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My TijarahYour PersonalHifdh Diary
A sheet for every day, a score for everypage, a grid for all thirty ajza.
Before you begin
This diary belongs to
Fill this page in before you fill in anything else, in pen, and do not leave the mushaf line blank. Half of what makes a hifdh hold is decided by things settled on this page and never revisited.
Name
Started on (Gregorian)
Started on (Hijri)
My mushaf, its publisher and its print. I will finish in this copy
My teacher
How and when I recite to them
My daily portion
My repetition count
My fixed hour
Where I am starting from
Where I intend to reach
What usually stops me, and when it tends to hit
What I will do on that day instead of stopping
وَلَقَدْ يَسَّرْنَا ٱلْقُرْءَانَ لِلذِّكْرِ فَهَلْ مِن مُّدَّكِرٍ
And We have certainly made the Qur’an easy to remember. So is there any who will remember?
Al-Qamar 54:17
Made easy to remember. Not made easy to keep without work. That second part is what this diary is for.
What is inside
Contents
This diary belongs to
Your name, your mushaf, your teacher, your hour
How to use this diary
Six working parts and what each one is for
Your commitments
Nine lines, signed. A resolution, not an oath
The ladder, on one page
The repetition sequence, and what it costs
The three tiers and the balance
Sabaq, sabqi, manzil, and how the split moves
Set your pace
Turn a daily portion into a finishing date
The mushaf, all 604 pages
One box per page. The only honest picture
The 114 surahs
Verse counts, first pages, memorised and secured
The thirty juz
A target date and a real date for every juz
A worked day
The sheet filled in, including what went wrong
Weeks one to eight
Forty eight daily sheets and eight seventh days
The juz strength grid
Twelve checkpoints. Where next month’s revision goes
The manzil cycle
Seven portions, and whether yours has stretched
The khatmah log
Every complete pass through what you hold
The confusions log
The verses that nearly match other verses
The teacher log
Dates, mistakes, and their initials
When you fall behind
The five step return. Everybody needs it
The last word
Eight weeks from now, and what to print next
Day 1
New
Day 2
New
Day 3
New
Day 4
New
Day 5
New
Day 6
New
Day 7
Consolidate
Six days of new ground and a seventh with none. That is the same six in seven the pace table on page 08 is calculated from, so the finishing date it gives you already assumes this rhythm rather than a fantasy of memorising every day for six years without a break.
Before you begin
How to use this diary
Six moving parts. Two of them are worked every day, and four of them are what make the difference between a hifdh you own and a hifdh you rent.
Fill in the front once
Your name, your mushaf, your teacher, your start date, and the pace you are choosing. The pace page turns that choice into a finishing date, so you know what you have signed up for before week one.
Work the daily sheet every memorising day
Two days to a page, six days to a week. Each day carries the new portion broken into three, the two tiers of revision, and the gate that decides whether you are allowed new ground at all.
Stop on the seventh day
No new ground. The seventh day is revision, the weekly review, and an honest look at the week behind you. It is not a rest day and it is not optional. It is where a hifdh is kept.
Shade the map as you go
One box for every one of the 604 pages of the mushaf. Shade a page only once you can recite it from memory, alone, without a prompt. The map is the only page in this diary that should ever flatter you, and it will not.
Keep the back sections alive
The confusions log, the teacher log and the juz strength grid are not appendices. They are where the second half of a hifdh is won, long after the first pass through the mushaf is finished.
Print it again
This is one eight week cycle. When you reach the end, print the log pages again and carry the map, the surah list and the juz planner forward. Those three are meant to last the whole journey.
إِنَّمَا مَثَلُ صَاحِبِ الْقُرْآنِ كَمَثَلِ صَاحِبِ الإِبِلِ الْمُعَقَّلَةِ، إِنْ عَاهَدَ عَلَيْهَا أَمْسَكَهَا، وَإِنْ أَطْلَقَهَا ذَهَبَتْ
The likeness of the companion of the Qur’an is the likeness of the owner of tethered camels. If he keeps watch over them he holds them, and if he lets them go they are gone.
Before you begin
Your commitments
Read them, tick the ones you are actually taking on, and sign it. An unticked line is more useful than a ticked one you did not mean.
None of these are about how much you memorise. All nine are about how you memorise, which is the only part of this you actually control.
