Maryam Amir – Memorizing Quran as a Convert, Kids & Quran, Advice w Shaykha Umm Jamaal Ud Din
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La ILA, illallah, Muhammad, Allah ILAHA, illallah, Muhammad Allah La
ilaha, illallah,
Muhammad, Allah
ILAHA, illallah, Muhammad, Allah Allah Salaman, Allah Salaman,
Allah Salaman. Thank you all so much for coming. Assalamu.
Alaikum. Sheikha, Alhamdulillah, Allah, musalia,
Salama, habili na Muhammad, Asha,
assalamu. How are you?
It's such a blessing to see you.
Bless you
coming on for inviting me. Inshallah,
I have the extreme honor and the immense privilege and the joy of
introducing Sheik um Jamala din, masha Allah, Shaykh um, Jamaluddin
is not only a she, but Masha Allah. She is someone who is a day
Aya. She uses her knowledge and shares it and teaches in
Australia. Masha Allah, she has studied the Quran. She has an
ijaza. She's memorized it. And mashallah, she stated in Saudi
Arabia as well. She has a bachelor's in Islamic Studies. And
mashallah as a mother of five children, four of her five
children to Barak Allah have already memorized the Quran. And
Inshallah, the fifth will as well, may Allah make all of them, of
those who live it and love it. And Masha Allah, she is also a
convert. And hamdullah, she has been a convert for over 30 years
and has dedicated her life to Islam. So Sheik unjuvaladin, we
are very honored and excited to hear your story today. Inshallah,
I've had the extreme privilege of hamdullah getting to know you more
personally in this past year, and I'm just so excited to actually
talk to you, hamdullah. Can you share with us? Omjuwaladin,
Sheikha unjua Ladin, how you came to the Quran? What is the steps,
especially as someone who's a conver who has no background in
Arabic, who's coming into the religion fresh? How did you enter
the Quran? Alright, first of all, Bismillah. Alhamdulillah wa salatu
wasalam, or Allah Rashi on an wala, Roby Sadri wa Yasi li MD,
what? Wahta, Tamil, lisani, Poli I mean, first of all, I just want to
say Baraka, lofiki um Sheikha, Mariam for inviting me Mala
elevate you in status in dunya and ahira and
mayla not hold us to account for what you know, what's said about
us, and may He forgive us for all of our shortcomings and make us
better than what people think. Because you know, the public image
sometimes it, you know, amplifies your true self so much that, you
know, I want you to have a realistic image of us, not, you
know, we're not, it's not an unattainable you know, we're not
on unattainable status or anything like that. So, um, well, I
know question. So look, um, I just, I'll just start off first
mentioning how I first got introduced to the Quran. So, like,
initially, I had just read the Quran, you know the English
translation, obviously. And I remember Subhanallah, a family
giving me a lift in the car. And, you know, in the in the in the
car, they were playing, you know, Chef Abdul Basit, Abdul Summit.
You know, they're, they're playing his recitation. And I didn't know
what it was, you know, so I just asked them, you know, what's that?
It's, you know, send them amazing of the sound, you know, because I
actually have a, I actually have a singing background. So, like, you
know, I'm very sensitive. And
how can, you know, Yani, how can I explain it, you know, like
Subhanallah, you know, you when you've got that kind of
background, you're very more sensitive to, you know,
subhanAllah, beautiful sounds, you know. So I just asked them, you
know, what's that? And they told me that's the Quran, you know. And
I was like, SubhanAllah. Imagine that, like, I just read, I just
read the English translation. And I actually come from Christian
background, my my father's a lay preacher, and, you know, the
Bible's just read, you know, as in, you read it like you read it,
you know, read it in your book, right? However, like to think that
you know this Quran is in in a form that is recited in such a way
that's like out of this world, right? Like the sound of it is
just like out of this world. That's literally, especially when
you listen to, you know, you know, shephasit of the summit. I mean,
the way he recites is just Masha Allah. It's another, another
level, right? So that was my first introduction, and, like I remember
after that, you know, I would always want to play it in my
bedroom, like I was still living with my non Muslim parents at that
stage. And I just want to whizz this into it. It's just, I'm very
attracted to it, you know, the sound I did not, of course, I
don't understand a word, but you know, and I just love the sound.
Um, anyway, um, then I remember this.
Is really early, like, it was probably my first, like, they
taught this family told me, Oh, you know, on the 27th night in
Ramadan, we're going to go to the masjid, because the, you know,
that night in in our local masjid, everyone stays the whole night in
the masjid, you know, ladies and men, right? So, men are
downstairs, men are upstairs. And then on that night they had a
young girl, she was about, I don't know, 15 or 16, something like
that, and they got her to recite the Quran in the front of the
masjid, right? And so, like, I'm upstairs, and I'm on just this new
reverb, don't know much, and done anything, you know, but then I saw
this young girl, you know, reciting the Quran, and I was
really taken in by that, you know, it just, and just the whole night
itself, you know, everybody knows, like, inshallah was the night of
little Qadir. But, you know, it's it just, I just, I think it was
like having some sort of, you could describe it as, like, a
spiritual experience, you know, like, I felt like there was like,
Sakina around me. There was like, Noor. Like, it was just a
beautiful feeling on that night, you know, yeah, and you know, she
was reciting the Quran, and then I was like, asking after that about
her, you know, like, Who is she? You know, they told me, Oh, like,
mashallah, like her mom had come back to Islam. And, you know her
mother, they're born Muslims, but you know, the mum had come back to
Islam, and, you know, her mom had started to memorize the Quran, and
all her kids, she got her kids to memorize the Quran too. So when I
heard that, I was like, I don't know, it just came to my heart,
like, Inshallah, want to be like that too. You know what? I mean,
like, it just came in my heart, you know, like that, Subhan,
Allah, yeah, Alhamdulillah. So, like, after that, I mean, even
from the very beginning, when I first reverted, like, straight
away, I started memorizing, like, short suras of the Quran, right?
