Memorizing the Qur’an, why not? (Promise of ease from God, Benefits and Psychological Process)

Have we ever listened to a piece of music and over time memorized the lyrics by itself? Or maybe some of us have memorized the Qur'an but are slowly starting to forget? So how exactly is that memory formed in our brain?

We first begin our discussion of the word of God in Sura Al-Qomar verses 17, 22, 32, and 40.

وَلَقَدۡ يَسَّرۡنَا ٱلۡقُرۡءَانَ لِلذِّكۡرِ فَهَلۡ مِن مُّدَّكِرٖ

It means: "And indeed have We made it easy for the Quran to be learned, then is there anyone who takes the lesson?"

"The use of the word "qad" preceded by "lam ta'kid" (lam to cement meaning) gives the sense that Allah was involved in the event of "facilitating the Qur'an". These conveniences include the ease of memorizing, reading, and interpreting them. (Ahsin Sakho, Memorizing the Qur'an, 2017:16)

Hamka in his interpretation also says the Qur'an is a holy book that Allah makes it easy for man to read and memorize it as long as the man has the will. This is proven by the number of non-Arab nations who can read it and study it, until scientific fields such as tafsir, Sufism, balaghah science, philosophical science, nahwu science and sharaf science, manthiq and ma'ani science and other sciences derived from the Qur'an. (Hamka, Al-Azhar, juz 8, 20 21:580)

Ad-Dhahhak narrates from Ibn Abbas when interpreting the verse "If it were not Allah who made it easy to read for the tongue of the son of Adam, no one would be able to converse with the conversation of Allah that He delivered to His servant" (Ibn Katsir, Tafsir al-Qur'an al-Adhim, vol. 9, 2016:685)

Before discussing the memorization process, let's first discuss the benefits:

1. Spiritual benefits

The Qur'an is a blessed book, blessing means a lot of goodness to something. Then those who memorize the Qur'an will download the blessing constantly. When we are reciting the Qur'an, we will also continue to repeat the verse, so that the more it is repeated, the more reward it will be achieved.

1. Ethical and moral benefits

Memorizing the Qur'an will also create an ethical generation. As an illustration, a memorizer of the Qur'an must deposit it with the teacher with great ethics and courtesy. If this continues and will be repeated, indirectly the ethics and decency will be internalized in a person.

1. Intellectual benefits

One of the benefits of memorizing the Qur'an will also increase a person's intelligence, this is because someone who is memorizing will use his brain continuously and activate the cells in his brain. The statement is also supported by scientific evidence in the field of neuroscience. Every time we learn something new, then the cells of parts of our brain will form a new neural network according to the plasticity of the brain.

Speaking of memorization, what exactly is going on in our brains?

In psychological science, memorization is closely related to memory. That is the memory of past information or experiences that are the result of the process of encoding (codification), storage (storing), and retrieval (recall).

Encoding or codification is the first step of memory, which is the process of how information enters our memory. This process also involves attention . It can be intentionally or unintentionally, for example when we are on the road suddenly something catches our attention and after that we remember it. Meanwhile, those who deliberately pay special attention to something we usually call memorization activities. In this codification process also involves all our senses, so sometimes it is not surprising why some students who are memorizing the Qur'an have a special place to memorize and repeat the memorization.

The process of memory codification is also influenced by the level of processing, which is a series of memory processes starting from shallow, intermediate to the deepest.

1. The process of superficial memory involves the physical and inherent perceptions then analyzed. For example, when we look at the arches, lines and dots that show the hijaiyyah letters, then from the letters form a distinctive pattern, then we will recognize that it is like a verse of the Qur'an.
2. The memory process is when a stimulus has been recognized and labeled. For example, we recognize the hijaiyah letter as a verse of the Qur'an in a certain section e.g. Juz 26 surat al-Ahqaf .
3. The deep-level memory process already involves meaning, meaning, and symbol characteristics. For example, in Juz 26 surah al-Ahqaf verses 29-32 discusses a group of 1-9 male Jinns with a leader named Zauba'ah having faith after listening to the Prophet Shalallahu 'alaihi wasallam recite the Qur'an and the event occurred after unsuccessfully proselytizing in Thaif.

