pressure and
things.
So having the, having my parents in the
background, whether it's with my routine, whether it's
checking up my progress and he would, whenever
he'd get an opportunity, speak to my old
stuff and find out how I'm doing.
I think especially for my dad, because of
the sacrifice he made, moving cities and things,
like for him, it was a big thing.
Like I've, I've made this move.
You need to make sure you do this.
You came of your own accord.
You wanted to do this.
So you need to like ace this, right?
So I think that was a, maybe, maybe
because I didn't want to, maybe, I think
it also comes down to, you know, like
when you don't have the opportunities, like how
I didn't have the opportunity where I grew
up in my hometown.
I think you appreciate it more when you
don't have the opportunity.
So when you get it, like you do
want to make sure that you make the
most out of it.
So having the presence of the parents there,
obviously you don't want to put too much
pressure on the child.
So like if there's too much pressure, if
you're like every day looking over them, you're
not giving them, you know, just the freedom
because you want to make sure that they
want to do it for themselves.
So you don't want to put so much
pressure that it only becomes about the parents.
Like, I think there was enough pressure on
me, but not too much that it was
like, I don't want to do this anymore.
You know, this is not something I want
to do.
It's just something I'm doing for the sake
of my parents.
And I remember having a colleague there, you
know, young boy younger than me, who literally,
I mean, he used to say quite bluntly
that I'm only here because my dad wants
me to be here.
And every day he'd just be upset.
So you don't want your kids to be
in that position.
You just want to make sure that there's
enough, your presence is there.
There's a bit of pressure there, but at
the same time, you need to let them
do their thing.
You know, even if a few days go
by where the progress isn't great, you have
to look at long-term, long-term.
So not just like, oh, today wasn't great.
I mean, it must mean the whole thing
is falling into, you know, everything's crashing and
coming, coming apart.
No, no, it's fine.
Let them have their bad days, the off
days.
It's okay.
Just make sure that, that doesn't become a
consistent thing.
What are your reflections on the end of
your HIF?
Like, I know some people say the end
of the HIF is the beginning, you know,
in some way, but the time when you
were graduating, for example, if you could share,
like, what was that like?
Did, did anything change in the way you
were doing HIF, et cetera?
Yeah.
So, firstly, I just want to say, by
the way, that alhamdulillah, like, till this day,
even though I finished my HIF, like I
said, about 16 or so years ago, till
this day, I still look back at it,
especially my time while I was doing HIF.
It was actually the most enjoyable days of
my life.
Honestly, like, I look back at it, and
I really miss those days.
And even in terms of achievements, like I
would put HIF up there, even, even before
Alimiyah, and all of these things, like, HIF,
I just felt like it was such an
amazing blessing, like, to be able to memorize
Quran.
And by the way, when I, when I
went into Alimiyah, like at the time, I
remember it was only me and one other
brother, from the brothers anyway, who were hafidh
of Quran.
And I automatically, by the way, saw when
we started studying Arabic and things, like, we
had an edge over other students, because, you
know, you've just, you've got the ayat there.
So when you're studying Arabic, it's like, oh,
I can, this word is already in the
Quran.
I can create links straight away.
So there is a huge advantage with, with
HIF before Alimiyah and things, which is a
separate thing.
But, so looking back, honestly, I have very
fond memories.
I, I loved every moment of it, Alhamdulillah.
I think that's a huge blessing, for kids
to actually enjoy, make it enjoyable for them,
make, you know, it should be an enjoyable
process.
Especially when they've got school and other things,
happening at the same time.
But yeah, when I came to the end
of it, so what I always say is,
you know, the kind of, the, the year
or two that follow, your graduation or your
completion of HIF, are the most essential.
So, if you kind of slack off in
this following year, after HIF, then I found,
that, the retention rate is very, very low,
and people really struggle, the Hufadh really struggle.
It's literally like, you know, it's just about,
they're holding on to it, their HIF.
But, the year or two that follow, if
you, continue, so for example, after I finished
my HIF, I still had a few months
before we, left, before we left and returned
to Exeter.
So, I was still going to madrasa every
single day, doing one juz a day, or
something like that, you know, reading back to
my teacher.
And even when I moved back to Exeter,
there were, there were teachers that I had,
that every, every day, or every other day,
I would read to them.
And, obviously I started, the other thing was,
Taraweeh.
So, in Ramadan, which was again, a dream
of mine.
I always wanted to lead Taraweeh, when I
was younger.
So, I had the opportunity straight away, because
in, in my local masjid, we didn't have,
homegrown Hufadh.
We had to get Hufadh, from other cities.
So, I was actually like the first, in
my whole like, city or area.
So, I had a, I had an open
door for me.
Yeah.
Bismillah.
Even though you're 15, whatever, 16, you start
leading.
So, I was fresh.
Did your dad, or someone put you forward
for that?
Yeah.
I mean, he put me forward.
