Will the one who had memorised the Qur’aan remember on the Day of Resurrection the verses he had forgotten?

Firstly: 

The verse (interpretation of the meaning): “But when there
comes the greatest catastrophe (i.e. the Day of Recompense, etc.), The Day
when man shall remember what he strove for” [an-Naazi‘aat 79:34-35]
speaks of a person remembering what he strove for, i.e., what he sent on
ahead and what he did in this world of good or evil, and what he attained of
hasanaat (rewards for good deeds) or sayi’aat (requital for bad deeds). The
terror of the Reckoning will cause everyone to remember what he did and he
will see in his mind’s eye his life playing out quickly in front of him. So
he will hope that Allah will reward him for his good deeds and pardon him
for his bad deeds and errors. So the verse is stating that the individual
will remember his deeds and what he earned in this world. It has nothing to
do with a person remembering what he had forgotten of the Holy Qur’aan,
which is clearly beyond this context, and paying attention to the context is
one of the basic foundations of sound tafseer. 

Al-Haafiz Ibn Katheer (may Allah have mercy on him) said: 

“The Day when man shall remember what he strove for”
means: on that day the son of Adam will remember all his deeds, both good
and bad, as Allah, may He be glorified, says elsewhere (interpretation of
the meaning): “And Hell will be brought near that Day. On that Day will
man remember, but how will that remembrance (then) avail him?” [al-Fajr
89:23].

End quote from Tafseer al-Qur’aan al-‘Azeem, 8/317 

Al-‘Allaamah as-Sa‘di (may Allah have mercy on him) said: 

“The Day when man shall remember what he strove for”
i.e., in this world of good or bad, then he will wish for an atom’s weight
of increase in his good deeds and he will worry and be grieved by an atom’s
weight of increase in his bad deeds. And he will realize then that his fate
will be based on his striving in this world, and all connections that
existed in this world will cease, apart from his own deeds.

End quote from Tayseer al-Kareem al-Rahmaan, p. C10 

Thus it becomes clear that there is no shar‘i evidence to
suggest that the Muslim will remember what he had forgotten of the Holy
Qur’aan on the Day of Resurrection. We have researched in the books of
tafseer that quote different opinions on the interpretation of verses, such
as the Tafseers of al-Maawardi and Ibn al-Jawzi, but we have not
found any opinion concerning this verse other than what we have mentioned
above. 

Secondly: 

One of the great hadeeths that speak of the virtue of the
“companion of the Qur’aan” is the hadeeth of ‘Abdullah ibn ‘Amr, according
to which the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) said: “It
will be said – i.e., to the companion of the Qur’aan – : ‘Recite, as you
used to recite in the world, and ascend, and your status will be with the
last verse you recite.’”

Narrated by at-Tirmidhi, 2914. He said: This is a hasan
saheeh hadeeth. It was also classed as saheeh by al-Albaani in
Saheeh at-Tirmidhi

Most of the scholars said that what is meant by the
“companion of the Qur’aan” is the one who fulfilled two criteria:
memorisation and action, not just memorisation without acting upon what one
has memorised, and not only reciting with precision but without memorising.                             

Thirdly: 

The evidence that one must memorise in order to attain the
virtue mentioned in the hadeeth is based on the following: 

1.

If the virtue could be attained by anyone who reads the
Qur’aan, then there would not be much difference among people in that
regard, because reading from the Mushaf is something that everyone is able
to do and no one is better than another in most cases, except in the beauty
of the recitation (tajweed), and it is unlikely that this virtue would be
connected to the beauty of recitation, because the hadeeth connects the
virtue to reading and says that one’s status will rise according to “the
last verse you recite”. 

So it is not connected to precision in tajweed. 

2.

Giving the name qaari’ (reader or reciter) to the haafiz (one
who has memorised the Qur’aan) is something that is well known according to
the usage of these words at the time of the Prophet (blessings and peace of
Allah be upon him) and his Companions. The qurra’ (reciters) were present in
the gatherings of ‘Umar and were among his consultants, whether they were
middle-aged or young men, as is proven in Saheeh al-Bukaari, 4276 

3.

Moreover, memorisation of the Holy Qur’aan involves a great
deal of persistent effort that not many could do. Therefore the virtue
mentioned in the hadeeth must only be connected to memorisation and not
merely reading from the Mushaf, especially since this memorisation is a
communal obligation (fard kifaayah) upon the ummah, so those who memorise
the Qur’aan and shoulder this duty on behalf of their ummah deserve to be
given this great reward. 

Furthermore, the apparent meaning of the hadeeth also
indicates that the one who has memorised it precisely is not like the one
who has memorised it imprecisely. So the degree of the rise in status will
depend on how much of the Qur’aan they can recite by heart, and the
recitation of one who has memorised it precisely will excel the recitation
of one who has memorised it imprecisely, verse by verse. Precision in
memorisation points to sleepless nights, effort during the day and patience
in striving to memorise, repeating verses and words. Justice dictates that
the reward for the one who has memorised it precisely should be higher than
the reward for the one who has memorised it imprecisely, and Allah has
promised both of them al-husna. 

Ibn Hajar al-Haytami (may Allah have mercy on him) said: 

The report referred to applies specifically to the one who
memorises it by heart, not the one who reads it from the Mushaf, because
people do not differ in merely reading it from the book, and they do not
differ in how little or how much they read. Rather what they vary in is
memorisation by heart. Hence their statuses in Paradise will vary according
to the level of their memorisation. 