Um, but I couldn't read Arabic, so I used to just read from the
transit, you know, I'd memorize from the transliteration.
What I used to do is I had a book and I would just write out the,
you know, transliteration, and then I would write the English
underneath. That's how I say.
So, like, I memorized all the really short stories, like, you
know. And just to give people idea of how difficult it was, you know,
like, I remember one of the earliest suraz I memorized was
sort of Cathy on, alright, that took me about three weeks because
it was really tricky, you know, like,
how long? Yeah, about three weeks to memorize suit of cathedral,
because it is a tricky Surah, you know, yes, um,
so that was, that's, that's the very, that's my introduction to
the Quran, right. Um, but then, if we're
talking about the actual journey of the Quran, like, so that's why
I got serious and sort of, you know, really took that, those
serious steps, um, so, like, just so people have a realistic
understanding of what it takes to memorize the Quran, right? Because
I think that people have got, there's too many stories of this
person who memorized in nine months, or, you know, and three
months, and then everyone thinks, Oh, my God, what's wrong with me?
Why can't I memorizing? You know?
And especially, especially if you're not an Arabic like, you
know, you're not a
native Arabic speaker. I mean, to compare yourself to that is just
so unrealistic, alright, unless you're like Imam Abu Hari that has
like a
photographic memory.
Anyway, look, to be honest, for me, it took me over a span of 20
years to memorize the Quran
Alhamdulillah. Oh, everyone who's listening and who thinks, oh, is
it too late for me? Oh, I've been doing it for two years that I'm
not done yet 20. Yeah. And because, look, I had a lot of life
going on in between, like, I had five kids Alhamdulillah, and I had
a lot of life going on in between. So
in a nutshell, I mean, I'll, I'll say how it was in a nutshell, and
I'll go to a bit more of specifics. So my memorization is
kind of divided into two halves, like I did like half the Quran in
the early stage of my life, before I had too many kids. Then I was
kind of focused more on the kids while I was still revising and
stuff. And then I got to a stage where I kind of got them a bit
more off my hands and started and went back serious to finish off
the rest of the Quran. You know what I mean? That's how it was for
me. Um, but I'll give you a bit of an idea like this. Is it more in
detail now? So,
Alhamdulillah, in very early days of my like, just after being
married and having my first son, um Alhamdulillah. We had the
opportunity to travel to Saudi Arabia, right? But up until that
point, I had been memorizing from the transliteration, right? And so
I, you know, I did jozama First, and just the Barak, you know, just
got Samit, you know. So I had, I think I had, like, four or five
edges that, you know, a jazat from, you know, the back of the
Quran, right? I had those done, but they were all from the
transliteration. Okay, yeah. And then, and, of course, in the
meantime, also, I have to admit, I have to also mention that I'm
obviously, I had been learning Arabic, like the script, you know,
the Arabic script, how to read and write it. I've also been going.
Taj read lessons too, right?
But what happened was,
I wasn't able to memorize from the Arabic script because the Arabic
wasn't familiar enough with me, like I wasn't familiar enough with
the Arabic be able to, you know, you
know, to be able to memorize from the Arabic, right? So what
happened was, Alhamdulillah, mean, fadila, Allahu, taala, he, you
know, opened the door for me to be able to study the Quran at JAL
Huda in jigda.
A lot of people may have heard of that amazing Institute,
Alhamdulillah in jigda. Um, so one was, you know, the first class I
took, we had to memorize the whole of Sut Ali Imran. Wow. They just
started, yeah, well,
because I already had a bit of tad weird background by then, and
believe it or not, I was still memorizing. I actually memorized
the whole of Stuart Ali Imran from my transliteration. Mind, you
still did it.
But what
happened?
What happened was, I came to the next year and we were going to do
a swedera, right? Switzer, right?
So what happened was, I started doing the first few pages of
myself. I just can't keep continuing like this anymore. I've
got, I've got to go into the Arabic script. But look, by that
time, I was a lot more familiarized with the Arabic
script. So I began Alhamdulillah, memorizing, you know, from the
Arabic script by then, right? That's how I got myself onto that.
Now, another thing that I should mention that was significant for
me
at this point, you know that Alhamdulillah, while I was living
in jih, you know, Alhamdulillah, I had the opportunity, opportunity
to meet many female, healthy, vata Quran, right? Many, many. And
look, one of them that particularly I have to mention,
you know, inspired me probably the most was my Sheikah Karima,
um, Sarah Pinsky. It's difficult to say her last name, but you may
know her. She's very Mashallah. Her Ted read books are very well
known. Her Tajweed site, like online, is is very well known. And
she's an American revert, actually, American convert, been
living in Saudi for probably, I'm not sure. I mean, maybe it's
least, must be 40 years by now, she's been living there. But when
I knew her, she had just finished memorizing the whole Quran, right?
She just finished, and she'd been doing the revision. So basically,
you know, to see another revert, like myself, um, I, you know,
basically, you know, I said to myself, you know, if she can do
that, you know, she can memorize the whole Quran, and she's a
revert. She's a convert, whatever you want to, whatever you want to
call us, you know, then Inshallah, with the help of Allah, I can do
it too. You know, that's, that's basically what, you know, really
inspired me, I think, as well. And if she can do it, yeah, we can all
do it inshallah with the help of ALLAH, right? And Allah. So,
okay, so I stayed in Saudi a bit longer, and then, you know, we
ended up coming back to Australia, because by then I had twins as
well. So like that was cope overseas with twins and another
child, I was just no so
we came back to Australia, and by then I've memorized up to the end
of suit, and he sat
and, you know, and we didn't have any local cases you could memorize
Quran back then, right? So basically, what I did, I asked
around my community, because we have a lot of Arabic we have a lot
of Arabic speaking sisters in my community. So I looked around and,
you know, I found someone on similar level of heifer as myself.
And you know, we started memorizing together
and revising as well. And I remember we did up to probably,
like the end of SUTA talba. Mm,
right?
