Al-Insomniyya

So it finally happened - I got to a point where I missed a day, then another..then 6 days went by. This was compounded by the heartsinking constant feeling knowing that different parts of my previously learnt parts were anywhere from very strong to weak to crumbling to gone. This last week has been horrible - almost like a bereavement, a feeling of hollowness and emptiness as I simply didnt even touch the Quran. I sincerely hope this is because a connection is developing between myself and Allah and his words, and less so because I've fallen behind in my plan and goals. But today I started reading again, and made a plan and instantly feel better. As when we fall down, its more important to learn and make ammends rather than sulk. The two biggest problems I've had until now: I've not had a consistent plan for everything that I've learnt i.e. revision Stumbling across unfamiliar words, because I hadnt learnt them advanced enough in ANKI WHAT HAS TO...

A post I've been wanting to write for a while, and that is how my Quranic Arabic is progressing, inadvertently (but very satisfying) as a by-product of doing Hifz via understanding. So all these years (at least 3-4 now) I've acquired vocabulary via ANKI i.e. rote learning and made reasonable progress. I've always heard and read you acquire best via reading, but from previous experience I became dependent on that context and couldnt always recognise vocab in other contexts, especially as I didnt (and still dont) have a great knowledge of sarf, and that the same word can appear in different forms according to the Arabic morphological system. One thing I will say however, I am won over - having gone through Surah Kahf and now most of Surah Baqarah - reading (or in my case memorising) really works. If I open a page of the Quran in Surah Baqarah (from a section I havent already done), there are only 3-4 words that I dont recognise i.e. I can translate 90%. From a cursory l...

I've kept up my half a pages, but again losing track of previous sections, let alone the first half of Surah Baqarah or even Surah Kahf. I've booked a week off in second week of February and need to use that round the clock.

I wrote a post earlier where I mentioned some of the things I've had to sacrifice, such as gym, the decision to discontinue my spoken Arabic class after the completion of A level in the summer, watching TV etc. But there are also other things - less 'concrete' things as it were - that you have to sacrifice if you want to pursue hifz. And these include wider reading. A friend mentioned a book that Shaykh Hamza Yusuf had based a talk on, on advising on the detrimental affects of TV (called 'Remotely controlled' if you were wondering). I considered ordering that today, then looked at all the unread books on my shelf that I had ordered in a similar fashion. Its the same reason I cant listen to the talks recently on interesting topics such as Islamophobia by Sh Yasir Qadhi and an aqeedah series by Sh Hamza Yusuf (not necessarily saying I agree or disagree with either of them). The ongoing 'mawlid debate' between dawah man and Imam Asim. Let's be honest as m...

Notes: Learning half a page took only 20mins. Maybe just easy passage (no repition from previously). But also on top of ANKI vocab again so no stumbling points alhamdulillah.

Notes: Much happier/smoother now that ANKI is back on track. I've separated the Baqarah deck from the rest so that at least that gets done. Revising the last 5 pages x 5 is vital. Today the first time was very rusty, but by the time I had done it 3-4 times and by the fifth time it was much better. But had I left it for tomorrow it would have been very difficult. 443 days from now until target date of March 31 2017. Given today is day 77, thats a total of 520 days.  Therefore today is day 77/520

Today: Although at home and thought I worked quite efficiently, the half a page took 1hr15. It was quite a difficult passage for some reason. Unknown words again a sticking point, but in general was difficult passage. So doesnt always get done in half an hour...

So I was pretty horrified that I could only recall pages 1-11 of Baqarah and hardly anything of Surah Kahf (I've 'memorised' p1-29 of Surah Baqarah and all of Surah Kahf (12 pages) to date). With Kahf I didnt even bother giving it a good go as I'm confusing parts of it up. I do know large parts of it will come back very quickly inshaAllah. Similarly with the second half of juz 1. The first few pages of Juz 2 will be more difficult I'm anticipated. Given that I've 'memorised' 41 pages, thats a recall of 29%. It's disheartening, but the key now, as with any problem, is to break it down. I think I can very quickly recover 1 page from each Surah Kahf and Baqarah and I will attempt this for now. In fact, lets not get too ambitious and just keep it at one page a day, whilst making sure to stay on top of anything new learnt from now on. There's 30 pages to be recovered. A page a day and inshAllah by Feb 7 it all should be recovered. Mornings -...

Day Missed Days Pages learnt to date Pages recalled today (Kahf/Baqr) Time taken Page fixed from Baqarah (+ time) Page fixed from Kahf (+ time) New portion learnt (+which page) Last 3 pages revised 5 x ANKI deck revised Discrepancy (pages recalled/pages learnt) 72 0 41 12 (1/11) 16mins P29 .5 12/41

I've flown through half of juz 2, and I'm very very worried. I've missed days of recapping the previous few days work. I have no idea whether I can recall any of Juz 2 beyond what was learnt yesterday. This has to stop. Today I will calculate how much I can recall from everything I have learnt (Surah Kahf and Surah Baqarah up to page 30) and then add a 'recovery' page each day inshaAllah until I get to a point where I can recall everything. Just memorising the new portion is near enough pointless if you dont retain. It's obvious. Everyone knows it but a system needs to be in place for retention. I will log every day from now on in sha Allah.

So today I completed page 28, which coupled with 12 pages from Surah Kahf means alhamdulillah that's 2 juz complete in total. More than I got done in an entire year of 'hifz' when I attempted (or rather dreamed about attempting) when I was 19/20 on a year out. Anyway some positives: CONSISTENCY: Alhamdulillah I have been consistent for 70 days now . Not one day have I missed on learning a new portion. Even on on-call days I make sure that I memorise my half a page. This Sunday just gone I was on surgical on call on a shift that ended up being 14 hours. Despite that I came home, did my chin ups and then my hifz.  EFFICIENCY: For the most part I have been efficient alhamdulillah. Especially when learning the new portion. Certainly when learning the new portion each day. With previous pages I need to be more efficient. VOCAB: Even words that I dont know (I've fallen behind on ANKI again) I end up learning quickly. They are inevitably the sticking points when ...