Signed
Date
Somebody who will ask me about this, and when I have told them to ask
Reference, keep this open
The ladder, on one page
The sequence for one third of a page. Drill a verse, drill the next, join the pair, move along. Twenty is the working count in this table and the daily sheets let you write your own.
| The instruction | Looking | Closed | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | The whole third, reading, to hear its shape and its ends | 20 | |
| 1 | Verse 1 on its own | 20 | 20 |
| 2 | Verse 2 on its own | 20 | 20 |
| 3 | Verse 1 joined to verse 2 | 20 | 20 |
| 4 | Verse 3 on its own | 20 | 20 |
| 5 | Verse 2 joined to verse 3 | 20 | 20 |
| 6 | Verse 4 on its own | 20 | 20 |
| 7 | Verse 3 joined to verse 4 | 20 | 20 |
| 8 | Continue that way to the last verse of the third | 20 | 20 |
| 9 | The whole third, from memory, mushaf closed | 20 |
Every verse in a third is recited on the warm up, twice on its own, twice in each join it belongs to, and once more on the seal. For a third holding a given number of verses that is 160 recitations per verse minus 80, which is worth knowing before you promise yourself a page a day.
| Verses in the third | Recitations | At 3 seconds | At 5 seconds | At 8 seconds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 verses | 400 | 20 min | 33 min | 53 min |
| 4 verses | 560 | 28 min | 47 min | 75 min |
| 5 verses | 720 | 36 min | 60 min | 96 min |
| 6 verses | 880 | 44 min | 73 min | 117 min |
120
passes over the first and the last verse of a third
160
passes over every verse in between, which sit in two joins
560
recitations to finish one third holding four verses
Twenty is a dial, not a law.
Twenty is the number that works for most people. Some need twelve. Students in the mahadhir of Mauritania will take a single passage past three hundred, and their hifdh is famously immovable. Fewer if it is already automatic, more if you want it stronger. The number is right when the words arrive before you reach for them.
Reference, keep this open
The three tiers, and how the balance moves
Every daily sheet has a row for each tier. The proportion between them is not fixed for life: it moves against how much you are carrying.
Today’s new portion
Yesterday it did not exist. Tomorrow it is still fragile. This is the only tier that adds.
The last seven days
Recent portions, recited from memory every day until they stop wobbling, then released into manzil.
Everything older
The body of your hifdh, cycled on a fixed daily quota, for the rest of your life.
| How much you hold | New | Revision | What is going on here |
|---|---|---|---|
| Up to 5 juz | 60% | 40% | There is little to lose yet. Build the habit and the technique. |
| 5 to 15 juz | 40% | 60% | The tipping point. Revision quietly becomes the main job. |
| 15 to 25 juz | 30% | 70% | Most people who fail, fail here, by refusing to slow down. |
| 25 to 30 juz | 20% | 80% | Protect the twenty five before you chase the thirtieth. |
| Completed | 0% | 100% | For at least a year. Then repair the weak juz, not new ground. |
Juz I currently hold
So my split is (new)
And (revision)
Come back to this line every time you finish a juz. The single most common way a hifdh collapses is a student holding twenty juz who is still splitting their hour the way they did when they held two.
Before you begin
Set your pace, and know the date
A pace you have not turned into a date is a wish. Pick a row, do the five lines of arithmetic underneath it, and write the year down where you will see it.
| Daily portion | Days | Years | Who this is for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Three lines | 3523 | 9.7 | A fifth of a page. The pace of a full working life. |
| Five lines | 2114 | 5.8 | One third of a page. The most common serious pace. |
| Half a page | 1409 | 3.9 | Sustainable with an hour a day and a teacher. |
| One page | 705 | 1.9 | A full page a day. Demanding, and it is done. |
| Two pages | 352 | 1 | Full-time study, or a gifted student in a good year. |
The years assume you memorise six days in seven and never stop. They exclude the weeks every serious student loses to consolidation, illness and life, so treat them as a floor rather than a forecast. A student who plans for the floor and hits it eighteen months late has still finished.
0.33
pages a day
0.29
after six in seven
2,114
days
5.8
years
+5 yr 10 mo
onto today’s date
Part one
The map
Three pages you keep for the whole journey and never reprint. They are the only place in this diary where the whole of what you are attempting is visible at once, which is uncomfortable at the start and steadying later.
The mushaf
All 604 pages, one box each. Shade a page only when you can recite it alone
The 114 surahs
Verse counts and first pages, with a box for memorised and one for secured
The thirty juz
A target date and the date you actually finished, side by side
بَلْ هُوَ ءَايَـٰتٌۢ بَيِّنَـٰتٌ فِى صُدُورِ ٱلَّذِينَ أُوتُوا۟ ٱلْعِلْمَ
Rather, it is clear verses in the breasts of those who have been given knowledge.
Al-Ankabut 29:49
Part one, the map
The mushaf, all 604 pages
Page numbers are the Madani mushaf. Shade a box only once you can recite that page from memory, alone, with nobody prompting you. Every tenth page is marked so you can count along a row.
Shade it only when it is yours
From memory, alone, nobody prompting, on a day that is not the day you memorised it.