And then about 10 years ago, when I wasn't as focused on helping my
kids with their heifers, I began my own program, and I started
memorizing like four edges at each year, and that took me about four
or five years.
So that's in a nutshell, the way I went. But you know what I'm saying
is, like, I kind of got the first sort of 10 and last five in the
beginning, and then there was, like, a time where I was going
through where I was just, like doing other things, like lot of
other things in between, a lot of other things, but still revising,
always revising, Alhamdulillah, my Quran and stuff like that. But
then I went back into the more serious
memorization, you know,
about 10 years ago, subhanAllah, there are really powerful points
that I think resonate with so many people. Um, you talked about
memorizing with a transliteration. For those of you who don't know
what that is, that's literally writing out that Arabic in
English. So instead of reading bismillahir, Rahman Al Rahim in
Arabic, you'd write B, I, S, M, I, L, L, A, H, and read Bismillah for
every single word of the Sura she's memorizing. So you memorize
you said four ajiza and Surah about, yeah, I did.
Probably about the last five. I think it was the last five. And
then I know I did any wrong, and I started in Bakura. But like I
said, it was just like, I couldn't continue like that. Any of us, you
know, when we start with the Quran, we're like, oh, our Arabic
isn't good. It's really weak. It doesn't matter. I'm going to read
it in English, and I'm going to just terrorize it. So how to look
powerful? So I have a few questions, a lot of questions.
Actually,
you listen how you were reading at the same time? Did you do those
both at the same time? So, look Alhamdulillah. Look like dala,
like Allah. Based me with an Arabic speaking husband, right?
So, but for the time I, you know, it's only not very long I was
memorizing on my own, and then after that, like, I would memorize
on my own, but then I would check it back with my husband, you know,
he would, you know, he'd be able to listen to my pronunciation.
Because I just wanted to put a little of a warning that if you
decided to memorize from the transliteration, you'd really need
someone else there who's got, you know what I mean native Arabic
speaker to be able to like because you can make a lot of serious
mistakes with the pronunciation If you memorize from transliteration.
Just to put that, I think that's important to mention. Thank you.
It is just memorizing the Arabic and you're not sure how you're
pronouncing it, so that's alright. Definitely always work with the
teacher. Sometimes people ask me about memorizing. I'm like, Do you
have a teacher? You need a teacher, but also so, so when you
were doing this transliteration, were you also reading the English
translation at the same time to understand what you were
memorizing? So what I used to have this book, and I would actually
write out the transliteration, and underneath would be the English
words. So what happened was, I did start picking up a bit of Arabic,
like, you know, fit, dunya, well, alhira, you know, like you'd start
to make like, you know,
seeing that dunya art means, you know, this, this world, and, you
know, alkira is next life. So, and I kind of had had Lebanese friends
as well. So I had, you know, I knew bits and pieces of Arabic,
like, you know, different different words. But that's,
that's how I was trying to make it relevant, by, um, you know, by by
always putting you is translation underneath, yes, so Okay, does
that call us here in for sharing that,
you know, memorizing, especially as people who come from non
Arabic, you know, non native Arabic backgrounds, there's this
expectation that we're just going to, like, get it, and it's like,
no, like, you're really in your own language for a really long
time before you start getting to be able to process the Arabic of
it.
You also mentioned
your life, and that was of this journey. One of them was seeing a
young woman reciting Quran when you were just kind of becoming,
just fresh into Islam, and the example of Sheikha terima,
so these, you know, Alhamdulillah, you were surrounded by women who
memorize the Quran in Jeddah. Just this is normal when you're
surrounded by that absolutely, what, what impact do you think or
how important do you think it is for women to see other women in
women's spaces? Memorize the Quran, we say in Quran in your own
story, SubhanAllah. Those were two huge, you know, points that many
women don't ever experience. Yeah, look, I didn't realize how
powerful that was until I realized there's no people out there who
have never had that like I Alhamdulillah Allah as a revert or
a convert.
I I just realized how ALLAH blessed me so much that I had such
a positive experience into Islam. Because had I had a different
experience where I never been exposed to any of that?
I know, you know what I mean, it could have been very different.
But alhamdulillah, just, you know, let me have that experience.
Alhamdulillah, yeah.
Um you Masha Allah, are a mother who has helped your children
memorize Quran. So many of us want our children to memorize Quran.
Want them not just to memorize but to love it, to live it, to
understand it, to call to it. How did you mashallah, four? You know
when, when one child then rises the Quran and we say, tabot Allah,
that's a that's a blessed family. May Allah protect you, bless you
and your family. How did you encourage four out of five? And
mashallah, your fifth is on the in the process. Inshallah, like, did
you do that? Okay, before? Okay? What I want to do here, because I
like to be real. Okay,
I think real is very important, because these days, everything is
so fake. Okay, alright. So number one, the very important. There's a
few disclaimers. First of all, alright. So first of all, number
one, I wasn't working. Okay? When I had my first and I had my twins,
masha Allah,
I was not working back then, so I was able to, you know, focus,
obviously, on my kids, and I made that my priority. Like, that's
just what I wanted to do. That. That was I was inspired. I've met
families in Saudi who, you know, like, nine kids had memorized the
Quran. And I was like, you know, Allah, I want to be like that. You
know what? My kids.
To be like that. I'm not going to let the fact I'm leaving Australia
be an excuse. Wow, okay, and we didn't have prime schools or
anything back then, right? So,
so I was Alhamdulillah, I said I had to, you know, Allahu Taala
gave me the circumstances that made it, you know, easy for me to
be able to just focus primarily on their memorization. And, you know,
I really want that for my kids. Because, like, I knew how
difficult it was to memorize an as an adult, and I just wanted my
kids to be able to, I thought, if I can go into life with it, along
with, you know, the best Masha Allah, you know,
the second disclaimer is, you know, I have to say I have a very
Allah Barak supporting husband. Um, so, you know, this is
something my husband wanted to my husband wanted to my husband
wanted this for the kids as well. So that's why, you know, he was
behind me, and you know, he was helping me as well in the home. So
he, you know, he enabled it and made it, you know, facilitated it
from, you know, for media to be able to do this. And that's why I
just want to say to sisters, you know, don't think he can do
everything right. Don't think you can have that if you want to get
your kids to remember, memorize the Quran, don't expect that you
have this spotless house, and you're going to have the best food
on the table, and you know, you're going to be an amazing wife and
calm and relaxed. And you know, it's not you can't do everything.
