To Memorize Parts Of the Qur'an And Then to Forget Them
Question :
I have heard a Hadith of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ ,the meaning of which is this: A person who memorizes a chapter or verse of the Qur'an and then forgets it afterwards has perpetrated a sin; is this Hadith authentic?
Answer:
This Hadith has been related from the Messenger of Allâh ﷺ : it contains a stern warning for those who first memorize a portion of the Qur'an and then forget it. If this Hadith is authentic, then it means that a person sins when he forgets parts of the Qur'an out of negligence and avoiding the Qur'an. But when one forgets parts of the Qur'an because of a natural cause or because he became so busy with life's exigencies. that he had no time to revise his recitation, then there is no sin upon him.
In an authentic Hadith, when the Messenger of Allah ﷺ heard a man recite the Qur'an, he said :
"May Allah have mercy on so and so, for he has reminded me of a verse that I was made to forget.
And forgetting is something natural for humans. The Prophet ﷺ also said : Indeed, I am only a human being like you: I forget like you forget.
What is really strange is that some people fear Allâh in such a way that they are taken away by whims: one of them will say, "I will not memorize anything from the Qur'an because I fear that I will later forget it." Such a person effectively prevents himself from good by using reasoning that is not based on fact. So this is what we say to you: memorize Allah's Book, and revise your recitation as much as you are able, for the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said after ordering us to maintain what we memorize :
"Indeed, it (i.e., the Qur'an) escapes more quickly than a camel does from is fetter. "
You should memorize the Qur'an and then maintain what you memorize through revision; if then, you forget something through a natural cause, and not because you turn away from the Qur'an or because you are negligent regarding it, you will not be harmed, and there is no sin upon you.
Source:
Ibn 'Uthaimin.
Fatawa Islamiyah, Vol. 7 Pages 38-39
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