The juz are not equal
Rows run from nineteen boxes to twenty three. The thirtieth is the longest, not the shortest.
Do not rub anything out
If a page goes, leave it shaded and note it on the strength grid. This map records what you took, not what you still have.
Total today
On this date
Part one, the map
The 114 surahs
Verse count and first page against each. M for memorised. S for secured, meaning you have held it through a full manzil cycle without having to repair it. Most people fill M far faster than S, and the gap between the two columns is the honest state of a hifdh.
Part one, the map
The thirty juz, target and actual
Fill the target column in once, at the start, from the pace you set on page 08. Fill the finished column in as you go. The gap between the two columns is the most useful number in this diary.
Part two
The daily log
Eight weeks. Six memorising days and a seventh for consolidation, which is the same six in seven the pace table is built on. Forty eight sheets in total, and one of them is filled in for you.
A worked day
The sheet completed, including a third that did not get sealed
Forty eight daily sheets
Two to a page. The gate, the portion in three, both tiers of revision
Eight seventh days
No new ground. The week in numbers, the heart, and next week’s target
وَرَتِّلِ ٱلْقُرْءَانَ تَرْتِيلًا
And recite the Qur’an with measured recitation.
Al-Muzzammil 73:4
Part two, the daily log
A worked day
A real portion: page 562 of the mushaf, which holds Al-Mulk 1 to 12 and opens juz 29. It divides into three fours without being massaged. Notice that the day is not finished.
Date
Hijri
Minutes
Surah
Verses
Page
Reps
| The page in three | Verses | To teacher | Looking | Closed | Sealed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| First third | 1 to 4 | ||||
| Second third | 5 to 8 | ||||
| Last third | 9 to 12 |
What I revised
What I revised
The gate comes first
Before anything else, close the mushaf and recite yesterday. If it does not come, today is a repair day and the new portion row stays empty. Nobody has ever regretted this. Plenty have regretted skipping it.
The portion is written before it is drilled
Name the surah and the verses. A portion that was never written down is a portion you can quietly shrink at half past nine at night.
Three rows, because the page has three thirds
Each third gets its own line: read to the teacher, run at the count you chose, then sealed with the mushaf closed. A third is finished or it is not. There is no partial credit.
Both revisions get a strength mark
Five dots. Fill in what it honestly felt like, not what you wish it were. A two dot juz that keeps appearing is telling you exactly where next month goes.
Week 1 of 8
Days 1 and 2 of 48Date
Hijri
Minutes
Surah
Verses
Page
Reps
| The page in three | Verses | To teacher | Looking | Closed | Sealed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| First third | |||||
| Second third | |||||
| Last third |
What I revised
What I revised
Date
Hijri
Minutes
Surah
Verses
Page
Reps
| The page in three | Verses | To teacher | Looking | Closed | Sealed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| First third | |||||
| Second third | |||||
| Last third |
What I revised
What I revised
Week 1 of 8
Days 3 and 4 of 48Date
Hijri
Minutes
Surah
Verses
Page
Reps
| The page in three | Verses | To teacher | Looking | Closed | Sealed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| First third | |||||
| Second third | |||||
| Last third |
What I revised
What I revised
Date
Hijri
Minutes
Surah
Verses
Page
Reps
| The page in three | Verses | To teacher | Looking | Closed | Sealed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| First third | |||||
| Second third | |||||
| Last third |
What I revised
What I revised
Week 1 of 8
Days 5 and 6 of 48Date
Hijri
Minutes
Surah
Verses
Page
Reps
| The page in three | Verses | To teacher | Looking | Closed | Sealed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| First third | |||||
| Second third | |||||
| Last third |
What I revised
What I revised
Date
Hijri
Minutes
Surah
Verses
Page
Reps
| The page in three | Verses | To teacher | Looking | Closed | Sealed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| First third | |||||
| Second third | |||||
| Last third |
What I revised
What I revised
Week 1 of 8
The seventh day
No new ground today. This is the day the week gets kept rather than added to.
What I revised
Minutes
Tick each day you could recite the day before from memory.
Memorised from
To
Pages this week
Total of 604
Page
Page
Page
My target portion
The juz I will strengthen
Days I will recite to my teacher
Ash-Shafi’i complained to Waki’ about his memory and was told to give up sin, because knowledge is a light and Allah does not give His light to somebody disobeying Him. Four questions, once a week, answered privately. Nobody else reads this page.
One mushaf. Never change it.
You are not only memorising sound, you are memorising a picture. Where the verse sat on the page, which line it began on, what was above it. Change the mushaf halfway and you throw that picture away. Buy the copy you will finish in, and put your name in it.