Alright? We think we can do everything. We can't Okay? So it's
about, it's about, you know, deciding what you're going to do,
and negotiating that and, and I don't want to it's not just on the
mothers. I just want to quickly mention too, it's not just on
mothers. Like, I actually know a family Allah miabadik, Allah's
blessing. They're in Sydney. They got 10 kids. The dad's the one
who's seen with each of the kids, right? And he's the one getting
the kids to memorize. And I think they've got, like, about, I don't
know, maybe five or six kids already memorized from those 10.
It's not always just on the mum, right? The other thing which is
very important to mention is that my kids do have an Arabic
background, okay, okay. My husband is a native Eric speaker and Aloma
Barrick. You know, since they were small, he's always spoken Arabic
to them. So, like, it does, like, look, I'm going to be honest, it
does make a difference to have an Arabic background.
And so, you know, if your kids aren't from an Arabic speaking
background, you should not compare to someone who has, you know,
Arabic speaking kids like my, my kids aren't fully Arabic speaking
like a normal Arab household, because I've always spoken English
to my kids, but they still, you know, they've still got, I mean,
like now, Alhamdulillah, some of them are very, very fluent, like
you wouldn't even know, right? But I'm saying they still had that
Arabic, because my husband was always speaking to them, and they
were always replying back in Arabic, right? So,
so that's my disclaimers. I'm so sorry to cut you off. Please go
ahead. That's okay. No go. What were you gonna say? I was gonna
say, I really appreciate you. You pointing out these privileges,
because not everyone has the same privileges or opportunities as
other people. And many times when we talk about the Quran, it is as
if everyone has the same opportunities and as given this in
privileges. And that's so unreal. So thank you for being so upfront
about the realities of Hamil that you had these particular
circumstances when that's not the reality for so many people, and
none of us should compare our realities with yours, but that's
right, we can all still take from the advice that you can give,
because there's some more that inshallah are are relevant to
Anybody. Yeah. So okay, so going to my tips Inshallah, on you know
how to get your kids motivated into this path of Quran, right? So
obviously, number one, really, this the best advice I could give
anybody, right? And that is, you have to look at your own love and
connection to the Quran that is so fundamental, um, with anyone who's
got any idea about raising kids, Action speaks far louder than
words, right? And my personal opinion is that you know mothers,
in particular, they have you know, and a powerful opportunity to set
the tone of the household you know, like you know. Imagine,
Inshallah, if you know, if your kids you know, they're walking
into the house, they're hearing the recitation of their their
mother. You know,
there's just that motherly you know that, that bond between the
mothers, especially in the early years, they wake up in the morning
and hear the recitation of the mother. You know, generally, it's
just a normal part of their household, you know, to hear that
sound of their mother and the warmth you know, of the mother
that you've already you've got that, you know, connection with
her, um, and then the other thing is very, this very, very
important, which, unfortunately, some people had this damage, which
is very sad, but the kids have to grow up from small having had a
positive attachment to Quran, right? So what if you can try to
combine between, like the warmth of the love of the mother,
along with the recitation of the Quran.
You know an example of that, for example. You know when you're
rocking them to sleep at night, you know they've you've got that
warmth. You're holding them on your lap, you're embracing them,
and you're, for example, reciting a to kurci, for example. And they
associate.
It the recitation of the Quran is something so warm and loving,
yeah, right? This is very powerful.
Okay, so we want them. The most important part is to help them to
grow up having their hearts attached to the Quran and having
positive memories of the Quran, like associated with the Quran. I
think this is really fundamental, right?
But besides that, then obviously, if you want to do this yourself,
like, there's a lot of you, there's a lot of we have a lot of
a lot more
alternatives now. But you know, time management, obviously, for
anything you want to achieve, you need to have time management,
right? So here, you know, if you're going to be you want to
your kids, me, Quran, like I did, start off with one. I only had
one. It's very hard to do. I don't know how anyone does. You know a
whole lot in one go, I only had one. So I start off with him,
and obviously it's your first child. You have a lot more time to
work with them. Yeah, so, and it's a priority, and it's like, it's a
daily thing. You do it every single day. At a certain time, you
have days of revision, and you have days of like, what you're
memorizing, but you have to also be ready to sacrifice other
things. Like, there were many times where, like, while other
people were out having barbecues and, you know, doing stuff on the
weekend we were home, like, we were home a lot in those early
days, and, you know, we were revising. And I'm not saying I
made it boring for them. But I'm just telling you that you can't
just be out there, and, like, we've only got so much energy,
right? You can't be out there do all this stuff and then you want
to come home and do this memorization with your kids. You
just gotta really conserve your energy, and you gotta focus your
your efforts and energy into one in one to one place, right?
Um, and so that's why, you know, like, you really need to decide if
this is what you really want, you know, you then you gotta focus on
that goal. And don't try to multitask. Don't try and do like,
like, I think we are living in probably one of the hardest times
now for sisters in particular. You know, it's so much harder now to
stay focused on your goals. Like, imagine, I can't imagine how it
must be for some of you. Melanie, easy, like your young sisters,
you've got your young kids, and you're going on social media, and
you know, this sisters, you know, she's written a book, and this
other sisters doing Darwin his other sisters, you know. And just
overwhelmed, and you're like, Okay, y'all want to do that. I
want to start my business, and I want to, I want to, and then I'm
supposed to be a perfect wife and mother, and there's too much.
