The Four-Stage Memorisation Process Used in Terengganu, Malaysia
Exploring how students at a school in Malaysia complete their Hifdh of the Holy Qur’ān.
✦ This article has been updated and republished at How To Memorise The Quran — be sure to read it there! ✦
Ever since I started memorising the Holy Qur’ān, I was always obsessed with discovering different techniques and methods for the most effective Hifdh of the Qur’ān. This sent me across the world and over the last two decades the learning and discoveries still continue on. I’m still amazed by what I find and love to experiment with them.
This curiosity leads me to occasionally search for Google, and as we all do, we find ourselves stumbling across interesting bits of information. Recently, one such search led me to discover a 2013 study done at “Madrasah Tahfiz al-Quran” in Kubang Bujuk, Terengganu (Malaysia). The students at this Malaysian school were able to recite the entire Qur’ān by heart in just a 15 hour period — Ma shā’ Allāh. Don’t worry! They take breaks for prayer, food, and drink — Alhamdulillh.
The study explores the method they use to complete memorisation but in particular answer a central question. What approach and technique are used in order to produce individuals that can recite the entire Qur’ān within a 15-hour period. The study, however, doesn’t explore why the method at hand produces these results. Secondly, it doesn’t factor in its application when used with different ages, genders, formats, and contexts. In fact, although it doesn’t mention the age groups, we are safe to assume that they will be young people.
What I will do here is present the method as presented in the study (without looking into it further through the people of Malaysia) and then deep dive into its application. The disadvantage of this is that there’s a lot of assumptions when filling in gaps of information. The advantage of this is that it allows me to show you how to think about a method that you read about online. If you are reading this and you’re from Malaysia, you might know this method. If you do, get in touch.
Let’s take a look at it.
✦ This article has been updated and republished at How To Memorise The Quran — be sure to read it there! ✦