Week 2 of 8
Days 7 and 8 of 48Date
Hijri
Minutes
Surah
Verses
Page
Reps
| The page in three | Verses | To teacher | Looking | Closed | Sealed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| First third | |||||
| Second third | |||||
| Last third |
What I revised
What I revised
Date
Hijri
Minutes
Surah
Verses
Page
Reps
| The page in three | Verses | To teacher | Looking | Closed | Sealed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| First third | |||||
| Second third | |||||
| Last third |
What I revised
What I revised
Week 2 of 8
Days 9 and 10 of 48Date
Hijri
Minutes
Surah
Verses
Page
Reps
| The page in three | Verses | To teacher | Looking | Closed | Sealed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| First third | |||||
| Second third | |||||
| Last third |
What I revised
What I revised
Date
Hijri
Minutes
Surah
Verses
Page
Reps
| The page in three | Verses | To teacher | Looking | Closed | Sealed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| First third | |||||
| Second third | |||||
| Last third |
What I revised
What I revised
Week 2 of 8
Days 11 and 12 of 48Date
Hijri
Minutes
Surah
Verses
Page
Reps
| The page in three | Verses | To teacher | Looking | Closed | Sealed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| First third | |||||
| Second third | |||||
| Last third |
What I revised
What I revised
Date
Hijri
Minutes
Surah
Verses
Page
Reps
| The page in three | Verses | To teacher | Looking | Closed | Sealed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| First third | |||||
| Second third | |||||
| Last third |
What I revised
What I revised
Week 2 of 8
The seventh day
No new ground today. This is the day the week gets kept rather than added to.
What I revised
Minutes
Tick each day you could recite the day before from memory.
Memorised from
To
Pages this week
Total of 604
Page
Page
Page
My target portion
The juz I will strengthen
Days I will recite to my teacher
Ash-Shafi’i complained to Waki’ about his memory and was told to give up sin, because knowledge is a light and Allah does not give His light to somebody disobeying Him. Four questions, once a week, answered privately. Nobody else reads this page.
Count on your hand, not on your feeling.
People asked to repeat something twenty times average around twelve and are certain they did twenty. Use your fingers, a tally in the margin of a notebook, or beads. The method depends on the count being real.
Week 3 of 8
Days 13 and 14 of 48Date
Hijri
Minutes
Surah
Verses
Page
Reps
| The page in three | Verses | To teacher | Looking | Closed | Sealed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| First third | |||||
| Second third | |||||
| Last third |
What I revised
What I revised
Date
Hijri
Minutes
Surah
Verses
Page
Reps
| The page in three | Verses | To teacher | Looking | Closed | Sealed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| First third | |||||
| Second third | |||||
| Last third |
What I revised
What I revised
Week 3 of 8
Days 15 and 16 of 48Date
Hijri
Minutes
Surah
Verses
Page
Reps
| The page in three | Verses | To teacher | Looking | Closed | Sealed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| First third | |||||
| Second third | |||||
| Last third |
What I revised
What I revised
Date
Hijri
Minutes
Surah
Verses
Page
Reps
| The page in three | Verses | To teacher | Looking | Closed | Sealed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| First third | |||||
| Second third | |||||
| Last third |
What I revised
What I revised
Week 3 of 8
Days 17 and 18 of 48Date
Hijri
Minutes
Surah
Verses
Page
Reps
| The page in three | Verses | To teacher | Looking | Closed | Sealed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| First third | |||||
| Second third | |||||
| Last third |
What I revised
What I revised
Date
Hijri
Minutes
Surah
Verses
Page
Reps
| The page in three | Verses | To teacher | Looking | Closed | Sealed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| First third | |||||
| Second third | |||||
| Last third |
What I revised
What I revised
Week 3 of 8
The seventh day
No new ground today. This is the day the week gets kept rather than added to.
What I revised
Minutes
Tick each day you could recite the day before from memory.
Memorised from
To
Pages this week
Total of 604
Page
Page
Page
My target portion
The juz I will strengthen
Days I will recite to my teacher
Ash-Shafi’i complained to Waki’ about his memory and was told to give up sin, because knowledge is a light and Allah does not give His light to somebody disobeying Him. Four questions, once a week, answered privately. Nobody else reads this page.
End on recall, not on reading.
The last thing you do in a session should be reciting with the mushaf closed, even if it is halting. Ending while still looking teaches your brain that the page is available. Ending on retrieval teaches it that it has to hold on.
