Where to Start Memorising the Qur'an: Juz 'Amma or Baqarah?
Where to start memorising the Qur'an: Juz 'Amma, al-Baqarah or a goal surah? How to choose the right first surah for your age, reading and aims.
Where to start memorising the Qur'an depends on your reading and your goal, but for most beginners the answer is Juz 'Amma, the thirtieth part, beginning with its shortest surahs. If you already read fluently and want the whole Qur'an, starting from Surah al-Baqarah is also sound. Both have scholarly support; the right one is the one you can keep.
This guide sets out the real starting points side by side, with their sizes taken from the mushaf, then helps you choose by age and by goal. It ends with a plan for your first month and the early mistakes that make people stop. It is written for adults starting hifz, parents choosing a first surah for a child, and anyone returning after a break.
Where should a beginner start memorising the Qur'an?
A beginner can start memorising the Qur'an either at the front with Surah al-Baqarah or at the back with the short surahs, and scholars have allowed both. Asked exactly this question, Shaykh Muhammad ibn Salih al-'Uthaymin advised starting with al-Baqarah, unless the person finds the mufaṣṣal easier: the surahs from Qaf to the end of the Qur'an, which are shorter and which people hear constantly from the imam. If that is easier for you, he said, start there (IslamQA 22332, from his Kitab al-'Ilm).
In the same answer he gave the advice that matters more than the starting point: look after what you have already memorised before adding more. A short surah you can still recite in a year is worth more than two pages of al-Baqarah that slip away within months.
Starting with the short surahs also has a precedent among the Companions. Imam al-Bukhari placed this report under the chapter heading Teaching the Qur'an to children: Ibn 'Abbas (may Allah be pleased with him) said that when the Prophet ﷺ died he was a boy of ten and had already learned the muḥkam. Asked by his student Sa'id ibn Jubayr what the muḥkam is, he said: the mufaṣṣal (Sahih al-Bukhari 5035 and 5036).
The common starting points compared
The common starting points for hifz differ hugely in size, so it helps to see them together. Figures below are from the standard 604-page Madinah mushaf:
| Starting point | Size | Best for | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Al-Fatihah | 7 ayat, page 1 | Everyone, first of all | Memorising it with mistakes you then repeat in every prayer |
| Juz 'Amma, from an-Nas backwards | 37 surahs, 564 ayat, pages 582 to 604 | Children, new readers, adults restarting | Leaving the longer surahs at its start (an-Naba', an-Nazi'at) for too long |
| Juz Tabarak (Juz 29) | 11 surahs, 431 ayat, opening with al-Mulk | A natural next step after Juz 'Amma | Longer ayat; your reading needs to be steady |
| The mufassal (Qaf to an-Nas) | 65 surahs, from page 518 to the end | A bigger target that stays at the familiar end | Assuming every surah is short: some of the first ones are long |
| Surah al-Baqarah | 286 ayat, pages 2 to 49 | Fluent readers aiming for the whole Qur'an in mushaf order | Long ayat and similar passages; very hard without a teacher |
| A goal passage | e.g. the first ten ayat of al-Kahf | A specific Sunnah-based target | Treating it as a whole hifz plan |
Why start memorising with Juz 'Amma?
Juz 'Amma is the most common recommendation for beginners because its surahs are short, familiar and immediately useful. The juz takes its name from its first word:
عَمَّ يَتَسَآءَلُونَ
“About what are they asking one another?”
Three things make it the natural first step. Its 37 surahs include the shortest in the Qur'an, so you finish whole surahs within days and see real progress. You have heard many of them in congregational prayers for years, which is exactly the point Shaykh Ibn 'Uthaymin made. And you can recite what you learn in your own salah straight away, which gives you daily revision without extra time.
Backwards from an-Nas, or forwards from an-Naba'?
Many learners start Juz 'Amma at the very end and work backwards: an-Nas (6 ayat), al-Falaq (5), al-Ikhlas (4), and so on towards the front of the juz. The surahs generally grow longer as you go back, so the difficulty rises gently. Starting at an-Naba' (40 ayat) and an-Nazi'at (46 ayat) means beginning with some of the longest surahs in the juz, which is a hard first week for a new reader.
When does it make sense to start with Surah al-Baqarah?
Starting with Surah al-Baqarah makes sense when you already read fluently, have a teacher, and aim to memorise the whole Qur'an in the order of the mushaf. It was Shaykh Ibn 'Uthaymin's default advice, and the surah carries a virtue of its own:
اقْرَءُوا سُورَةَ الْبَقَرَةِ فَإِنَّ أَخْذَهَا بَرَكَةٌ وَتَرْكَهَا حَسْرَةٌ وَلاَ تَسْتَطِيعُهَا الْبَطَلَةُ
“Recite Surah al-Baqara, for to take recourse to it is a blessing and to give it up is a cause of grief, and the magicians cannot confront it.”
Be honest about the size of the task. Al-Baqarah is the longest surah in the Qur'an: 286 ayat over 48 pages, filling nearly all of the first two juz and the start of the third. Its ayat are long, and many passages resemble each other, which is where self-taught learners slip. If you choose it, take small portions (five lines or half a page), keep the same mushaf throughout, and recite each new portion to a teacher before you move on.
Where should you start by age?
The best place to start memorising the Qur'an changes with age, because children and adults learn differently. Children memorise easily by ear but tire of long passages; adults understand more but have less time and often weaker reading.
Young children
Young children do best with al-Fatihah and then the shortest surahs at the end of Juz 'Amma, learned by listening and repeating with a parent or teacher, a few minutes at a time. Keep it warm and short; a child who enjoys an-Nas and al-Ikhlas will ask for the next one. For the pacing side, see supporting your child's hifz without burnout.