He's very heavily involved with the masjid.
But I think, No, I think that's great,
because it shows that, sometimes as parents, we
do have to, you know, like, seek out
those opportunities, and those types of things.
Yeah, yeah.
So, yeah, I mean, he found the teachers
for me.
Obviously, when you're that young, I didn't know
who to, who to read to.
So, he found those teachers for me.
There's only a few people in Exeter, that
I could have read to.
He found those people for me.
He, he made sure that I got the
opportunity, to lead, Tarawih.
And, yeah.
So, so, Tarawih, obviously, is a different topic,
but I do want to just emphasize that,
when you're of age, as a boy, especially,
you have the opportunity to lead Tarawih.
That is, for any Hafidh, you ask, that
has led Tarawih, it's like, the best time,
best opportunity for revision, not only for yourself.
Because, you could do Tarawih, but, you could
only, maybe just do like, two Rakat, four
Rakat, that's it, out of 20.
Because, you know, you might be in a
city, where there's loads of others.
That's okay.
But, you know, like, for example, like myself,
like, we only had one other Imam.
So, I had to do, minimum 10 Rakat.
And then, the other 10, you have to
like, know, right?
Because, you're one of the only few, who
could correct.
So, from a young age, I was used
to leading 10.
And other Hufadh, I remember hearing that, they
were like, whoa, how are you doing 10?
Like, we're used to doing four.
I was used to, I was like, what
really?
10?
I'm just happy, I'm not doing the whole
20.
You know, like, 10 is okay for me.
you're preparing for that, right?
Oh, yeah.
It's like preparing for a performance, in a
way, right?
Like, any performance, you, it's a different level
of preparation, than if you're just, it's just
natural for it to be, you know, high
pressure and, yeah.
And if you're talking 10 Rakat, you're basically,
we're talking half a Juz minimum, right?
It's basically half a Juz, which, that's a
lot of Quran, to prepare, to, I use
the word, I use it lightly, but to
perfection, almost like, you've got to know, starting,
stopping, and like, this is in Salah, it's
a lot of pressure.
So I took, yeah, I took that preparation
very, very seriously.
So Ramadan was like, huge pressure, but it
was good pressure.
And that revision was, was amazing.
So yeah, Salah is something, separate thing, but
I think every Hafidh, needs to get that
experience.
But, coming back to the, coming back to
like, the, the post, you know, completion of,
of Hif, yeah.
So because that was solid, the year or
two that followed, it was solid.
I was reading every day, I was revising,
I was reading to a teacher.
Alhamdulillah, in the years, you know, ahead, it
was really like, my life was a lot
easier.
So even if I, you know, quote unquote,
slapped off a little bit, like it wasn't
the end of the world, like I could
easily go back again, and just continue.
Or if I read a little bit less,
than I should be, it was easy.
And then Ramadan would come around, it's like
fresh again, and so on.
But, yeah, like I said, there's, there's a
lot of friends of mine, who didn't take
those following years, subsequent years, seriously enough.
And then they really struggled.
And they, and some of them had to
like, literally restart, again, you know.
So yeah, I would just say, don't, like
when it comes to an end, great, it's
a huge accomplishment, huge achievement.
But, please don't get overexcited, even with your
kids, for parents even, and be like, okay,
Alhamdulillah, my kids are like, you know, even
outside of Hib, there's parents who, want their
child to do Khatam, of the Quran, in
the madrasah.
So they've read to a teacher, they've done
Khatam.
It's like the day they've completed, and done
the Khatam, it's like, okay, let's pull my
child up, because they've accomplished it.
So with Hib, you can't do that.
You can't be like, okay, they finished, that's
it, you know, let's move on now.
No, keep them in there, or find another
institute, which is just, you know, find another
teacher, that's just going to listen, to their
revision, and make sure that, following year or
two, is just based on revision.
Then I promise you, after that, not that
they should, stop reading or anything, but as
in, you can take it easy, after that.
It's there, it's pretty much, you know, it's
pretty much, inshallah, you know, less kind of
chance, of losing it, inshallah.
And so, all these years later now, you
said 16 years, right?
Yeah.
Could you just give us, an idea of
like, what is a typical, I don't know,
annual, practice for you, or, yeah, you know,
is there something, that you're doing, every year,
now, to maintain the hiv?
So, for me, I mean, every day goes
without saying, there's, there's, recitation, there's, revision, happening
for me.
Obviously, as you get busier, when you're, when
you're a little bit older, you can't maintain,
as you would have, but, for me, I
have to be reading, every single day, I
have to be doing khatam, regularly, as regularly
as I can, that's for my own, that's
just for my own, kind of, retention and
things.
