How can she teach her five-year-old sister to memorize Qur’aan?

Raising children to follow Islam from an early age, teaching them to memorize the Book of Allaah and educating them is the Sunnah of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) and is regarded as a very important matter, especially in this day and age. But it is something that many people neglect with regard to their children and those under their care, and they get distracted by things that will be of no benefit to them in the Hereafter and may indeed harm them, and make them emotionally attached to those who do not even deserve to be mentioned, let alone taken as role models, such as actors, sports players and singers. 

We appreciate our sister’s question and we ask Allaah to make her steadfast and to help her in this matter and others, and to decree reward for her on the Day of Judgement. What can be greater than meeting one’s Lord with a record of good deeds which includes guiding others to do good or sharing in establishing good? 

With regard to this little sister and teaching her to memorize Qur’aan, we advise our sister to do the following: 

1-Start with that which is easiest to read and memorize, namely Soorat al-Faatihah, then with the last juz’, working from the end. Starting with something easy helps one to move on to more difficult material. Moreover she will have a real need for that when she starts to learn the prayer.

2-The amount to be memorized every day should be small, so that she will be able to memorize it and it will be easy for her to memorize what comes next. This amount will vary from one child to the next, depending on his or her intelligence and memory.

3-Review often so that what has been memorized will stick. Do not let any day go by without memorizing something new and reviewing the old.

4-Encourage her by giving her a prize every time she finishes a juz’ – for example – and memorizes it well.

5-Start to move from prompting her and having her repeat, which is usually the first stage in memorization, to teaching her how to read, so that it will be easy for her to read the Qur’aan by herself at times when her sister or teacher are not present.

6-Let her get used to reciting what she has memorized in her prayer, whether that is obligatory or naafil prayer, once she reaches an age where prayer is required of her and she can understand it.

7-Let her get used to listening to what she has memorized on tapes or on the computer, so that she can hear both a good pronunciation and good recitation, and she can review and consolidate what she has learned.

8-Choose a good time for memorization when there are few distractions – such as after Fajr or between Maghrib and ‘Isha’. Avoid times when she is hungry, tired or sleepy.

9-Praise her for what she has memorized in front of neighbours and relatives, so as to encourage her and encourage them to do the same thing; at the same time, pray for refuge for her with Allaah for fear of the evil eye and envy (hasad).

10-It is essential for her to have one style of Mus-haf with no changes, so that the layout of the verses will be imprinted in her memory.

11-You should encourage her to write out what she has memorized so that she may combine learning how to write with reinforcing what she has memorized.

And Allaah is the Source of strength.