Older children and teenagers
Older children who read well can finish Juz 'Amma and move to Juz Tabarak, or begin al-Baqarah with a hifz teacher if the family is aiming for the whole Qur'an. This is often the age to choose a direction deliberately, before school pressure grows, rather than drifting surah by surah.
Adults
Adults should choose by reading level more than age. If your reading is slow, start with Juz 'Amma and let the short surahs train your reading as you memorise. If you read fluently and can protect a daily slot, al-Baqarah is open to you. Either way, the routine decides the outcome more than the starting point: a realistic hifz routine for busy adults shows how to fit new lessons and revision around work. And if memorising feels slow, the Prophet ﷺ said the struggle itself is rewarded:
مَثَلُ الَّذِي يَقْرَأُ الْقُرْآنَ وَهْوَ حَافِظٌ لَهُ مَعَ السَّفَرَةِ الْكِرَامِ الْبَرَرَةِ، وَمَثَلُ الَّذِي يَقْرَأُ الْقُرْآنَ وَهْوَ يَتَعَاهَدُهُ وَهْوَ عَلَيْهِ شَدِيدٌ، فَلَهُ أَجْرَانِ
“Such a person as recites the Qur'an and masters it by heart, will be with the noble righteous scribes (in Heaven). And such a person exerts himself to learn the Qur'an by heart, and recites it with great difficulty, will have a double reward.”
Where should you start by goal?
Which surah to memorise first should also follow what you want from the Qur'an, because different goals point to different first surahs:
| Your goal | Start with | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Better, more varied salah | Al-Fatihah, then short surahs of Juz 'Amma | Each new surah goes straight into your prayers |
| The whole Qur'an | Al-Baqarah with a teacher, or Juz 'Amma first and then the front | Mushaf order from the start, or confidence first |
| A passage the Sunnah singles out | The first ten ayat of al-Kahf | Sahih Muslim 809, below |
| A short surah with a known virtue | Surah al-Mulk | Thirty ayat, the opening of Juz 29 |
| Understanding as you go | Short surahs studied with their meaning | Short passages leave time to learn the words |
مَنْ حَفِظَ عَشْرَ آيَاتٍ مِنْ أَوَّلِ سُورَةِ الْكَهْفِ عُصِمَ مِنَ الدَّجَّالِ
“If anyone learns by heart the first ten verses of the Surah al-Kahf, he will be protected from the Dajjal.”
A goal passage like this sits well alongside Juz 'Amma rather than replacing it. Surah al-Mulk works the same way: it opens Juz Tabarak, it is thirty ayat, and you can read about its virtue in Surah al-Mulk, the protector in the grave.
What should you memorise in your first month?
In your first month of memorising the Qur'an, aim to lock in al-Fatihah and a handful of short surahs, with a routine you can keep. The plan below covers where to begin; for the memorising technique itself, see how to memorise the Qur'an: a beginner's method.
A first-month plan
- 1
Have your recitation checked
Recite al-Fatihah and the last three surahs to a teacher. Fix any letter that comes out wrong now, before memorising sets it in place.
- 2
Choose one mushaf and keep it
Memorise from the same printed mushaf every day, so your memory holds the page layout as well as the words.
- 3
Start at the end of Juz 'Amma
Work backwards from an-Nas: al-Falaq, al-Ikhlas, al-Masad, an-Nasr, al-Kafirun, al-Kawthar, and on as far as your pace allows.
- 4
Keep each portion small
Take only what you can still recite perfectly the next day. For many beginners that is a few short ayat, or one short surah, per sitting.
- 5
Use every surah in your salah
Recite your newest surahs in your sunnah and fard prayers. That is daily revision with no extra time.
- 6
Revise before you add
Start each session by reciting everything learned so far. The murajaah revision system explains how to scale this as your hifz grows.
وَلَقَدْ يَسَّرْنَا ٱلْقُرْءَانَ لِلذِّكْرِ فَهَلْ مِن مُّدَّكِرٍ
“And We have certainly made the Qur’ān easy for remembrance, so is there any who will remember?”
Mistakes that make beginners give up
Most beginners who give up on hifz chose a starting point that did not match their reading or their week. These habits keep you going:
Do
- Start where you can finish something within the first week
- Get al-Fatihah checked by a teacher before anything else
- Pick one direction (backwards through Juz 'Amma, or forwards from al-Baqarah) and stay with it
- Recite new surahs in your prayers the same day
- Revise everything you know before learning anything new
Don’t
- Begin with al-Baqarah while you still read word by word
- Hop between surahs you like without a plan
- Memorise from a different mushaf or app each day
- Measure progress by pages added instead of pages kept
- Wait until you feel ready: a short surah today beats a perfect plan next year
If you would like someone to check your recitation and set your first portions, you can find a Qur'an teacher of your choice for one-to-one lessons, online and at times that suit you.
Key takeaways
- For most beginners, the best place to start memorising the Qur'an is Juz 'Amma, working backwards from its shortest surahs.
- Shaykh Ibn 'Uthaymin advised starting with al-Baqarah unless the shorter surahs from Qaf onwards are easier for you, in which case start there.
- Ibn 'Abbas had learned the mufassal by the age of ten (Sahih al-Bukhari 5035), so starting children with the short surahs has a clear precedent.
- Choose by reading level and goal: fluent readers aiming for the whole Qur'an can start with al-Baqarah with a teacher, and goal passages such as the first ten ayat of al-Kahf can sit alongside.
- Whatever you choose, get al-Fatihah correct first and revise what you have before adding more.
Further reading
My Tijarah
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