Obviously, taraweeh, is still there, you know, on
a yearly basis, alhamdulillah, so, you know, maybe
COVID years I missed, couple of years here
and there, maybe there was like a miss,
but, pretty much I think at least, you
know, in the, out of those 16 years,
I'm pretty sure, you know, 12, 13 odd
years of taraweeh, and again, like it was
to that level of, I was used to
doing 10 or 8, or something like that,
it wasn't just a few here and there,
so, that helped, the daily revision helped, so,
that's, that's generally how it is, I mean,
you know, when it's that long later, 15
years plus 10, 15 years later, it's just
a case of, as long as you're doing
regular khatams, you know, you're trying to do
minimum, you know, one juz a day, if
not some days, maybe half juz, but you're,
you're catching up whenever you can, that's the
main thing, and like I said, that only,
I can only attribute, that down to, bring
that down to my, those years that I
referred to, following the hifz, like, that's why,
consolidation, exactly, yeah, that's what helped a lot.
And when you say, doing a khatam, do
you, like now, would it be like, looking
at the mushaf, or just, like, how, how
would that work for you?
I think generally, it is looking into mushaf,
yeah, it's generally looking into mushaf, yeah, because
there's a certain photographic element to it, isn't
there?
Yeah, yeah, yeah, you don't want to lose
that, but yeah, I think, naturally, as a
hafidh, I mean, you're going to be, you're
going to do some bits, you know, looking
in, some bits looking away, naturally, that's how
it is, but there's no harm in looking
in, which is all reinforcing now, whatever you've
already memorised, yeah.
Jazakallah khayran.
So, I'm going to, let our brothers and
sisters, our parents, who are joining us, who
have joined us, ask any questions they have
of you.
So, brothers and sisters, if you have any
questions, please do either type them in the
chat box, or if you would like, you
could always raise your hand or, you know,
just let me know and you can ask
them verbally.
In the meantime, I want to ask you,
Astaghfirullah al-Shabir, are you thinking about Hifadh
for your own children?
Insha'Allah.
Good question, insha'Allah.
I mean, it's something that I would, of
course, you know, which parent wouldn't want that,
but I'm always, you know, so, I'm very
big on, insha'Allah, you know, I'm not
the most experienced parent here, but I'm very
big on instilling love of something, especially the
Deen within a child and the character and
things like that.
That's what I'm very big on.
So I want to make sure that my
daughter, as an example, has a genuine love
and appreciation for these things.
So before the Hifadh, I think that's what
I want to focus on, is that there's
a genuine love for the Deen, genuine love
for, you know, wanting to pray, wanting to,
you know, having an attachment to these things.
So that's my, actually, starting point for me.
And then Hifadh, of course, I would love
to.
And we already, you know, as kids, it's
amazing, insha'Allah, where you think that they're
too young, you know, to learn something.
But then, actually, even at the age of
two, you know, like these young, tender ages,
they can easily memorize things and they pick
things up.
So, even if they don't memorize fully, verbatim,
they can pick up the endings of things.
So, like, right now, if I were to,
like, my daughter doesn't know Ayatul Kursi, but
if I start it for her and I
say Allahu la ilaha illa huwal she can
say al hayyul qayyum.
Like, she can say that or fatiha or
things.
yeah, Hifadh does not have to be a
formal journey of, okay, when they're at a
particular age, let's enroll them in a madrasa
and now they start the Hifadh journey.
Like, you can start the Hifadh journey from
way before yourself, just on basic surahs, like
I said, just reciting it to them.
Or, you know how I mentioned when I
was, like, 10, 11, I memorized Juz 29,
Juz 30, just by listening.
So, have the Qur'an just playing in
your house.
That's already, they're going to, I promise you,
they'll pick it up.
If they can pick up, you know, Coco
Melon and songs and nursery rhymes, they can
pick up the Qur'an just as easy.
So, I think that's, that's going to be
my focus now at this age that she's
at, is just picking up as much as
she can.
So that, inshallah, when it comes to that
time, you know, bismillah, should be a lot
easier, hopefully, inshallah.
Yeah, you've mentioned some of the things that
we mentioned in week one when we talked
about, oh sorry, week two, where we talk
about setting the firm foundations, putting the firm
foundations into place.
And one of those things is developing their
relationship with Allah, and of course, hence with
the Qur'an.
Because once they understand what the Qur'an
is, you know, that obviously increases a child's
reverence and motivation, et cetera.
And then secondly, as you said, like laying
the groundwork in the early years.
In fact, one of the things we've, I've
been advocating is focusing on Juz Amma and
reading, you know, because those two things, if
a child gets to a stage where they
read the whole Qur'an, for example, they
become that fluent and they memorize Juz Amma
with you, you have sort of got like
some proof in a way that you, you
know, that child can do it.
They have the ability to do it.
And I think, and also they've had a
taster, et cetera.
So, yeah.
So we've got some questions.
So let me, let me just go straight
to them.
Sister Maharaj is asking, what advice would you
give to a teenager who's memorizing, but he's
less confident with his hifth?
He doesn't like reciting out loud.