There's so many distractions now, like, I didn't have that, like,
back then, it was like, Okay, I knew a few sisters were doing
stuff in the community, but like, you know what I mean, I was I
didn't have to turn on my social media and get bombarded with all
these successful so, so, you know what I mean, stories. And I'm
thinking, like, I'm hopeless. I'm only sitting here with my kids
memorizing Quran, you know what I mean. So I think that's a real
battle for everyone now, how to stay focused, and then how to not
also constantly be comparing yourself to what everyone else is
doing and feeling like you're not doing enough, right? So, yeah, I
think that's yeah. So like, Look, if you want to memorize, if you
want to do something like this in this day and age, you're going to
have to have enormous and non and enormous amount of, you know,
patience and perseverance. Mm, you know, absolutely you Oh, sorry, go
ahead. No, you want to ask a question you started by how, you
know, building that love for the Quran with your children. You
know, from the very beginning of just holding them, rocking them,
we said, in the Quran for them, and then you're kind of shifting
to talking about the nitty gritty reality of it takes time, and it
takes a lot of focus and effort.
You know, children at times, don't want to sit and recite. They just
want to play. So how do you balance that? When you know you
have, you want to inculcate this love. You don't want them to feel
like they were pushed into doing something and they missed out of
other things as children. Absolutely, absolutely so my
daughter's just come on,
my oldest daughter, Alhamdulillah, yeah. Um, so look Alhamdulillah
again. Alhamdulillah for everything. When I went to that
Quran, that Quran school in jiddah,
when I started memorizing the Quran, they actually had, like a a
class for kids that were three years of age. And it was an
amazing class. And the teacher a lot about it. Mala blessed her.
She was she, she's had a beautiful way in incorporating the
memorization of the Quran, you know, with the level of the kids.
So, for example, this is one of the greatest lessons I learned
from her, how to make the Quran light on the kids so they actually
enjoy memorizing. Okay, so she had little techniques. Like, of
course, the main way that kids learn at that age is repetition,
okay, but so she'd have them do different things while they're
memorizing. So for example, she might put them, put the little
kids, like, in a little train, they're putting their hands on
each other's,
you know, shoulders, and they're going, well, do her well lately,
either said, yeah, like, they're like.
This and, you know, they're going round, or she might have them on
the the table, one stands up and says, One AR, the other one stands
up. You know, she, she tried to, like, you've got to have some
activity going on. But then, you know, but of course, not
disrespectful for the Quran, but, you know, just light activity. And
so what I adopted for my kids, one of the things I did. I didn't
used to make them sit there with their arms crossed. So, like my
son, he would be like, playing with his Lego. For example, when
when kids used to play with Lego that was
on the floor, and he'd just be playing because kids are
listening. Yes, like anyone, if you hear. You've all got small
kids, right? You all know kids are listening, even if they look like
they're not listening. They might be looking like they're
concentrating, but they're actually listening. So I would
just recite the Quran over and over again, like the particular um
ayat I wanted him to memorize. And then you'll find Subhanallah that
after a couple of days, like you, you recite it for like, say date,
say to it, say 10 times on the first day, 10 times the next day,
10 times the next day, by the next day, if you come, come on yellow
Hubby, sit on the lounge. Let me hear what you've got so far, you
know, and you'll find SubhanAllah. They've got a lot of the words
already there. That's okay. So, and then, obviously, as well, when
he'd memorize a certain amount, I used to give him, like, we memos.
I was firm on him, especially he's my first one. I, you know, we, he
was had more discipline and stuff. But like, I would always give him
when he's completed a certain thing I wanted him to do.
I give him, like, a little you have, you know, if you know,
Kinder Surprises, oh yeah, comes an egg. He used to get that. You'd
open it up. And he used to love that, um, and when, you know, when
they're older, like, they weren't allowed to go on the PlayStation
when they had PlayStation, play with PlayStation anymore, but
like, if you had an iPad, like, you've got to have a routine. So
the best thing is, first thing in the morning, when they first wake
up, get them when they're fresh, and then they can do whatever they
want the rest of the day. That's how I kind of got, you've got the
when the kids, when the kids get used to it, from when they're
small, it's really easy. They grow up like that, and it's just they
take it, it's normal for them. So that's, you know, you're going to
make it normal, yes,
um, but the other thing I wanted to say that, the earlier you
begin, the better, right? So why I say that is because you need the
tongue to get used to the recitation. Mm, hmm. Because when
a child is born, if you've ever studied anything about speech
development, like they've actually got the capacity to grab any sort
of letter, yeah, together. But as you get older, you lose it your
tongue. So yeah. So I could say, like, as soon as my kids were
saying basic words
about two two years and three months, you know, you start
getting them to memorize Quran. So for example, suit alias, that's
the best one. It's easy, very short. And again, don't be don't
think they're not taking it in, like they're just staring at you.
And you think they're not taking anything in, guess what? After
they start talking more,
it all starts coming out. And don't be too fussy about like they
don't have every little harder for every little letter, like they've
got the idea, you know. I mean, they're, they're getting it, you
know.
Um, so the advantage of teaching them when they're very young like
that, is, number one, like I said, getting their tongue used to it.
And then number two, it becomes a normal part of their life, like
they grew up with it, and it's just like something that is so
normal to them that they can't imagine life without Quran in
their day. Yes, you know what I mean? Yeah.
That is so simple, yeah. And then obviously, too, because we're
talking I'm trying to think about all different age groups here,
because everyone starts on different age groups. But, um,
look, I did. Used to sit with my kids and, you know, talk about the
basic meaning behind the the story, for example, you know, sort
of, yeah. You talk about the story. You gonna make it exciting?
Like kids need you to make it they need you to break it down for
them, make it relevant to their life, you know, so that they
really feel, oh, yeah, you know. Oh, that's really bad, you know.
How did he do that, you know?
So that that's what it's about. And then the other thing I wanted
to mention was, you know, don't be in a rush to get them to finish.
Like, I feel like
sometimes people get in a little bit of a, you could say, maybe an
unhealthy mindset where it's like, I want my kid to memorize the
Brown Brothers when they're four.
