Al-Insomniyya

MEMORISED: SURAH KAHF JUZ 1  35 pages   Remaining: 565 pages 1.8 juz   Remaining: 28.2 juz CONSISTENCY: 55 days of learning. Missed days = 0 (Referring to learning new portion. Revision has included couple of days missed which has to stop) PLAN: 7.5 Lines/day (half a page) Wake up 1 hour earlier - revise recent 3 pages once and then new portion. Review all of Baqarah every day at least once. Make sure to do all reviews from now on - not one missed day. ANKI - prioritise Surah Baqarah/Hifz vocab if can't do the other decks. Revise Surah Kahf at least twice a week. So if I do half a page from now on: SURAH BAQARAH SHOULD BE COMPLETED ON FEB 19 2016 (in sha Allah)

Alhamdulillah I finished Juz 1 a couple of days ago. Felt very emotional, almost tearful, when I memorised the last verse (and I'm certainly not either of those generally!). Ideally I would have liked to blog at the time, but always running out of time. A few points to reflect on: The review plan as previously mentioned does work if stuck to. There was a period of 2-3 days when some of the review was neglected due to revision for Arabic exams. This part of the juz is subsequently now weak. When I see a 'trigger word' I can read that whole section but then seem to stumble again at the end of that 5 lines. I realise its not just memorising and being aware of the meaning. When you memorise a part, you are also impritinting that section, that screenshot into your memory. And when you do too much in one go (or leave a few pages weak and so have to do them together), it can get muddled. Whilst my previous plan was to stick to 5 lines a day until end of Surah Baqarah and

Inevitably I'm having to make sacrifices in the pursuit of hifz at this stage of my life. Some of the things that are being sacrificed: Gym - I cancelled my gym membership yesterday. I've been a regularly gym goer since my late teens so this is a big sacrifice. Two years I will not go gym. I will go back to kickboxing in January inshallah but the marathon 2-3 hours heavy lifting several times a week will come to a halt for now. My routine for now is homebased: Running twice a week on the treadmill Chin ups/Pull ups every other day - takes just 10mins. Lets see what changes this brings about. FA/Nk every other day. Marriage - ha, the bane of my parents' lives. Every time they can bring it up they will. I'm not too fussed about this myself, but am aware the later I leave things the more difficult it will be to find someone from a seemingly already super fussy bunch of great British Muslim women. But if I can get hifz done in the next 2 years I really dont care.

Last Sunday, I missed my A level Arabic class in the morning so that I could catch up on everything and generally was a little fatigued from working many days in a row, and a particuarly stressful T+O shift on the Saturday. I should mention, I say fatigue in retrospect as I keep pushing myself and driving myself. I'm not sure if its the self discipline and willpower that I have instilled over the last few years or just adrenaline at finally having some control over my life and fulfilling this one big goal of mine.  Despite the above for some reason I ended up distressed at times during that day, losing focus. I started late, having wasted some time on the internet in the morning. I once read the first hour sets the rudder for the day and this certainly was true. I mention this day as it was a day when I - momentarily - wanted to give up. Only in salaah was I able to focus and revise some of the Quran.  However, by the next day I was fine and I'm still chugging along, consis