He stumbles a lot, but he says he
wants to memorize.
He's taught online.
Okay.
Right.
Okay.
So, I mean, the first thing that stood
out to me from that question is the
fact that the sister mentioned that he wants
to memorize.
He says he wants to memorize.
So I think that's a huge positive already.
Alhamdulillah.
If he wants to memorize, that's a great
thing.
And that, hopefully that desire will get him
to the finish line.
Inshallah.
Even if it's a little bit slower, it's
not the progress you wanted.
It's okay.
The main thing is he wants to and
Inshallah, that's, that's a huge plus point.
So that's a good starting point.
Apart from that, look, things like confidence, reciting
out loud, it's, it doesn't come natural to
everyone.
Even for someone like me, even till now,
I actually, I actually, I don't, I don't,
I don't consider myself like a reciter.
So, you know, you have certain individuals who
are known for their recitation.
I don't consider myself to be a reciter.
So that's not my strong point in the
sense of reciting in and of itself.
Like Alhamdulillah, we study tajweed and things to
an advanced level, but I still wouldn't consider
myself to be a priority or a reciter.
So some kids' confidence, it comes over time.
Some, they need to really develop it.
So for example, like I would really recommend
your son to listen, if he's not already,
but listening to a variety of reciters.
And I remember I used to like literally
try to imitate them or, you know, just
repeat after them or read along with them.
He can just do that in his room,
locked away.
Like I didn't do this in front of
anyone.
I'd be embarrassed.
But I just remember like sometimes just putting
on the seat back then, just put in
a CD and just listen in my own
room and just read.
No one's there.
No one's around.
So just doing a lot of practice by
himself.
No one needs to listen.
No one needs to be around him.
That's okay.
Right.
So the stumbling and thing, I'm not concerned
about that.
Because over time, the more accustomed you become
to reading and memorizing, the more you memorize,
the better you get with that.
I think it's just about the practice by
listening to as many reciters as he can.
So look, confidence.
And also you mentioned that he's taught online.
So perhaps, you know, this is a factor,
which is obviously he's just probably by himself,
you know, in front of his teachers online.
And it can sometimes be a little bit
awkward because, you know, when you're in a
madrasa where there's like 30 other kids in
the room reading, you get away with reading
out loud.
Do you see what I mean?
You get desensitized to it.
Yeah, yeah.
You're just reading and whatever.
But when you're by yourself, when you're reading
and it's quiet in the room, I can
understand.
For a kid, it can be a little
bit awkward.
So maybe there needs to be, you know,
if we can find a way where he
can be given his own space where he
doesn't feel like, oh, people are watching over
me or listening to me, just me and
my teacher, that would be good.
But like I said, outside of the class
time, if he just, even just puts earphones
in.
So, you know, like when you put earphones
in, you can't hear, it kind of blocks
everything out and listen to the reciter and
just read along, something like that to give
him that confidence, inshallah.
But, you know, honestly, because he's a teenager,
also, it's natural, you know, to have this
kind of like more, you know, what's the
word?
Like more kind of, a little bit more
conscious, right?
At that age of, you know, how I'm
coming across and things.
I think it's natural.
So I think, to be honest, sister, this
issue is not actually a major issue, like
the confidence or stumbling and being a teenager.
I think it's just natural.
It comes with the package.
It's okay.
As long as he wants to recite, he's
still trying, you know, I promise he'll be
okay, inshallah.
It's not a case of like, you're not
saying to me, well, he's struggling to even
memorize or he doesn't want to do it
anymore and he's not even motivated to.
If you've got the motivation and desire, that's
okay.
The other things, there's ways, like I said,
just try and see if he can recite
himself and so on, have his own space,
inshallah, I think he should be okay.
We have a question here.
What would you recommend for female, a female
hafidhah consolidating, given they don't lead taraweeh in
the local masjids?
Yeah, good question.
So I knew this was going to come
up because I emphasize a lot on the,
on the taraweeh point.
And obviously at the back of my mind,
I'm thinking, of course, there's a lot of
girls who won't have the opportunity to recite,
you know, in public in a masjid and
things.
So that's fine.
Okay, well, who said that they can't, they
can't lead at home, you know, as in
just alongside yourself, as a mum, as an
example, like, you know, why can't you give
them some kind of platform?
You know, that's one way.
So just, you know.
Because you don't have to do taraweeh in
the masjid, like.
Exactly, yeah.
Yeah.
So give them some kind of platform, make
Ramadan special for them where it's like, oh,
by the way, you're going to be leading.
And, you know, even, by the way, whilst
they're, whilst it's a nafl as well, you
know, it's a sunnah or a nafl.
So it's not like a fart where you
can, you can make them lead.
It's not a problem.
And also, it doesn't mean that they, you
know, she has to do it once she's
finished her hafidh.
You know, if she's memorized like seven, eight
juz, she can start with that.
