1Choose
What and how much
Pick Juz Amma, a surah, a range of juz or the whole Quran, and how much new to learn each day.
Hifz planner, your Quran memorisation plan
Choose what to memorise, how many lines, ayat or pages a day, and which days are for revision. The planner gives your finish date and a day-by-day plan you can print and tick off as you go.
You will finish on…
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| Date | Lesson | Done |
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Order
Revision days, no new lesson
Your plan and ticks are saved on this device only. Lines are an estimate from the standard 15-line Madinah mushaf (604 pages).
How it works
Plan it, then keep to it
2Rest
Set revision days
On those days there is no new lesson: you go over the week's lessons and older ones, so nothing slips.
3Tick
Follow the plan
Each lesson links to the surah with audio. Tick it when you know it, and the planner remembers.
Guide
What a hafiz is, and how to start memorising
A hafiz (feminine hafiza, plural huffaz) is someone who has memorised the whole Quran, all 114 surahs and 6,236 ayat, and can recite it from memory. The word comes from hifz, "guarding" or "preserving", and a hafiz is someone who guards the Quran in their heart. It is a title of honour, but it is also a lifelong duty: what is memorised has to be kept by regular revision. Memorising the whole Quran takes most people several years of steady daily work, and many more memorise a part of it, such as Juz Amma, which has 564 ayat. Any part you memorise is a part of the Quran you carry with you.
Surah Al-Qamar, 54:17Read in context
وَلَقَدْ يَسَّرْنَا ٱلْقُرْءَانَ لِلذِّكْرِ فَهَلْ مِن مُّدَّكِرٍۢ ﴿١٧﴾
Wa laqad yassamal Quraana liz zikri fahal mimmuddakir
"And We have certainly made the Qur'an easy for remembrance, so is there any who will remember?"
Quran 54:17. Translation: Sahih International.
Why memorise the Quran?
The Prophet ﷺ said: "The best of you are those who learn the Quran and teach it."1 He also said that the one who is skilled in the Quran will be with the noble and obedient scribes (the angels), and the one who recites it with difficulty, stumbling over it, has a double reward.2 So there is reward from the first day, not only at the end.
Hanafi position
Memorising the whole Quran is fard kifayah: a duty on the community as a whole, so that it is never lost. For each person, memorising enough to pray is required: at least one ayah is fard, and Al-Fatiha with a short surah (or three short ayat) is wajib, because they are recited in the first two rakahs of every fard prayer. Beyond that, memorising more is a great virtue, and the Hanafi scholars encourage it highly.
Other madhhabs
- Shafi'i, Maliki, Hanbali
- They also hold that memorising the whole Quran is a communal duty. Al-Fatiha is a pillar of every rakah, so learning it is a personal duty; reciting another surah after it is sunnah, not wajib.
How to start
- Learn to read first. Memorise from the Arabic, not from transliteration. If you cannot read yet, start with the Arabic alphabet and Noorani Qaida, then the basic tajweed rules.
- Find a teacher. Recite your lesson to someone who knows it, so mistakes are caught before they set. A family member who has the surah memorised is a good start.
- Use one mushaf. Always memorise from the same printed copy, so you remember where each ayah sits on the page.
- Pick a fixed time. Many memorise after Fajr, when the mind is fresh. Fifteen focused minutes every day is better than two hours once a week.
- Listen and repeat. Play the ayah with a qari, repeat it until you can say it without looking, then join it to the ayah before. The Quran recitation tool can repeat each ayah 3, 5 or 10 times.
- Recite it in salah. Use your new surahs in your sunnah and nafl prayers. It is the best revision there is.
Sabaq, sabqi and manzil
Most hifz schools work with three parts every day. The sabaq is the new lesson. The sabqi is the last few days' lessons, recited again until they are firm. The manzil is older work, revised in turn so it is never forgotten. The planner gives you the sabaq for each day. Every day, also recite the sabqi (your last five to seven lessons). On your revision days there is no new lesson: go over the whole week, and a part of your older work.
The Prophet ﷺ said: "Keep revising the Quran, for by the One in whose hand my soul is, it slips away faster than a camel from its tether."3 Reports that give a severe punishment for forgetting what you memorised have weak chains, but the command to keep revising is authentic, so build revision into your plan from the first week.
How much a day?
