Ust. Nouman Ali Khan was asked this question during a live lecture on the 2015 Gulf Tour.
Nouman Ali Khan – Should I Focus on Memorization or Understanding
AI: Summary ©
AI: Transcript ©
Salam Alaikum everyone. Here's a cool question from the Gulf tour. I read the Quran but I don't understand Arabic so I don't get anything out of reading the Quran should not just be reading in English. And then these people tell you you have to memorize the Quran is so much reward for memorizing the Quran. And there's so many fathers out there that memorize the Quran and they don't even understand what it means. Shouldn't we be telling people to read the Quran instead of memorizing it? And you know what? As I heard this question, I realized something to every action, there's an equal and opposite reaction, we have an extremely this community, we have on the one
hand, people that want to emphasize the memorization of the Quran and not emphasize understanding at all, that you just become a trophy once you memorize, and you are going to lead telawi and you're going to be reciting beautifully and people are going to be saying, What an awesome Did you even look at all you have, and you have no concept of what's being said? That is one extreme. And that extreme gives birth to the other extreme that says, You know what, these people, they're just reciting it for no purpose. And they're just making you know, this, this these beautiful sounds. But what's the actual message? We forget about memorization, we should focus all of our energies on
reading and understanding. And you know what this is? These are two extremes. The truth in usually these kinds of things lies somewhere in the middle. And for so many questions people ask, I realized more and more and more, that they're actually a reaction to another extreme that makes them want to justify the opposite extreme and not considered. The answer lies in the middle, right? The answer is at the end of the day. memorizing Quran is one of the most spiritually enriching and powerful, you know, acts that we can do. memorizing the Quran is actually fulfilling the legacy of the Prophet himself. salallahu alayhi wasallam but who is known by in Adolphe saluted Latina Odin, and one of
the most beautiful Athens sourceamerica Buddha describes that the ayat of the Quran live in the chests of those who believe the ayodele live on pieces of paper, they are to live inside of Muslim, the the, the place the ions are stored in this world are inside the chests of believers an amazing thing to say. And so I want more and more of those ions in my chest, I want to memorize as much of them as I can, you know, and that's, that's something that you should struggle with, and watch for yourself. Why wouldn't you want to memorize Quran if your parents are going to be raised with crowns on their head on Judgement day if you memorize the Quran, on the one hand, we should be memorizing
the Quran. And on the other hand, the Quran complains itself of Allah who Allah, Allah, we don't reflect deeply on the Quran, or their hearts made up locked up. So reflection on the Quran and memorizing Quran are actually hand in hand. And let me add one more thing. This is the balance of our religion, guys, this is where things really get so epic. These two things are not mutually exclusive. When I memorize on I'm repeating the same, either yes or no, over and over, I'm repeating the same way. And the more repeating it, the more I'm thinking about it. And the more I'm thinking about it, more realizations come to my head. reflection is actually facilitated by the act of
memorization. That's how it's facilitated, then you recycle on with the tweet. And you What did you eat does is that you give every letter it's due. And you pause, and you take your time with every single word, which means it slows you down, doesn't it? That read slows you down. And when it slows you down, your mind is not just pronouncing every word like you should, it's giving your mind the opportunity to think about every word instead of brushing through the whole thing. And not giving each word letting each word have its effect on you. Even the science of the dream actually fulfills the purpose of thinking and reflecting on the Koran. That's what is therefore this stuff is so
interconnected. What we have done is we have ripped it apart. I just want to read English translation or I just want to study Can you read and not reflect so how to love this is this is the things that Allah commands to keep are meant to keep together and we keep you know, pulling them apart. So the answer really lies at the end of the day in balance. When you have one extreme, it will certainly lead to the other extreme allows you to keep us from extremes and truly allow us to be the middle alma mater Masada barakallahu li walakum wa salam aleikum wa rahmatullah wa barakato.