You know, you can just read a quarter
juz a night.
That's enough.
You'll cover the whole of Ramadan.
So, yeah.
So give them, give them a platform, inshallah.
That's number one.
Number two, of course, everything else that I
spoke about, about consolidating, that applies to everyone.
It's not just taraweeh.
But yeah, you know, like incentivizing almost or
competitions, you know, that kind of thing, it
helps.
So like incentivizing with them in terms of,
okay, if you're able to, you know, recite
this much by this point, again, I guess
it comes down to what, how old they
are as well.
Then have, have an incentive for them.
So like, for me, my incentive was, for
finishing games, like getting over the finish line,
was, remember I said I had a games
console?
It was a really old games console.
If I mentioned to you, nobody actually knows
what it is, right?
But I was promised a PlayStation.
And my brother said, I'm going to buy
you a PlayStation.
Back then, it was really expensive, like for,
for the amount you earn.
So he's like, yeah, I'm going to buy
you a PlayStation if you, once you finish.
I remember that was like huge for me.
So when I, when I finished, he, you
know, he fulfills his promise.
He buys me a PlayStation.
And that was like really big at the
time.
So yeah, it's incentivized, prize, you know, every
juice you finish, that kind of stuff is
really good for kids.
Yeah.
And nowadays there, there are these HIFT camps.
Don't know if you've seen them.
For older people, usually like 18 and over.
And so, you know how when you're preparing
for Tarawih, one of the good things about
it is that it's intense.
You know, it's like you fully focus on
that for, for a period.
HIFT camps can also have that similar effect
because you're like literally staying there morning till
evening, even if it's just for a week,
but you've got other people doing it and
they're revising.
So there's usually like HIFT camps for people
who are still memorizing and those who are
revising.
So yeah, I think things like that might
also help.
Just on that note, sorry Osaveh, so you
know how I mentioned competitions, right?
There's loads of even, even like female only
competitions, even kids, you know, boys and girls.
And there's loads out there nowadays, so many
different competitions, which I, so I, so it's
a funny story, right?
Where it's like recently you were at the
GPU, global peace and unity, right?
The, the, the event.
So going back again, this is way, you
know, quite, quite a long time ago.
And this is actually how I met our
teacher, Sheikh Mujahid from Ibrahim college, because he
was a judge at the time on Islam
channel.
So as a kid, I used to actually,
while I was doing my HIFT, I used
to call up, it was called the national
competition.
And I used to call up and I
used to, I used to, you know, compete
in this.
And I remember every year I used to
try, I used to get to like the
second round.
I used to like, you know, lose or
whatever.
And I tried for like four years in
a row, I think four or five years
in a row, just while I was doing
my HIFT.
And I remember on one of the final
years, Alhamdulillah, I made it all the way
to the finals.
And the finals were held at the GPU.
So it was in front of like thousands
of people.
Sheikh Mujahid was like one of the judges.
And Alhamdulillah, I came second.
I came as a runner up.
And that was just, that was actually something
that motivated me because competition.
And also it gave me, it gave me
a lot of confidence, you know, coming back
to that previous question about confidence and things
like, I wasn't very confident at the beginning,
but then after attempting over so many years,
I was actually, I was confident enough to
stand on stage in front of a lot
of people and then recite and do different
rounds and things.
So I would encourage parents to definitely see
if there's competitions out there for their kids.
That's a great idea.
Yeah.
Cause in a way you're, I don't want
to, I keep using the athlete analogy during
this course, but it is a bit like
an athlete, you know, like when a, when
a parent is helping their child to become
a footballer or an athlete, they enter them
into different things.
They, you know, drive them places.
They, the parents have really put the effort
into find these little opportunities and, you know,
special coaches, you know, if some sheikh is
in town, who's known for his, and get
them to meet him and all of that
kind of stuff.
Get them to read, even if it's just
a few minutes, get them to read to
that sheikh.
Cause now it feels like it's an honor
thing.
Right.
When you read to the sheikh.
So yeah, there's, there's, there's so many things
you could do to just, the kids remember
these things.
I promise you.
They do remember these things.
Like, oh, I met this big sheikh, even
if they don't know who he is, you
know, or like, for example, there's, there's like
a, you know, like in a couple of
weeks, there's, I don't know if you've seen
like sheikh Mishadi is in town.
So there's like an event in London, in
Birmingham.
I think it's like take a kiss, these
kinds of events, like sheikh Mishadi is big.
And, you know, when you meet a sheikh,
you know, you had him reciting or you
get to recite to him even quickly kids
remember these things.
So I think parents should seek out these
opportunities.
I have a question here.
After Hifz is finished, how many Juz a
day do you recommend to review immediately?
Immediately, minimum one, minimum one.
I think our teachers used to get us
to do, to be honest, I never, I
don't recall doing more than one.
It was every month without fail, one Khatam,
done.
