Road Map

When I am about to visit a new location, I must always refer to a road map. I like to see the exact position of the place (eg. in which part of KL). That’s how my brain works ie. to see the big picture first. Then only I zoom in that tiny intended location that is sometimes not even mentioned in the big map.

It is very important for me to see the big picture first because just in case I missed a turn, I still know my bearing and can easily manoeuvre the next turn because I’ve got the idea of how to get there.

Instead of a map, using GPS is fairly easy but it is equivalent to using a calculator to solve a math problem (you get answer in split seconds without having to compute the arithmetic itself). You get to that location but you’ll probably not bother to see the big picture. A location will just be a GPS number code. If your GPS suddenly decide to fall dead on you, you’ll also be dead if you're about to attend an important meeting.

Likewise, you can use the same concept of seeing the big picture to understand & memorise the Quran. Before you even start with learning the first alphabet “alif”, you must appreciate that there are 114 Chapters (Surah) altogether in the Quran. It starts with the first chapter (Surah Al-Fatiha) and ends with the 114^th chapter (Surah An-Naas).

Each chapters (Surah) has different number of verses (ayat). The shortest chapters (ie. Surah An-Nasr, Al-Kauthar, Al-‘Asr) all have 3 verses. The longest chapter (Surah Al-Baqarah) has 286 verses.

All these 114 chapters are grouped into 30 Juzuk (no.1 – 30). Since Chapter 2 (Surah Al-Baqarah) has 286 verses (telling a very long story), the verses spanned into 3 different Juzuk (Juzuk 1, 2 & 3).

The 30^th Juzuk consists of Chapter 78 (Surah An-Naba) to Chapter 114 (Surah An-Naas). The 30^th Juzuk is also known as “Juzuk Amma” (a.k.a Muqaddam). Juzuk Amma starts with Chapter 78 (Surah An-Naba) with the verses “Amma yatasaa alun...”.

Btw Surah Ya-sin is at Chapter 36 and has 83 verses.

It is good if you can memorise the names of all the chapters in number order (1 to 114). Yes, MEMORISE them all. Later, it will be easier for you to memorise the verses from one chapter to another.

Better still if you can remember how many verses are there in each chapter. Then you can proceed to read the first verses over & over again and try to remember the verses page by page. Once you do that... you’re just a few steps away to become a Hafiz/ah (InsyaAllah).

All you need to do now is to appreciate the road map & see the big picture first. Then slowly zoom into the minute details. The best thing to do is to read the Arabic verses side by side with the language translation. By this way, you can learn Arabic at the same time.

For those who have been reading Quran every single day, congratulations to you!

For those who have not, happy ‘Quran-Revisited’ day!