Another thing that supports that is the fact that
memorisation of the Qur’aan by heart is a communal obligation upon the
ummah, whereas merely reading from the Mushaf without memorising does not
mean that this duty is waived, and it does not have a great status like that
of memorisation. So it – I mean memorisation by heart – is what is meant in
this report, and this is clear from the wording of the report. 

The words of the angels to him, “Recite and rise” clearly
refer to his memorisation by heart, as it is quite obvious. 

End quote from al-Fataawa al-Hadeethiyyah by Ibn Hajar
al-Haytami, p. 113 

Al-‘Azeemabaadi (may Allah have mercy on him) said: It may be
understood from this that no one will attain this great reward except the
one who memorises the Qur’aan and recites it precisely. 

End quote from ‘Awn al-Ma‘bood, 4/237 

Shaykh al-Albaani (may Allah have mercy on him) said: 

It should be noted that what is meant by the words “the
companion of the Qur’aan” is the one who memorises it by heart, based on the
words of the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him): “The people
should be led in prayer by the one who knows the most of the Book of Allah”
i.e., the one who has memorised the most. So differences in status in
Paradise are based on memorisation in this world, not recitation on that Day
and reciting a great deal, as some people imagine. This clearly shows the
virtue of the one who memorises the Qur’aan, but that is on condition that
he memorises it for the sake of Allah alone, may He be glorified and
exalted, and he does not do it for worldly gain or to acquire wealth. The
Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) said: “Most of the
hypocrites of my ummah will be reciters (of Qur’aan).”

End quote from Silsilah al-Ahaadeeth as-Saheehah,
5/284 

Fourthly:  

With regard to the evidence which stipulates that one must
act in accordance with the Qur’aan in order to attain this great reward,
that is also clear, and there is a stern warning to the one who fails to act
in accordance with the Holy Qur’aan. We see this in the lengthy hadeeth of
Samurah ibn Jundub from the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon
him) about dreams, in which he says: “As for the one whose head was being
crushed with the rock, he took the Qur’aan then abandoned it, and he (often)
slept and missed the obligatory prayer.”

Narrated by al-Bukhaari, 1143 

Ibn Battaal said: 

“he took the Qur’aan then abandoned it” means: he stopped
memorising its letters and acting in accordance with its meanings. But if he
only stopped memorising its letters and still acted in accordance with its
meanings, then he is not regarded as having abandoned it. 

End quote from Sharh Saheeh al-Bukhaari, 3/135 

With regard to the hadeeth mentioned, it was narrated from
Anas ibn Maalik (may Allah be pleased with him) that he said: The Messenger
of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) said: 

“The rewards of my ummah were shown to me, even a little dirt
that a man removes from the mosque. And the sins of my ummah were shown to
me, and I did not see any sin greater than a soorah or verse of the Qur’aan
that was given to a man then he forgot it. 

Narrated by at-Tirmidhi, 2916 and others; they all narrated
it via ‘Abd al-Hameed ibn ‘Abd al-‘Azeez, from Ibn Jurayj, from al-Muttalib
ibn ‘Abdullah ibn Hantab, from Anas ibn Maalik, in a marfoo‘ report (i.e.,
attributed to the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him)). 

But it is a da‘eef (weak) hadeeth according to the consensus
of the muhadditheen, and it has a number of faults, such as doubts about
‘Abd al-Majeed ibn Abi Dawood as he is the only one who narrated this
hadeeth, and interruptions between Ibn Jurayj and al-Muttalib and Anas ibn
Maalik. 

At-Tirmidhi (may Allah have mercy on him) said:

 This is a ghareeb hadeeth; we know it only from this isnaad;
I mentioned it to Muhammad ibn Ismaa‘eel but he did not know it and he found
it strange. Muhammad said: I have not heard any report from al-Muttalib ibn
‘Abdullah ibn Hantab from any of the Companions of the Prophet (blessings
and peace of Allah be upon him), apart from his saying: One who was present
and heard the khutbah of the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon
him) told me…

 He said: I heard ‘Abdullah ibn ‘Abd ar-Rahmaan – who is
ad-Daarimi, the author of al-Musnad – say: We do not know that
al-Muttalib heard from any of the Companions of the Prophet (blessings and
peace of Allah be upon him). ‘Abdullah said: ‘Ali ibn al-Madeeni denied that
al-Muttalib heard from Anas. End quote. 

Ibn ‘Abd al-Barr (may Allah have mercy on him) said: 

This hadeeth is not saheeh and cannot be quoted as evidence
because it is da‘eef (weak).

End quote from at-Tamheed, 14/136 

Ad-Daaraqutni (may Allah have mercy on him) said: 

The hadeeth is not proven, because Ibn Jurayj did not hear
anything from al-Muttalib. And it was said that he used to narrate from Ibn
Abi Sabrah and other weak narrators.

End quote from al-‘Ilal, 12/171 

An-Nawawi (may Allah have mercy on him) said: 

There is some weakness in its isnaad.

End quote from al-Khalaasah, 1/306 

It was also classed as da‘eef by Ibn Hajar in Fath
al-Baari, 9/70; and by al-Albaani in Da‘eef Abi Dawood –
al-Umm, 1/164-167 

And Allah knows best.