Week 4 of 8
Days 19 and 20 of 48Date
Hijri
Minutes
Surah
Verses
Page
Reps
| The page in three | Verses | To teacher | Looking | Closed | Sealed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| First third | |||||
| Second third | |||||
| Last third |
What I revised
What I revised
Date
Hijri
Minutes
Surah
Verses
Page
Reps
| The page in three | Verses | To teacher | Looking | Closed | Sealed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| First third | |||||
| Second third | |||||
| Last third |
What I revised
What I revised
Week 4 of 8
Days 21 and 22 of 48Date
Hijri
Minutes
Surah
Verses
Page
Reps
| The page in three | Verses | To teacher | Looking | Closed | Sealed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| First third | |||||
| Second third | |||||
| Last third |
What I revised
What I revised
Date
Hijri
Minutes
Surah
Verses
Page
Reps
| The page in three | Verses | To teacher | Looking | Closed | Sealed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| First third | |||||
| Second third | |||||
| Last third |
What I revised
What I revised
Week 4 of 8
Days 23 and 24 of 48Date
Hijri
Minutes
Surah
Verses
Page
Reps
| The page in three | Verses | To teacher | Looking | Closed | Sealed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| First third | |||||
| Second third | |||||
| Last third |
What I revised
What I revised
Date
Hijri
Minutes
Surah
Verses
Page
Reps
| The page in three | Verses | To teacher | Looking | Closed | Sealed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| First third | |||||
| Second third | |||||
| Last third |
What I revised
What I revised
Week 4 of 8
The seventh day
No new ground today. This is the day the week gets kept rather than added to.
What I revised
Minutes
Tick each day you could recite the day before from memory.
Memorised from
To
Pages this week
Total of 604
Page
Page
Page
My target portion
The juz I will strengthen
Days I will recite to my teacher
Ash-Shafi’i complained to Waki’ about his memory and was told to give up sin, because knowledge is a light and Allah does not give His light to somebody disobeying Him. Four questions, once a week, answered privately. Nobody else reads this page.
Put it into salah the same day.
Recite the new portion in your sunnah and nafl prayers that day. It is revision that costs no extra time, it is done standing before Allah, and it exposes weakness instantly, because there is no mushaf to glance at.
Week 5 of 8
Days 25 and 26 of 48Date
Hijri
Minutes
Surah
Verses
Page
Reps
| The page in three | Verses | To teacher | Looking | Closed | Sealed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| First third | |||||
| Second third | |||||
| Last third |
What I revised
What I revised
Date
Hijri
Minutes
Surah
Verses
Page
Reps
| The page in three | Verses | To teacher | Looking | Closed | Sealed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| First third | |||||
| Second third | |||||
| Last third |
What I revised
What I revised
Week 5 of 8
Days 27 and 28 of 48Date
Hijri
Minutes
Surah
Verses
Page
Reps
| The page in three | Verses | To teacher | Looking | Closed | Sealed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| First third | |||||
| Second third | |||||
| Last third |
What I revised
What I revised
Date
Hijri
Minutes
Surah
Verses
Page
Reps
| The page in three | Verses | To teacher | Looking | Closed | Sealed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| First third | |||||
| Second third | |||||
| Last third |
What I revised
What I revised
Week 5 of 8
Days 29 and 30 of 48Date
Hijri
Minutes
Surah
Verses
Page
Reps
| The page in three | Verses | To teacher | Looking | Closed | Sealed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| First third | |||||
| Second third | |||||
| Last third |
What I revised
What I revised
Date
Hijri
Minutes
Surah
Verses
Page
Reps
| The page in three | Verses | To teacher | Looking | Closed | Sealed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| First third | |||||
| Second third | |||||
| Last third |
What I revised
What I revised
Week 5 of 8
The seventh day
No new ground today. This is the day the week gets kept rather than added to.
What I revised
Minutes
Tick each day you could recite the day before from memory.
Memorised from
To
Pages this week
Total of 604
Page
Page
Page
My target portion
The juz I will strengthen
Days I will recite to my teacher
Ash-Shafi’i complained to Waki’ about his memory and was told to give up sin, because knowledge is a light and Allah does not give His light to somebody disobeying Him. Four questions, once a week, answered privately. Nobody else reads this page.
Sleep on it, then meet it at Fajr.
Recite the day’s portion once more before you sleep, and once again immediately after Fajr. Memory consolidates overnight, and that pair of passes, either side of sleep, is worth more than another hour of drilling in the afternoon.