It's like, ultimately, it's, it's not a competition, and it's not
about how, like, let me tell you straight out, okay, this is, this
is my experience, please. You know, Inshallah, I hope it's you
know, you take it on. But it's not about how old they are when they
finish. But, you know, the main aim is and ask yourself this, are
they going to grow up and keep revising it as a youth and adult?
Right? That is more important, because I have to say, I've seen a
lot of sad stories in my time. Um.
Uh, where people, like they really were putting a lot of pressure on
their kids to memorize, you know, in a really young age. And then
unfortunately, that kid grew up and lost their Quran. They didn't
even feel motivated to keep revising it, or, you know,
continuing on with the Quran in their life. And I would rather
have my kid finish later and be self motivated to hold on to it
and be revising it. Then, you know, they're memorizing a really
young age, and then they just maybe they've got bad, even
experiences with it, and, you know, they just lose it. I've,
I've had so many young adults talk to me about how they're just
starting to go back to religion after they have memorized the
Quran as a child and then completely distance themselves
from it because they just couldn't stand, you know, the idea of
feeling like they were forced into constantly memorizing
when you have, you know, parents who want this for their kids, and
they think that the way that they need to do it is just, you know,
pushing them into it. This, when the kids don't even want to
themselves. It themselves, when you have teenagers, when you have
older kids, what kind of advice do you do you have for, for, for
parents who didn't start out, you know, in this loving, nurturing,
fun way, with memorizing the Quran and now, either they are trying to
encourage their child, but their child wants nothing to do with it,
or they have had children who've been kind of forced into memories
in Quran and now they really don't want anything to do with it. What
would you what kind of advice do you give in those circumstances?
Look, with regards to the parent who may have had a bad experience
themselves,
it could even be worthwhile,
you know, addressing the trauma that you may have,
you know,
because you don't want to pass that on, like you never know how
you might
unconsciously be, you know, kind of, you know, giving your child
the impression that you've got some sort of negativity, for
example. So you want to, kind of, like, address that trauma
inshallah within yourself, so that you can go over that. Because, you
know, really, as I said to you, it's really important our own
approach. Like, if you really are coming to the Quran with your
heart, like, full of love to the Quran, the children sense that
straight away. And that's that's the most important thing. And like
I said, it's going to be your example ultimately. Like, example
ultimately. Like, you can say as much as you want, you know, happy
be go revise or CO memorize or whatever. But if you're not
actually kind of giving that as an example, that you're always with
the Quran yourself, then why should he go do it? And you're not
doing it, you know?
So that's one thing, you know. And obviously, I think as parents, we
all know we've got things we don't like about the way our, you know,
the way we were parented. So we don't want to be doing the same
mistakes. So we want to think, go back and think, okay, what can I
do to make sure I don't fall into that, you know, pass that mistake
back onto my, you know, to my kids.
And I forgot, forgot the other part, if someone's been brought up
with them, you know, trauma themselves.
Again, I think it would be worthwhile to consider doing some
work with that. Realize that that was just actually not the Quran
that you've got a problem with. It's actually, unfortunately, the
parenting style that has sort of,
you know, given you some trauma that now you've unfortunately
attached to the words of Allah. But the words of ALLAH themselves
are something that you know, SubhanAllah. There's so much you
know, blessing in them, and the hope and the the motivation that
you get from the words of ALLAH, the resilience, the the you know,
this, you know, solidifying of your iman that you get through
reciting the Quran that you know, subhanAllah, you're missing out on
that if you're not holding on to it, you know, and Allah
Subhanallah, yeah. Gizaki,
I, I was working at a long time ago. I worked at a Muslim camp,
and I was teaching Quran for the kids. And one of the things that
we did was, because they were so excited all day, they got to paint
and run and everything was, you know, water games before Quran
time, what we did was we we made it like you mentioned, like for
the younger kids, we had them listening while they were just
playing. But for the older kids, it was just games. It was like,
games with Quran. And it just really changed, you know, the
perspective of teens who came in, like, all Quran class, but then
left with, like, what is Quran class? Because relevant and, yeah,
like, relevance of the Quran because, like you said, the Quran
isn't just like you don't not memorizing it for a deadline.
You're memorizing it because it's for life, and it will ground you
and the resilience, the healing.
Can you honor us with your own recitation of the Quran?
Inshallah, just let me I'll take some warm water, because I have a
bit of a problem with my throat. Not.
Gets croaky on me sometimes when I'm you know, if I had a coffee or
something, oh, let me forever.
Inshallah,
do you want to tell us sorry where you'll be reciting from so, oh,
yes, that's a very good idea. Inshallah, I'm going to revise a
reading from sudlhash The last page. Okay.
Chapter is that.
He mean shayton, you Roji,
yeah, you Hello, Dina, well down
soon.
Order a what more
in no more her hobby
room be met in a more,
yesterday, yesterday,
what else? WA, Jana
aus Ha, budun, jan na ti Hu, murusa is
Lo and Sal na Ha, da,
Ah,
what you can do now See the fact.
Who
am? I?
Huang ma
Huang ma Hu la di
La Ilaha, Illa
Huang ba hula di La Ilaha, Illa
Huang Ali Kul do so Salem will mean
As salamu
mean all Mohammed
will as easily
go Who am The
Asmaa,
you said, Be hula Huma, FEMA, what do you want album?
Well, who are lazy? Will hacking Marshall, what's about to come?
About? Ago, that was beautiful. Masha Allah, do you have a
particular reciter you listen to frequently?
I'll be honest with you,
not a lot. Okay, because by the time I finished doing all my own
revision
and reading Yes, and all the other things I do in my day, right? Um,
I don't tend to actually listen as much, if you don't try and say,
but like in the past, I, like I would always, I always loved,
you know, Sheik, Bill, basit, Abdul Summit. I mean, I think
maybe girl started out with him so
and, you know, and electricity and also study. This is the way.
Caught up when you were a sighting. Okay?
