An
Interview with Umm Saulih,
a Grandmother Who Completed Memorizing the Quran at 82 Years
Old
As Read by Dr. Salih as Salih
----------------------------
Al-Hamdulillaah (All-Praise is due to Allah), the One Who
said (what means): "And in truth We have made the Quran
easy to remember; but is there any that remembers?"
Surah 54: 32.
Many all over the world memorize the Quran, and it is not
strange to see the youth memorizing the Noble Quran and
an early age. Al-Hamdulillaah, the One who made the Quran
easy for remembrance, had made it easy for Umm Saulih age
82. In an interview with Umm Saulih, she was asked the following
questions:
Q1:
"What was the reason that drove you to memorize the
Quran after so many years?"
She said, "I always hoped to memorize the Quran from
the time I was young. My father always used to invoke Allah
for me to become one of the memorizers of the Quran, like
himself and like the elder brothers of my family who memorized
it. So I memorized in the beginning about three parts and
then after I completed the age of thirteen, I got married
and became busy with the household and the children. After
I had seven children, my husband died. They (the children)
were all young so I took the time to raise them and educate
them, and then after they grew up and got married, I had
more time for myself. Therefore, the first thing I directed
myself to focus upon was the Quran.
Q2: "Tell us about your journey with the Noble Quran."
She said, "My younger daughter was going to high school
and she was the closest of my children to me and the most
beloved, because she stayed with me after her older sisters
got married and got busy with their lives, and because she
was a quiet girl, upright, loving, and good. In addition,
she was interested in learning the Noble Quran, and her
teachers encouraged her.
Furthermore, she was very enthusiastic and always told me
of many women who were driven by this great motivation to
memorize the Quran, and this is where I started."
Q3: "Tell me about your way of memorization."
She said, "We assigned ten verses (meaning her and
her daughter who was going to high school). So each day
after ASR, we used to sit together. She reads and I repeat
after her three times. Then she explains the meaning to
me, and after a while, she repeats that three times. On
the next morning, she repeats them to me before she goes
to school.
She
recorded also the recitations of Ash Shaykh al Husary, Rahimuhullaah,
repeating each verse three times and thus I continued to
listen most of the time. Therefore, the next day we would
go to the next ten verses if my memorization was good. Otherwise,
we would postpone taking additional verses until the day
after. Moreover, we assigned the day of Friday to review
the memorizations of the entire week. And this was the journey
from the beginning."
Then
she said, "Over four years and a half, I memorized
twelve juz" according to the way I described to you.
Then this young daughter got married. When her husband knew
of our task concerning the memorization, he rented a house
close to me, close to my house, so that he could allow the
continuation of the memorization. In addition, he, May Allah
reward him used to encourage us and sometimes sit with us
listening, explaining and teaching.
Then
after three years of her marriage, my daughter got busy
with the children and the household and our schedule was
interrupted, but that did not make her give up. To the contrary,
she sensed that my eagerness for the memorization was still
established so she looked for a special good teacher to
continue the journey under her supervision. So, I completed
the memorization by the success of Allah and my daughter
is still working to finish the memorization of the Glorious
Quran. She has a little left, In Shaa Allaah Ta'aala.
Q4: "This motivation of yours, did it have an effect
on other women around you?"
She said, "It really had a good strong effect. My daughters
and stepdaughters were all encouraged and worked on learning
and teaching the Quran to their children and learning it
themselves.
Q5: "Over this period of memorization of the Quran,
did your life change? Was it affected in one way or another?"
She said, "Yes, I went through a major change and I
tried always, all praise is due to Allah, to obey Allah
before I started the memorization. However, after I started
the task of memorization, I began to feel a self-comfort,
a great self-comfort and all worries began to move away
from me. I even reached the stage of freeing myself from
all these excessive worries concerning fearing for the children
and their affairs, and my morale was boosted.
I
had a noble objective to work for and this is a great Ni'mah
(Favour) from Allah. upon me, since we know that some women,
when they get old and they do not have a husband, and their
children got married, may be destroyed by the empty time,
thoughts, worries, and so forth. But, Alhamdulillah, I didn't
go through this and I made myself busy with a great task
and a great objective.
Q8: "What do you say to a woman of your age who wishes
to learn and memorize the Quran yet she is worried about
it and feeling unable to?"
She said, "I say to her, there shall be no despair
with the firm, sincere and truthful determination. Begin
with sincerity, firm determination and dependence on Allah
at each time. And remember that at this age you should have
the time for yourself. However, do not use your time to
only go out or to sleep and so forth. Rather, busy yourself
with righteous work.
Q9: "Now what would you say to a woman who is still
young? What would you advise her?"
She, May Allah preserve her, said: "Preserve Allah
and He will preserve you. Make use of the favour of Allah
bestowed upon you from health and ways and means of comfort.
Use that to memorize the Book of Allah. This is the light
which enlivens your heart, your life and your grave after
you die.
And if you have a mother then exert the effort to teach
her, and there is no better favour upon a mother than one
of her righteous children aiding her to be close to Allah."