Week 6 of 8
Days 31 and 32 of 48Date
Hijri
Minutes
Surah
Verses
Page
Reps
| The page in three | Verses | To teacher | Looking | Closed | Sealed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| First third | |||||
| Second third | |||||
| Last third |
What I revised
What I revised
Date
Hijri
Minutes
Surah
Verses
Page
Reps
| The page in three | Verses | To teacher | Looking | Closed | Sealed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| First third | |||||
| Second third | |||||
| Last third |
What I revised
What I revised
Week 6 of 8
Days 33 and 34 of 48Date
Hijri
Minutes
Surah
Verses
Page
Reps
| The page in three | Verses | To teacher | Looking | Closed | Sealed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| First third | |||||
| Second third | |||||
| Last third |
What I revised
What I revised
Date
Hijri
Minutes
Surah
Verses
Page
Reps
| The page in three | Verses | To teacher | Looking | Closed | Sealed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| First third | |||||
| Second third | |||||
| Last third |
What I revised
What I revised
Week 6 of 8
Days 35 and 36 of 48Date
Hijri
Minutes
Surah
Verses
Page
Reps
| The page in three | Verses | To teacher | Looking | Closed | Sealed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| First third | |||||
| Second third | |||||
| Last third |
What I revised
What I revised
Date
Hijri
Minutes
Surah
Verses
Page
Reps
| The page in three | Verses | To teacher | Looking | Closed | Sealed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| First third | |||||
| Second third | |||||
| Last third |
What I revised
What I revised
Week 6 of 8
The seventh day
No new ground today. This is the day the week gets kept rather than added to.
What I revised
Minutes
Tick each day you could recite the day before from memory.
Memorised from
To
Pages this week
Total of 604
Page
Page
Page
My target portion
The juz I will strengthen
Days I will recite to my teacher
Ash-Shafi’i complained to Waki’ about his memory and was told to give up sin, because knowledge is a light and Allah does not give His light to somebody disobeying Him. Four questions, once a week, answered privately. Nobody else reads this page.
Mark your own confusions.
The verses that trip you are almost always the ones that nearly match a verse elsewhere. Pencil a small code in the margin of your mushaf linking the two, and drill them side by side, deliberately, rather than being ambushed by them in prayer.
Week 7 of 8
Days 37 and 38 of 48Date
Hijri
Minutes
Surah
Verses
Page
Reps
| The page in three | Verses | To teacher | Looking | Closed | Sealed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| First third | |||||
| Second third | |||||
| Last third |
What I revised
What I revised
Date
Hijri
Minutes
Surah
Verses
Page
Reps
| The page in three | Verses | To teacher | Looking | Closed | Sealed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| First third | |||||
| Second third | |||||
| Last third |
What I revised
What I revised
Week 7 of 8
Days 39 and 40 of 48Date
Hijri
Minutes
Surah
Verses
Page
Reps
| The page in three | Verses | To teacher | Looking | Closed | Sealed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| First third | |||||
| Second third | |||||
| Last third |
What I revised
What I revised
Date
Hijri
Minutes
Surah
Verses
Page
Reps
| The page in three | Verses | To teacher | Looking | Closed | Sealed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| First third | |||||
| Second third | |||||
| Last third |
What I revised
What I revised
Week 7 of 8
Days 41 and 42 of 48Date
Hijri
Minutes
Surah
Verses
Page
Reps
| The page in three | Verses | To teacher | Looking | Closed | Sealed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| First third | |||||
| Second third | |||||
| Last third |
What I revised
What I revised
Date
Hijri
Minutes
Surah
Verses
Page
Reps
| The page in three | Verses | To teacher | Looking | Closed | Sealed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| First third | |||||
| Second third | |||||
| Last third |
What I revised
What I revised
Week 7 of 8
The seventh day
No new ground today. This is the day the week gets kept rather than added to.
What I revised
Minutes
Tick each day you could recite the day before from memory.
Memorised from
To
Pages this week
Total of 604
Page
Page
Page
My target portion
The juz I will strengthen
Days I will recite to my teacher
Ash-Shafi’i complained to Waki’ about his memory and was told to give up sin, because knowledge is a light and Allah does not give His light to somebody disobeying Him. Four questions, once a week, answered privately. Nobody else reads this page.
Recite it to a human being.
Your own ear forgives what a teacher’s will not. Say it to a teacher, a study partner, a parent, anyone holding the mushaf. Untested hifdh has a way of being much worse than it feels.
Week 8 of 8
Days 43 and 44 of 48Date
Hijri
Minutes
Surah
Verses
Page
Reps
| The page in three | Verses | To teacher | Looking | Closed | Sealed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| First third | |||||
| Second third | |||||
| Last third |
What I revised
What I revised
Date
Hijri
Minutes
Surah
Verses
Page
Reps
| The page in three | Verses | To teacher | Looking | Closed | Sealed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| First third | |||||
| Second third | |||||
| Last third |
What I revised
What I revised
Week 8 of 8
Days 45 and 46 of 48Date
Hijri
Minutes
Surah
Verses
Page
Reps
| The page in three | Verses | To teacher | Looking | Closed | Sealed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| First third | |||||
| Second third | |||||
| Last third |
What I revised
What I revised
Date
Hijri
Minutes
Surah
Verses
Page
Reps
| The page in three | Verses | To teacher | Looking | Closed | Sealed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| First third | |||||
| Second third | |||||
| Last third |
What I revised
What I revised
Week 8 of 8
Days 47 and 48 of 48Date
Hijri
Minutes
Surah
Verses
Page
Reps
| The page in three | Verses | To teacher | Looking | Closed | Sealed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| First third | |||||
| Second third | |||||
| Last third |
What I revised
What I revised
Date
Hijri
Minutes
Surah
Verses
Page
Reps
| The page in three | Verses | To teacher | Looking | Closed | Sealed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| First third | |||||
| Second third | |||||
| Last third |
What I revised
What I revised
Week 8 of 8
The seventh day
No new ground today. This is the day the week gets kept rather than added to.