So yeah, Alhamdulillah, beautiful. Um, you know,
there were so many themes from what we talked about today,
whether it was learning about the Quran and listening to it, and
that is what brought you this, like, you know, this, like amazed,
like you were amazed when you, you know, looking into Islam and
becoming Muslim. The young girl who you heard we said, You're a
Quran teacher, talking about women inculcating this love for their
children and loving it ourselves. So many of us didn't grow up in
communities where we saw a woman reciting the Quran constantly. And
you know, many times right now, women say, I wish that I had this
connection, but
they blame themselves for not having it. And I think that we all
should be responsible. Of course, we should all be responsible. But
there are also times that women never were exposed to the idea or
were often times in I've heard so many stories of women who are not
encouraged to go towards the Quran because at the end of the day,
you're never going to leave taraweeh. So what's the point of
memorizing? I've heard that so many times, unfortunately, what is
the culture like in Australia for women and Quran memorization. Are
there women who are actively memorizing the Quran? What is it
like for women to have examples of other women? We said in Quran,
does it make a difference for a woman to have those examples?
Um, Alhamdulillah, in Australia, um, to be honest. Um, so we have a
high percentage of, you know, our communities, predominantly in
Arabic community. So look, I've always known everybody like
everybody's alhamdulillahi, very keen to memorize the Quran we have
now Alhamdulillah Quran schools.
You know, people are encouraged like men or women. You know, it's
always been like that, even our, our main mosque down here, like
they've always had Quran competitions for kids. So, you
know, males or females, the kids were always participating in, in,
you know, like, for example, you have to, each year, you have to
memorize a new juice. Mm, hmm. And then in Ramadan, like the last 10
nights I can,
you know, like the night of the 29th for example, they'll give out
the prizes to the kids who
have memorized, like a new juice, or maybe they've done five, you
know, a jazzat. So it's like the kids grow up males or females, you
know, memorizing the Quran and,
yeah, Alhamdulillah, like, I think probably sisters are probably
memorizing the Quran more than brothers here. Oh, love Edison, to
be honest. Oh,
what a blessing to you. Masha Allah, and that, that to feel that
encouragement from the community, to feel like it's part of this,
you know, this, this culture, this, if you look for it, you
know, if you look for it, I mean, not everybody like it's clear
people not doing that. But I mean, if you look for it, you can find
it. Yeah, it's not hard to find. If you want to find it, it's
there. And that's that's a
blessing. Subhanallah, yeah, of course. Alhamdulillah. Um, do you
have advice for someone coming into the Quran as a convert, or
someone coming to the Quran as a non native speaker? Um, what
advice would you give to someone who is looking to start their
journey, but have felt like they just don't have the background.
They've had negative experiences. They don't even know where to
begin. What advice would you give?
Look, I think number one, that's what I was sort of getting to
before, is number one, don't compare yourself to born Muslims,
and especially not the ones from, you know, Arabic speaking
background,
and realize just be real, and realize that your struggles are
going to be far greater than, you know, someone who's already had
the Arabic language growing up, or at least they grew up listening
and reciting to Quran from when they were small, right? It's very
different. And I think the other thing is, you know, always keep in
mind that that the reward we get for our struggles is according to
our, you know, our loss, you know, and sincerity
and and the effort as well that you put into it. And you know, so
you know, the the more difficult. And you know the longer it's going
to take you to, you know, become fluent in reciting, or, you know,
memorizing, then bilahita Allah, you know, the greater reward.
Inshallah, you know. You know, if you look at the Hadith recorded by
Imam Al Bahari, in which the Prophet salallahu told Aisha ra
Allahu, anha ajruki, Allah, padri, naswabiki, ah, you know, like your
your reward will be, according to your, you know, the you know, the
tiredness that you get. You know, she had to do an extra part of
worship, because something happened during Hajj,
you know, and she had to do extra and.
Was more tiring for her. So when, when someone has has to do greater
effort in order to do an active worship, you know,
and they've got, obviously, that also takes, you have to have more
sincerity as well to be able to do that, because to stick to that and
not compare yourself to others and all those things, it's not easy.
So you have to just always revisit your your intention, you know, but
like,
you know, yeah, broccoli, I was going
to say, you know, Alhamdulillah, I do actually have Quran classes
here, you know, in Sydney. And obviously, you know, one of the
main students I have are, like,
quite a few from, you know, converts, or, you know, especially
non Arabic speakers. One of the things I tell them because, you
know, they get frustrated. Everyone gets frustrated. You
know, you're trying to recite. It takes a long time to fix your
roof. You know, fix your letters. Um, I tell them what Allah told
the prophet said, Allah be here. Seneca, Lita ajalabi, you know,
don't try to. Don't try to. You know, Rush. Just take your time
inshallah. Allahu Taala will just with time, with patience, with dua
inshallah will facilitate. You know, open up the door for you.
And remember the ayat of the Quran Allah. Tala says, well, la Dina,
jahina, Lana, subulana, wain Allah, ha Lama al muhasinin,
right? Like those who strive for our sake, we guide them to our
paths. So it's you know, you make the effort. Inshallah, you make
the DUA to ask Allah to open the doors for you. Inshallah, Allah,
he'll open the doors for you, inshallah and Allah will be with
you in your
path. That was so beautiful. Okay? And you also spoke about reading
the transliteration while you were memorizing with the translation.
How important do you think it is for people to understand what
they're memorizing?
Um, look, it's it is obviously very important, because otherwise
you're not going to have any connection. You don't feel you're
feeling, what am I doing this for? It's just like this big disconnect
between the words and you, you know so, but look, to be honest,
that the
you have that also takes patience to like, I went through a stage
where I was memorizing a lot of things. I didn't understand them.
But like, if you can try to it is it is easy. It is important to
pursue the path of Arabic language as much as you can, as well. So I
do encourage people to at least get, like a background Arabic that
you know gets through, gets you to a level we at least understand
most of the Quran, you know, most of the words of the Quran, at
least. So that that way, like when you're memorizing, you can
connect. But look again, you know, memorizing can actually help you
build up your your Arabic vocabulary, right, right, right.
