When people think of memorising the Quran, many picture children at a madrasa. But adults can learn surahs and verses too, a few lines a day. In Surah Al-Qamar (54:17) Allah says: “And We have certainly made the Qur’ān easy for remembrance, so is there any who will remember?” (translation: Sahih International). And according to al-Bukhari, the Prophet ﷺ said that the best of you are those who learn the Quran and teach it.
These tips help you start and keep going.
Before you start
1. Begin with short surahs
Start with Al-Fatiha if you don’t know it securely yet, then the short surahs at the end of the Quran: An-Nas, Al-Falaq, Al-Ikhlas, Al-Kawthar, Al-Asr. Every surah you finish gives you courage for the next. After that, well-known longer verses such as Ayatul Kursi are a good step.
2. A fixed time, ideally after a prayer
Ten minutes every day achieve more than an hour at the weekend. Many people learn after Fajr, when the mind is fresh and the house is quiet. If you tie your learning to a prayer, you forget it less often. How this works with other habits is described in Building habits around salah.
3. Always the same mushaf
If you always learn from the same edition, you also remember where a verse sits on the page. That picture helps you recall it later.
While learning
4. Listen first
Listen to the passage several times before you read it yourself, ideally always from the same reciter. That way the pronunciation and melody settle in, and you don’t learn mistakes you will have to unlearn later.
5. Repeat in rounds
Take one verse. Read it several times looking at the text, then several times without. Only when it sits do you move on to the next. Then recite both together, then three, and so on. This chaining means you know not only the single verses but also the transitions between them.
6. Hide words and test yourself
Cover every second word first, then everything. Where you get stuck, look briefly and start the verse again. Even better: recite the passage to someone who follows along. Recalling strengthens memory more than reading it again.
7. Understand the meaning
Read the translation first. When you know what a verse is about, it is easier to remember what comes next, and later you pray with more presence. What the Quran says about itself is collected under Quran verses about the Quran.
Afterwards
8. Keep reviewing
According to al-Bukhari and Muslim, the Prophet ﷺ urged his companions to keep reviewing the Quran, because it slips from memory faster than a camel breaks free from its rope. A simple plan: a small new portion every day, plus what you learnt in the past week, plus one older portion. The easiest place to review is the prayer itself: recite your new surahs in your Sunnah prayers.
9. A teacher for tajwid
The Quran has always been passed on from mouth to mouth. A teacher hears mistakes in pronunciation that you don’t notice yourself and that no recording can correct. Many mosques offer classes for adults, often for beginners too.
When it gets hard
Some weeks hardly anything sticks. According to al-Bukhari and Muslim, whoever recites the Quran skilfully is with the noble angels, and whoever stumbles over it and finds it hard receives a double reward. Struggling is no sign that you can’t do it. Better one verse less than a day with nothing.
In the Nur app
In the Verses tab of Nur, every verse there has a learn mode with the recitation of Mishary Rashid Alafasy. You repeat a verse 1, 3, 5 or 10 times, slow it down to 0.75× and hide every second word or all of them. The word being recited lights up, and tapping a word plays it on its own. Once you know the verse, you mark it as learnt. Under Journey you see how far along you are with each verse. Get Nur for free.