A beginner usually starts with 3 to 5 lines, or a few short ayat, a day. A full-time student may learn a page or more. Start small: it is easier to add lines later than to recover from a plan that was too heavy. With 5 lines a day on 6 days a week, Juz Amma takes about 10 weeks, because each lesson ends at a whole ayah and a new surah starts a new lesson. The planner shows the exact date for your choices.
Easy surahs to memorise first
Start with the short surahs you already hear in the prayer. A good order: Al-Fatiha, then Al-Ikhlas, Al-Falaq and An-Nas, then Al-Kawthar and Al-Asr, and on through the end of Juz Amma.
| Surah | Ayat | About lines |
|---|---|---|
| Al-Fatiha (1) | 7 | 8 |
| Al-Ikhlas (112) | 4 | 2 |
| Al-Falaq (113) | 5 | 3 |
| An-Nas (114) | 6 | 3 |
| Al-Kawthar (108) | 3 | 2 |
| Al-Asr (103) | 3 | 2 |
| An-Nasr (110) | 3 | 3 |
| Al-Kafirun (109) | 6 | 3 |
| Al-Masad (111) | 5 | 3 |
| Al-Fil (105) | 5 | 3 |
| Quraysh (106) | 4 | 3 |
| Al-Maun (107) | 7 | 4 |
| Al-Qadr (97) | 5 | 3 |
| At-Tin (95) | 8 | 4 |
| Ash-Sharh (94) | 8 | 3 |
| Ad-Duha (93) | 11 | 5 |
| At-Takathur (102) | 8 | 4 |
| Al-Qariah (101) | 11 | 5 |
| Az-Zalzalah (99) | 8 | 5 |
| Al-Adiyat (100) | 11 | 5 |
After Juz Amma, many people go on to Al-Mulk (the Prophet ﷺ recited it every night before sleeping), Yasin (a favourite to read often), Al-Kahf (for Friday), Al-Baqarah (the longest surah, and the doorway many hifz students start from). Ayat al-Kursi and the last two ayat of Al-Baqarah are also short and recited every day.
Memorising during menstruation
Hanafi position
A woman on her period does not recite the Quran aloud as recitation. She may listen to it, look at the text without touching the mushaf, and go over it in her mind, and a teacher may teach it word by word with pauses between the words. She returns to her lessons after her ghusl.
Other madhhabs
- Maliki
- She may recite the Quran from memory during her period, so she can keep up her hifz and revision.
- Shafi'i, Hanbali
- She may not recite it as Quran. She may listen, think it over in her mind, and say words of it as dhikr with that intention.
- Sahih al-Bukhari 5027, from Uthman ibn Affan.
- Sahih al-Bukhari 4937; Sahih Muslim 798, from Aishah.
- Sahih al-Bukhari 5033; Sahih Muslim 791, from Abu Musa al-Ashari.
- Ibn Abidin, Radd al-Muhtar, on hifz as a communal duty and on what is permitted during menstruation; al-Marghinani, al-Hidayah, on the recitation in salah. The other madhhabs' positions are summarised from their standard manuals.
- Page and line counts: Tanzil Uthmani text with page numbers of the 604-page Madinah mushaf, via AlQuran.cloud.
The rulings on this page are pending review by the scholars on our team.
Questions
Good to know
What is a hafiz?
A hafiz is someone who has memorised the whole Quran and can recite it from memory. A woman is called a hafiza. The word means one who guards or preserves.
How long does it take to become a hafiz?
It depends on how much you learn each day. At one page a day, six days a week, the 604 pages take about two years, plus revision. At 5 lines a day it is a little under six years. Use the planner above to see your own date.
Which surahs are easiest to memorise?
The short surahs at the end of the Quran: Al-Ikhlas, Al-Falaq, An-Nas, Al-Kawthar, Al-Asr and An-Nasr. Al-Fatiha comes first, because it is recited in every prayer.
How many lines should I memorise a day?
Beginners usually do 3 to 5 lines. Full-time students often do a page (15 lines). Pick an amount you can keep every day, with time left for revision.
Can I memorise the Quran without a teacher?
You can start alone with audio, but have someone listen to your recitation as soon as you can. A teacher catches mistakes in pronunciation and memory that you cannot hear yourself.
What is the difference between sabaq, sabqi and manzil?
Sabaq is the new lesson, sabqi is the last few days' lessons revised again, and manzil is older work revised in turn. Doing all three every day keeps what you have learned.