Absolutely no, yeah. So I found that as well. I found that as I
memorizing, I start picking up new words, and I start, okay, you
start making connections. And so you actually do build up a
vocabulary over time as well with the memorizing, yes, subhanAllah,
yeah, that's so, so beautiful that you know something I think about
as someone. There were so many times before I learned Arabic that
I was like, I wish that I knew Arabic And subhanAllah. Just the
fact that you can listen and read and read the translation like the
more you do that, the more that your vocabulary increases. And
it's such a gift that Allah gave one language that anyone can learn
this isn't something that you have to be born with, like you can
learn a language. This is a yes, there's a study. You can study
this, and then you can know it Subhanallah, or, unfortunately,
your time is done. Yeah, that's okay, um, look, I think
probably go back to what I was saying before, like whether you're
talking about you memorizing, or whether you're talking about
trying to get your kids to memorize.
Remember, the most important thing is, you know, is the intention.
Inshallah, you know what, why you want to do this. Go revisit what.
What is your why behind it? Um, remember Allah says in iyala, mila
will be a good become hai that you've got, Inshallah, the good
intention in your heart, he'll give you the good he'll give you
the good outcome. So, you know, one
of the main reasons I wanted to get my kids summarize the Quran is
because in today's society, there's just so many negative
pressures. And I know I'm going to bring up my kids in a non Muslim
country, not that the Muslim countries are, you know, that much
better either. But I just felt like there's been a lot of
negative pressures on them, and you know, that's affecting
everyone's Iman. We're detrimentally affected, you know,
in our iman, by all the pressures are right, right? So that's why I
said to myself, you know, if I can, Inshallah, you know, fill
their hearts with the Quran, then be Ibn this will be from the
greatest protections for them. Inshallah, you know, of course, if
you've done the right way, like I was mentioning, if you do that and
you build them up from within, and.
Um, it's a protection, but in the left from, you know, misguidance
and and from the negative pressures, right? So that's one
thing, the intention, why you want to do it, not because you like,
I'm I think people need to be careful about, you know, putting
the kids too much out there on social media, like it could feed
the heart with the wrong kind of,
you know, it could breed certain, maybe wrong kind of ideas about
memorizing the Quran. We want them to do it like, you know, I'm
trying to say, from them, from their heart and, you know, and
have the right intention. And because the other thing too, I was
going to say to you, it's possible that someone puts their kids out
there when they're small, but then that pressure of having that
public status, right, could actually be really detrimental for
them, like, as a teenager, like, because if everyone knows him like
that, and then they're not able to live up to that image, like we all
know, like, you know, Shayna Mariam, you know that being a
public figure, I'm not that You necessarily chose it. It just
happened, right?
But there's a lot of pressures that come with that. Yeah, right.
And it's hard enough as an adult to be able to deal with that, let
alone you expect your kid to be able to deal with that. And
they're going to go through the teenage years. Still, there a lot
of stuff happens, you know, in the teenage years. So
look here, I think the best thing you know, mold them when they're
small,
you know. And the other thing, make a lot of dua. Make a lot of
dua for yourself. Make a lot of dua for your kids. Always in your
sajda, ask Allahu tobala, you know, to make you and then show if
you want to be from Al half within Al Quran, you know. But look, our
kids don't have to be half within. They don't have to memorize the
whole Quran, at least we put what we can in their hearts, you know.
And the most important thing, like I said, we want them to grow up
with the love of the Quran and a habit in their daily life. That's
the most important thing. Thank you so much. Thank you, Josephine,
that is so important to clarify that this isn't about, oh, my kids
have memories of Quran, that's amazing. No, it's about giving
them tools of connection, that they feel grounded no matter where
they are, and that, Inshallah, they can always go back to the
meaning and live it and love it and call to it and pan Allah. It's
just so powerful when you help your children have that tool of
self soothing and resilience and being able to face anything in
life, knowing that they have the Quran with them is really so
powerful. It's so powerful as an adult. So I can imagine as a child
how powerful that must be. Yeah, and such an honor and such a gift
and a blessing to have you. I feel so motivated and shall inspire to
take your words to heart and then shall implement your advice into
my own life. How can any classes with you or connect with you?
What's the best way for people to learn from you? So look, I don't
actually run like Quran classes online. Alhamdulillah, I already
have a few classes here. I just a lot of living in a time where
Quran classes are everywhere you can, where you speak, and you'll
find, you know,
other class. But besides that, you know, like, I do have my, you
know, my platform online. Basically, I use my platform more
for allowing sisters to connect if they need to. They've got, like,
questions about, for example, or just general Islamic questions.
I'm I, you know, Alhamdulillah. I have, you know, a Sharia degree.
So I'm able to help sisters, you know, with anything. And also, you
know, I do have my YouTube channel as well where I put a few lectures
on there. Okay, that's for the time being. Yeah, it's on YouTube,
and I have been inspired and motivated. I'm just going to spell
out your name, Inshallah, for anybody who isn't able to see it,
it's umm, underscore j, A, M, a, a, l, underscore U D, underscore
D, I N om Jamal or Dean, you can look her up and show on Instagram,
on Facebook, on YouTube, and you're saying that people can send
them your send you questions if they have them, yeah, but if you
all start sending me questions today, I might not be able to
answer them on one go. Have a lot of other stuff going on. You know,
Facebook is just like a a small part of my life, like
Alhamdulillah, I have a big life here in Sydney, a lot of other
responsibilities. Alhamdulillah, always give you success in
everything that you do. For taking the time out of all your
responsibilities to speak with us, it has been such a would you, you
know, giving me the honor of having this chance to speak to my
sisters around and, you know, around the world, I ask the Lord
Tala to fill our hearts and our children's hearts with the you
know, the love for the for the Quran, and may He unite us all in
*. Inshallah, it
is so much barakallah, because
while a