One of the most powerful methods of memorization is with imagination, that is, the use of imagery that a person brings up an image that is related to every thing that needs to be remembered. For example, when we memorize the Qur'an by involving the imagination as if the stories in the Qur'an are happening today and we are witnessing them, this way memorizing verses related to the story will be stronger and easier to represent.

A memory requires proper storage, the process of codification is not merely a single determinant of memory quality. Storage includes how information is stored over time and how it is represented in memory. Richard Atkinson and Richard Shiffrin came up with a popular theory about memory. Theori Atkinson–Shiffrin states that the storage of memory is divided into three, namely:

1. Sensory memory: a stimulus that we receive and we remember in a fraction of a second to a few seconds. Sensory memory is so rich in stimulus and detail, but we will quickly forget about it. Like when we walk in a crowded place. There are sounds of vehicle engines, vehicle klakso, music from the roadside, birds chirping and others that we realize are recorded in our sensory memory.
2. Short-term memory: a stimulus that we receive and we remember within a few seconds to 30 seconds, unless someone uses some means to make the memory last longer. An information that we pay particular attention to will be stored in this memory. Although it is more able to remember for a long time compared to sensory memory, short-term memory has limitations in remembering information.

George Miller in an experiment (Miller, 1956) to examine how many words or numbers humans can remember without a help find, that the number of numbers or words is 7+/-2. Which means a person can remember between 5-9 groups of words/numbers at the level of short-term memory.

1. Long-term memory: a stimulus that we receive in and we remember in some time to a lifetime. This memory is a relatively permanent type of memory that stores a large amount of information for a long time. This memory capacity is staggering. John von Neumann (1958), the leading mathematician, put the measure at 2.8 × 10 20 (²⁸⁰ trillion) bits, which practically means our storage capacity is almost unlimited. Von Neumann assumes that we never forget anything, but remembers that we forget things, but we can store several billion times more information than computers.

Retrieval or memory recall is a process that occurs when information stored in memory is taken out of storage. It's like our memory is a big data bank neatly arranged like a library, then once we want to find certain information on a particular book.

If this is indeed a memory capacity in our brain, then how can we forget an information?

Forgetting can be explained by retention theory, that is, the ability to remember the material taught up to a certain period. The thing that is remembered is the thing that is not forgotten, and the thing that is forgotten is the thing that is not remembered. Herman Ebbinghaus (1885) has conducted research on this subject.

In the study, it was found that after we finish memorizing, a lot of things are forgotten, but what we forget again is getting less and less. Then what if after memorizing we try to repeat again?

Ebbinghaus then did the research again and the graph besides was the result. The more often we repeat to memorize again the more information we can remember.

So in conclusion, Allah azza wa jalla has made it easier for His kalam to be possessed by His creatures, then it is also strengthened by the memory capacity of the brain that Allah has given as well. The problem of forgetting is common, but God is also the one who has created the nature of forgetting and He is also the one who gives man the solution.

By: June Maulana Ikhsan

(Master of Psychology Student of Muhammadiyah University of Surakarta)

(Alumni of Isy Karima College of Qur'anic Sciences)

NIM: S300220003

Bibliography

Muhammad, Ahsin Sakho. 2017. Memorizing the Qur'an: Its Benefits, Virtues, Blessedness, and Practical Methods. South Jakarta: Qaf Media Kreativa.

Hamka. 2021. Tafsir Al-Azhar Volume 8. Depok: Gema Insani

Katsir, 'Imaduddin Ismail. 2015. Tafsir Al-Qur'an Al-Adhim (terj tafsir Ibn Katsir). Sukoharjo: Insan Kamil

Suryabrata, Sumardi. 2019. Educational Psychology. Depok: Rajawali Press

King, Laura A. 2017. The Science Of Psychology an Appreciative View. Columbia: University of Missouri