One Juz, once a month.
30 days.
Yeah.
That's, that's more than enough at that point.
And another question, and how many Juz should
a parent or teacher listen from the child?
Sorry, I don't, I don't really understand the
question fully, like.
Unless they're differentiating between, you know, like, like.
Yeah.
During the, during their time when they're doing
Hifz.
Yeah.
Outside of the class they're attending.
Did your parents, for example, do extra time
with you, et cetera?
Not necessarily.
No, not necessarily.
Just making sure that I was, you know,
doing my own revision.
Because the amount of hours I was doing
in the madrasa was more than enough.
Anyway, with the teacher, I had enough exposure
to the teacher.
So I wasn't doing anything extra.
But what would be good is that, you
know, like there were days where I needed
to go over things.
So, because I was in Islamic school, there
were other father around me.
I could be able to read to them.
So, yeah, if in this case, if the
substitute for that is a parent, then yeah,
just ask, do you want me to, do
you want me to listen?
Do you want me to go over?
Just double check if you're making any mistakes
before you go to madrasa.
Maybe that's a good way of, again, giving
them that confidence and making sure that they're
reading.
Because it is important that the child feels
comfortable enough to read to the parent.
That is also quite important because if they
don't feel comfortable enough reading to you, then
there's a little bit of a disconnect there.
So yeah, do you want me to quickly,
you know, even while you're walking them to
the madrasa, you know, like there's a small
windows opportunity.
You want to read to me?
Like while you're going, like today's bit.
Yeah.
Okay.
And then just go through it.
Just you can, you can have it on
your phone.
Nowadays it's on your phone.
So you don't need to carry it.
Musab with you.
Yeah.
Sister's asking, not sure if you have younger
siblings, Sheikh, but, or other siblings.
If you do, how did that big family
move impact them?
Yeah, I have other siblings.
I have a younger sister as well.
So she moved with us.
I have an older, I had two older
brothers.
So one of them was already working or
in university at the time.
Didn't affect him.
But the other one, it did affect him
because he had to move as well.
He wasn't too happy about it.
I'll be honest with you.
Growing up and leaving his hometown.
So it affected the whole family.
It affected the whole family.
But I think for my parents, my family,
it was weighing between, well, you have the
opportunity for one of our children to become
a Hafidh.
Over a couple of years of, you know,
like the school, the schools everywhere.
So for my sister, she was able to
go to school.
You know, in fact, it was better for
her.
She also went to Madarassa as well.
You know, she wouldn't have had that opportunity.
So it did, it did interrupt things.
It did, it did affect things.
And yes, making a decision like that will
affect the whole family.
But I think you just have to weigh
between what would be better here.
You know, and I guess explaining it to
everyone, like why, right?
Exactly.
Yeah, yeah, exactly.
I've got two questions here.
I'm going to consolidate.
One is saying that how can we ensure
that our children, our child doesn't feel like
they're on the journey just because the parents
want it.
And the other is kind of related is
how did you find the internal dedication and
motivation?
Allahu Mubarak, especially as you were away from
home.
That's very inspiring.
What advice would you give to young and
old?
Please share.
By the way, during the course of this
course, I think most of us parents have
also decided we're going to do as well.
We've been so motivated by some of the
speeches from other who have joined us.
It really makes you realize that actually, you
know, you want it for yourself as well,
you know?
Absolutely.
Yeah, definitely.
Absolutely.
Even what I was saying before about listening
to your child, you know, you can only
really do that to a high level when
you've also studied the Quran, had an exposure
to the Quran.
So it is important.
But yeah, the internal motivation and then kind
of that reflecting, especially on children without the
pressure and things.
So my internal motivation, just to give an
example, like I said, it was, it was
from a young age.
So it was a lot of listening to
Quran recitations.
There were other family members of mine who
had just kind of started practicing at the
time.
So I've kind of looked up to them,
you know, because it was a big change.
I'll be honest with you.
Like I didn't grow up in a hugely
practicing family in the sense that they would
pray, you know, the basics were fulfilled, but
it wasn't like they were memorizing Quran.
They were studying and seeking knowledge and things
of that nature, which is very, you know,
just a standard kind of home where you
have the basic exposure.
So for me, I would look up to
my cousins who are like practicing and going
to the masjid regularly and like growing their
beards all of a sudden, like changing their
lives.
Right.
So that, that for me was like a
big thing.
Like, what is this?
What is this all about?
So I was already kind of into it.
And my parents only helped solidify that and
take that forward for me.
Otherwise I would have, you know, I would
have, it would have been, as a kid,
these things, it becomes like a phase, right.
So after some time I would have just
got bored and moved on to something else,
but they really helped me make sure that
I continue with that.
And then in terms of the, like I
said, the pressure, there has to be a
little bit of pressure, you know, if you
don't use the word pressure, you know, there
has to be that encouragement from the parents.
