Friday, October 22, 2010

Tha-moon? What's that?

Bismillah
As salaamu alaikum,

Do you know what a thumun is? What about a nisf? A rubu'? Yeah I didn't either. But these are all divisions of the hizb which is 1/2 of a juz. There are 30 ajzaa' (juz plural) in the Qur'an so there are 60 ahzab (hizb plural I think) in the Qur'an. When taking a memorization approach to the Qur'an it is the hizb that serves as the main marker of progress, not the juz. For me it seems to make it easier to get through more of the Qur'an faster. While the divisions of the hizb make it easier to revise and maintain the memorization.

A hizb is divided three ways. First is in half, simple enough. One half hizb is one quarter juz, easy. This is called a nisf. Next is the rubu' one quarter of a hizb or 1/8 of a juz. Followed by the smallest division, a thumun, one eighth of a hizb or 1/16 of a juz.

I had to learn this because in order to memorize Qur'an I must have structure and form, both of which I must struggle to attain. But isn't that what Islam is? To train the self in the inner and outer forms of worship? Which brings me to the new Qur'an schedule: a thumun a day five to six days a week. And that's all I'm going to say about that. Pray... for me.

It used to be that I could not sit for two hours and read Qur'an non-stop. But now that I am able to do that (ALLAHU AKBAR) I must move on to the next stage, which is to be able to sit and read three or more ajza' nonstop, from memory, without being distracted. This is hard. Oh My!!! This is hard.

It's more intense than Master Yoda's training in the art of using the force. I have to free my mind from everything around me and concentrate fully on Allah and His last message to humanity. Then suddenly I'll hear the kettle whistling in the kitchen and I'll start thinking about peppermint tea with cream and honey. "No, no! Focus, concentrate." I tell my self. Then the phone rings. Then I have to use the bathroom. Then I can't remember my place so I have to go back to the last aya I remember reciting and continue on from there. Then My stomach starts talking to me, and I take a few sips of water to quiet it because it's not not for a smoothie break yet. and on, and on and on...

Trying to control my thoughts is like being on the battle field with Satan, sword in my hand, and he keeps throwing spit balls at me. I'm so annoyed from the slime hitting my face and sides (wham, whAM, SPLASH) that I cannot get close enough to cut him down at last. But that's the battle. And as long as I remain on the field of Qur'an, I will win it eventually.

Master Yoda once told me that if a person dies while in pursuit of memorizing the Qur'an, she/he gets the reward of completing it. That is a comforting thought.

3 comments:

  1. Salaam,

    The force is with you.

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  2. Assalaamu'alaikum;

    You got this! Lol..MashaAllah..I am loving you for His (swt) sake more and more. I will continue to make du'a for you and please do the same for me. Oh, I think Master Yoda should bump you up to a Rubu' a day then you will be finishing a hizb every 4 days..Heeeyyy! Lol..May Allah grant you success in this life and the next. Ameen.

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