What I revised
Minutes
Tick each day you could recite the day before from memory.
Memorised from
To
Pages this week
Total of 604
Page
Page
Page
My target portion
The juz I will strengthen
Days I will recite to my teacher
Ash-Shafi’i complained to Waki’ about his memory and was told to give up sin, because knowledge is a light and Allah does not give His light to somebody disobeying Him. Four questions, once a week, answered privately. Nobody else reads this page.
The stop rule beats every other rule.
If you cannot recite yesterday’s page from memory today, you do not take a new page today. You repair yesterday’s. Breaking this one rule is the single most common reason people spend five years memorising and end with nothing solid.
Part three
Revision, and the long game
These pages outlast the cycle. The first pass through the mushaf is the part people talk about. These sheets are where the second half is won, quietly, for years after the memorising has stopped being the hard bit.
The juz strength grid
Twelve checkpoints across thirty juz. Where next month goes
The manzil cycle
Seven portions, and whether yours has quietly stretched
The khatmah log
Every complete pass through what you hold, from memory
The confusions and teacher logs
The two failure points nobody plans for
سَنُقْرِئُكَ فَلَا تَنسَىٰٓ
We will make you recite, and you will not forget.
Al-A’la 87:6
Part three, the long game
The juz strength grid
Twelve checkpoints, one a month. Recite a page of each juz you hold, from memory, and write a number from 1 to 5 in the box. Then send next month’s manzil quota to whatever scored lowest.
Juz
Juz
Juz
These three own your manzil quota until the next checkpoint. Not the juz you enjoy reciting.
Number
Date
Part three, the long game
The manzil cycle
Seven portions, one for each day of the week. Write the date every time a portion comes round. A cycle that has quietly stretched from seven days to five weeks is invisible until it is on paper.
| Manzil | Surahs | From and to | Count |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 to 4 | Al-Fatihah to An-Nisa | 4 |
| 2 | 5 to 9 | Al-Ma’idah to At-Tawbah | 5 |
| 3 | 10 to 16 | Yunus to An-Nahl | 7 |
| 4 | 17 to 25 | Al-Isra to Al-Furqan | 9 |
| 5 | 26 to 36 | Ash-Shu’ara to Ya-Sin | 11 |
| 6 | 37 to 49 | As-Saffat to Al-Hujurat | 13 |
| 7 | 50 to 114 | Qaf to An-Nas, the mufassal | 65 |
Sat
Manzil
Sun
Manzil
Mon
Manzil
Tue
Manzil
Wed
Manzil
Thu
Manzil
Fri
Manzil
| Manzil | Pass 1 | Pass 2 | Pass 3 | Pass 4 | Pass 5 | Pass 6 | Pass 7 | Pass 8 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ||||||||
| 2 | ||||||||
| 3 | ||||||||
| 4 | ||||||||
| 5 | ||||||||
| 6 | ||||||||
| 7 |
This division comes from a question put to the Companions about how they portioned the Qur’an. It is a well proportioned schedule and it has been used for centuries, but it is offered here as reported practice rather than as a sunnah, because the scholars differ on the report itself. Use it if the proportions suit you, and use a plain seven day split of what you hold if they do not. Neither choice is more correct than the other.
I asked the Companions of the Messenger of Allah how they divided the Qur’an into portions. They said: three, five, seven, nine, eleven, thirteen, and the portion of al-Mufassal on its own.
Part three, the long game
The khatmah log
Every complete pass through what you hold, recited from memory. Not read from the mushaf. This is the single best measure of whether a hifdh is alive, and most people who think theirs is find this page hard to fill.
| No. | Started | Finished | How much | Recited to | How it went |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | |||||
| 2 | |||||
| 3 | |||||
| 4 | |||||
| 5 | |||||
| 6 | |||||
| 7 | |||||
| 8 | |||||
| 9 | |||||
| 10 | |||||
| 11 | |||||
| 12 | |||||
| 13 | |||||
| 14 | |||||
| 15 | |||||
| 16 |
Length I am aiming for
Daily quota that gives
Last full khatmah
اقْرَأِ الْقُرْآنَ فِي كُلِّ سَبْعٍ وَلَا تَزِدْ عَلَى ذَلِكَ
Read the Qur’an once every seven days, and do not do more than that.