But ultimately it does come down to the
child in terms of even long-term, like
it comes down to the child, like whether
they want, if this is something that they
want for themselves, this is something they want
to pursue.
If there's something that they want to continue
later on, it does, like, and there's only
so much you can do as a parent,
you know, without hugely impacting that, like, you
know, it's just the encouragement behind the scenes,
creating that environment, you know, even just basic
things.
I remember like, even for me as a
kid, just hearing about the virtues of becoming
a Hafidh and memorizing the Quran and things
like that, that is motivating, but you know,
a lot of kids don't even know this
stuff because you just almost assume that everybody
knows it anyway.
So you have to keep those stories, that
information, the why in their ear, right?
So that they continue to grow in their
motivation when they're feeling a bit maybe weak
at some points.
Yeah.
I mean, kids always need that because kids
get distracted, you know, I used to get
distracted a lot and you just always need
that motivation.
You're just hearing these things, you know, my
parents making sure, like my dad, I always
used to go to the masjid with my
father.
So you're always in that environment.
Like I wouldn't just be sent to a
madrasa for three hours.
When I come home, there's nothing.
No, I'd expect that I'd be going to
the masjid with my dad.
I'd be praying.
I'd be hearing lectures, you know, I'm in
that environment constantly.
So I think without him telling me that,
Oh, I have to do X, Y, Z,
I'm just doing it.
I'm going with him.
So I'm hearing it.
For me, it was like, why would I
not, you know, like, why would I stop
memorizing?
Why would I move away from this for
when this is my life, like this is
everything now.
So I think, yeah, less for us parents
and, you know, less kind of like telling
them, more kind of just creating the environment
for them.
And then like, like you just mentioned, if
you, I mean, if you do it yourself,
it's even better.
If you've done it yourself, if you do
it yourself, if they see that you're reciting
Quran, like, you know, my father, even to
this day, he has a habit of, even
when he's just praying at home, he's not
in a masjid.
Whenever he prays at home, he recites out
loud.
He's not a hafiz, by the way.
He's not a hafiz or anything like that.
But if it's Maghrib or Isha or something,
he's, he reads out loud.
So, you know, he's praying now.
And after that, he's reciting Quran.
You know, he's reciting Surah Yasin or something.
He's always, every day is reading Quran out
loud or every Maghrib prayer, every day was
in Jama'ah.
As kids, we knew that.
Me and my brothers, we knew.
We have to pray in Jama'ah.
Our father would lead us, and we'd be
behind.
So, do you see, like, there's every day,
there's an exposure to Quran.
My dad was doing it, even though he's
not a hafiz.
He's not, he's not perfect reciter, but he
was a man of Quran.
So, it's like, whatever the parents are valuing,
that gets passed down, right?
Like, you're absorbing the value system in a
way, or, you know, like your parents have
established.
Like we said about cousins as well, like,
you know, I think, if you've got someone
that you can look up to, that really
helps.
So, yeah.
We've got two more questions.
Do you mind if I just ask these
last two questions?
No, please.
Yeah, go for it.
The last two, inshallah.
JazakAllah khairan for you, all your time, you
know.
So, sister's asking, okay, how did you connect
yourself to the Quran, as we don't understand
the Quran?
Did you understand, at that point, you probably
hadn't learned Arabic yet?
No, even in Islamic school, I mean, it
was basic Arabic.
You weren't actually, you didn't know the meaning
of things.
Yeah.
So, I think we're all in the same
boat, most of father in the same boat,
especially at that age, memorizing, you don't have
an exposure, but what you kind of have
an exposure to, is like I said, virtues
and Quran, like appreciation for the virtues of
memorizing and things, but also, you know, like
I've authored, you know, I mentioned the book
on Surah Yusuf.
Now, for me growing up, Surah Yusuf, like
I always knew that Surah.
I had never memorized the Surah, before Hidh,
but I always knew the story.
There's something special about Surah Yusuf for me.
So, I always appreciated the story.
So, having an exposure in terms of Quranic
stories, I think for kids, kids love stories.
So, what are some of the stories in
the Quran, like Yusuf, or, you know, Yunus,
you know, like Musa, like all of these
stories is great.
So, I think stories is good, is a
good connection.
So, when they come across it, they're like,
oh, this is the story of Musa, this
is the story of Yusuf, and so on.
But yeah, it's just general, you know, lessons,
or general stories from the Quran.
I think that's the way forward, as opposed
to, right, you're going to actually learn the
Tafsir and translation.
Yeah.
Yeah, absolutely.
And I think, I feel like we sort
of answered this, but, what made you stay
focused on completing the Hifth program?
My son wants to become a Hafidh, but
has times where he isn't making the effort,
and isn't bothered.
Yeah.
I feel like, Shaykh Shabir, like, one thing
I want to emphasize, and I don't know
if you agree, is, there's something about having
a Hifth class, that kind of ends up
taking care of a lot of this stuff
for you.
