Remembering

In the Reading God tells us that it has been made easy to remember,

but memorisation is a skill that tends to be practised less and less in the electronic age,

memory being thought of as something on a chip.

So we may not have the facility from practice of memory that the non-literate Arabs would have relied on,

but even at the time of the Messenger, not too many could be said to have remembered the entire Qur'an.

After all, it was still being revealed while the Messenger was still alive.

And the sheer volume of words asked a lot of anyone attempting the task,

many hours of concentration,

more or less a full time job each day to stay on top of it.

So it required a considerable commitment then, just as it does now,

so much so that it is mostly treated as a course of several years of full time study, eventually affording somewhat limited employment possibilities.

To become Hafiz requires many praiseworthy qualities to complete the task,

such as patience, commitment, and devotion.

So for all the memorable beauty of the Reading's literal form,

its rhymes and rhythms,

rather than attempt it as a book with a start and finish,

it is easier for most muslims to think of it a Sura at a time.

When looked at this way, we can see another advantage of members of the early community learning it in parts.

The superficially haphazard content of the suras means that learning one sura gives insight into several different themes of the Reading.

Before printed copies of the Qur'an were available to everyone,

each person that knew a different sura would be able to contribute what they had learned to the communal knowledge of the group,

complementary information with regard to stories told,

and different viewpoints and perspectives on themes that the Reading gives in different Suras,

But the early companions also learned a few ayats at a time,

each verse considered precious.

Teaching a few ayats was enough to serve as mahr for those who had nothing else to give.

And just a few verses more than the seven oft repeated are enough for a muslim to make the Sala.

For those who have difficulty learning the longer Suras near to the start of the Qur'an,

they can always stay with the shorter Suras at the end,

so many of which have a poetic rhyme and rhythm that makes them eminently memorable.

These were the Revelations that amazed and enchanted those who gathered around the Messenger in the early days of the community.

These were the suras that opened people's hearts

and caused non-believers to fall down in surrender.