Part three, the long game
The confusions log
Mutashabihat: the verses that nearly match other verses. They cause most of the mistakes in most people’s recitation, and they are the one failure you can see coming. Write the pair down and drill them side by side, deliberately.
| The verse | Page | Where it nearly repeats | Page | What actually differs |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Part three, the long game
The confusions log, continued| The verse | Page | Where it nearly repeats | Page | What actually differs |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Part three, the long game
The teacher log
Your own ear forgives what a teacher’s will not. A run of blank weeks on this page is the clearest early warning in the whole diary, and it always shows up here before it shows up in your recitation.
| Date | What I recited | Mistakes | What they told me to fix | Initials |
|---|---|---|---|---|
الْمَاهِرُ بِالْقُرْآنِ مَعَ السَّفَرَةِ الْكِرَامِ الْبَرَرَةِ، وَالَّذِي يَقْرَأُ الْقُرْآنَ وَيَتَتَعْتَعُ فِيهِ وَهُوَ عَلَيْهِ شَاقٌّ لَهُ أَجْرَانِ
The one who is proficient in the Qur’an is with the noble and obedient scribes. And the one who recites the Qur’an haltingly, finding it difficult, has two rewards.
Part three, the long game
The teacher log, continued| Date | What I recited | Mistakes | What they told me to fix | Initials |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Part three, the long game
When you fall behind
Not if. Everybody stops at some point, and the people who finish are simply the ones whose gap between stopping and starting again was short. Here is the return, in five steps.
Do not restart where you stopped
Start where you are still solid, which is usually well behind where you left off. Beginning at the point of collapse is why most returns fail inside a week.
Seven days with no new ground at all
Not one new line. The whole week goes on getting back what you already paid for. New material on top of a collapsed foundation is how people end up with thirty juz and none of them reciteable.
Cut the quota to what you will actually do
Half of what you managed before. If half is still not happening by day three, halve it again. A quota you meet is worth more than a quota you admire.
Get in front of a person in the first three days
Your own ear has been forgiving you for however long you were away. Somebody holding the mushaf will find in ten minutes what you would not have found in a month.
Re-enter new ground only when the gate passes three days running
Three consecutive days of reciting yesterday from memory before you take a new page. Not two. This is the same rule as ever, applied to a person who has just learned what breaking it costs.
I stopped on
I am starting again on
Days lost
The last portion I am still solid on
My reduced quota
The last word
Eight weeks from now.
If you work this diary as it is written, in eight weeks you will have forty eight memorising days behind you, eight seventh days of consolidation, and a map with a real number of pages shaded on it. At five lines a day that is roughly sixteen pages. Most people find that number smaller than they hoped and larger than what they managed in the whole year before.
The number is not the point. The habit that produced it is. Sixteen pages taken this way, with the gate kept and the seventh day honoured, are sixteen pages you still have next year. Sixty pages taken the other way are a memory of having once known something.
When you reach the last sheet, print the log pages again. Carry the map, the surah list and the juz planner forward: those are built to last the whole journey, not the cycle. Then keep going, with the same teacher if you can, at the same hour, in the same mushaf.
The juz strength grid
Twelve checkpoints, one a month, thirty juz. Rate each one from memory, then send next month’s manzil quota to whatever scored lowest. This is how you stop revising your favourite juz for a year.
The manzil cycle
Seven portions, one for each day of the week, on the division the Companions were asked about. Log the date every time a portion comes round so that a cycle that has quietly stretched from seven days to five weeks becomes visible.
The khatmah log
Every complete pass through what you hold, from memory. The single best measure of whether a hifdh is alive.
The confusions log
The verses that nearly match other verses are responsible for most of the mistakes in most people’s recitation. Write down the pair and what differs, and drill them side by side on purpose.
The teacher log
Dates, portion, mistakes, and their initials. A run of blank weeks here is the clearest early warning in the whole diary.
أَنْ تَجْعَلَ الْقُرْآنَ رَبِيعَ قَلْبِي، وَنُورَ صَدْرِي، وَجِلَاءَ حُزْنِي، وَذَهَابَ هَمِّي
That You make the Qur’an the spring of my heart, the light of my chest, the lifting of my sorrow and the going of my worry.
The closing request of a longer supplication. Abdullah ibn Mas’ud. Musnad Ahmad. Graded sahih by al-Albani in as-Silsilah as-Sahihah 199.
My TijarahThe gate needs somebody on the other side of it.
Every sheet in this diary has a box for reciting to a teacher, and that box is the one that decides whether the rest of the page was worth filling in. Your own ear forgives what a teacher’s will not. Untested hifdh has a way of being much worse than it feels.
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