You know what I mean?
Just, once they're in that Hifth class, the
peers, the teachers, the mentors, you know, like,
being part of that system, the way it
takes care of some of this, wouldn't you
say?
100%.
100%.
Like, I can't emphasize enough on being in
a class.
I know there's online mediums now, and I
know sometimes there's, you don't have a choice
but to enroll online.
But, having said that, I mean, wherever you
have a chance, even if it means you
have to drive a little bit further out,
or, you know, spend more time taking them
to a different area, whatever it might be,
that I would really emphasize on, in person.
Because like I said, the motivation side is
covered, you know, the environment side is covered,
the confidence side is covered, the Tarbiyah from
teachers, like, it's got everything.
Even when we did, like, Alimiyah, like, I
would have, I would have struggled if I
did that online.
I wouldn't have been able to complete it.
Just having that structured, yeah, institution, sort of,
institutional element, does help.
Exactly.
So, going in and being with teachers, you
know, revising with fellow students, discussing, that, that
helps so much.
So, yeah, I think that's the main thing.
If you have an opportunity, then, please, like,
enroll your students in a madrasa with other
students.
Look, if you don't have the opportunity, like,
it's, you only have the online, there's no
other, there's no other option, then what it,
what it's going to mean is that probably
you are going to have to take a
much more central role as a parent, being
involved, you know, trying to create whatever environment
you can at home.
Or, you find other avenues outside of madrasa,
like we spoke about before, like events, you
know, competitions, programs, where outside it's informal, but
you're making sure that regularly they're in touch
with those things.
But again, it takes an effort from your
end to take them there, or look out
for these events, and then take them.
So, they have something where it's not, they're
not just completely isolated at home.
They have every now and again something, you
know.
Yeah, because we're social beings, aren't we, as
humans?
Actually, today, one of the sisters on the
course, or somebody on the course, contacted me
and said that, during the, this weekend, or
last week, they've actually gone to their local
mosque, and asked them to set up a
Hif class.
And, you know, they're, and they're actually in
the process of doing that now.
And that's one of the things that I've
been encouraging, you know, if it's not set
up already, sometimes, you could be the impotent,
you could be the person, you know, who
just causes that thing to be set up.
Yeah.
You could set something up, and other parents,
you know, as they say, build it and
they will come, right?
They will come and show.
So true.
So, I think it's such an, I feel
like, if there was one thing that you
would put effort into, and that was to
set something up, that is a group set
up, that would probably be like, the best
investment of your time as a parent, you
know, because, like I said, it's going to
solve 10 problems, 10 issues for you.
And we're already quite lonely in this country,
you know, like we can feel like we're
going against the grain a bit, you know,
especially if your child is not in a
Muslim school.
They need that village, you know, to help
them.
Yeah, for sure.
Well, I think you've really given us a
lot today.
I've made notes myself, you know, Mashallah.
So I really appreciate you sharing your journey
with us.
Is there any parting message that you'd like
to give before we wrap up?
No, I think, yeah, like I said, this
is very much needed for parents, especially.
What I can say is just emphasize the
point I've been making is parents do play,
play a huge role.
Don't underestimate that.
You know, looking back, it was always, I
always now, you know, maybe as, as a
kid, I didn't appreciate this, but now as
a parent myself, I, I fondly, you know,
remember now the sacrifices of my, of my
parents, the encouragement that I received from them.
So kids do remember these things.
And then the total B element is what
keeps them going as well.
So to the parents here, I mean, just
you being on this and listening and tuning
in is a huge step.
Alhamdulillah.
Just, Inshallah, you know, du'as of parents
are invaluable.
Keep making du'as.
Keep, you know, instilling or attempting or trying
to instill that love within your child for
the Quran, you know, and that, that, that,
that comes with just a lot of effort
in terms of connecting them with the right
things, Inshallah.
And yeah, you know, just yourself, you, yourself,
you know, should definitely take more of an
interest, even if you can't do the Hifz
yourself, but Quran should be a big part
of your life.
If you want the Quran to be a
part of your child's life, then the Quran
should be a big part of your life,
whether it's just reading the Quran, listening to
the Quran, you know, being around people of
the Quran, I think is a huge thing.
So yeah, Jazakum Khair Ustada Fatima for inviting
me on.
you know, I've been really enjoyed this as
well, myself, Alhamdulillah.
Thank you so much.
I really appreciate it.
Mashallah, you're such an interesting person.
Like I was thinking, Ilmfeed should interview you.
We need some alternative presenters to maybe interview
you and interview me as well.
Jazakum Khair.
Anyway, thank you so much, everyone for joining
us.
And with that, inshallah, we will wrap up
today.
Subhanak Allahumma wa bihamdik ashhadu an la ilaha
illa anta astaghfiruka wa atubu ilayk.
Salamu alaikum.
Salamu alaikum.