Ramadan is the blessed month when the first verses of the Holy Qur'an were revealed to Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). Many Muslims make a Ramadan resolution each year that they will memorize a portion of the Holy Qur'an, or a chapter of it, or even the entire Qur'an within the next year. Just like the dissolution of our New Year's resolutions to go on a diet, our energy and passion to keep up with our Ramadan resolutions often wane as the blessed month goes by. And after Ramadan, we may give up entirely! The ideal way to memorize portions of the Qur'an is to have a teacher who you regularly meet with to recite to, so he/she can bring to your attention any mistakes in your memorization and also test you frequently. However, a lot of factors come into play that interfere with our efforts to memorize some chapters of the Qur'an, including lack of time, losing motivation, boredom, a long commute to your teacher or Qur'an academy, or not finding the right setting and pace that you are comfortable with. What if you could utilize technology that makes memorizing the Qur'an fun and easy, keeps it social, tracks your progress, and motivates you to complete the goals that you have set for yourself within a certain timeframe? What if you could memorize the Qur'an and create your classroom in your own living room or office? [caption id="attachment_62906" align="alignright" width="300"] Bilal Memon[/caption]Bilal Memon, a Hafiz (one who has memorized the Holy Qur'an) and entrepreneur has released a one-of-a-kind smart phone application that will help you realize your goals. Even if you have the busiest lifestyle, with this app, you can begin the process of memorizing the Qur'an. Qur'an Companion provides a flexible learning environment that you can tailor to meet your learning style and preferences. You not only can read and listen to the verses that you want to memorize, but you can also read and listen to the translation of the verses. Understanding what you read makes it far easier to memorize. Once you select your goals, the Qur'an Companion calculates how many verses a day you must study. It gives you a lesson plan, tracks your progress, and sends you reminders. Different people have different learning styles. The technologies of Qur'an Companion have been designed around various learning techniques and gamification strategies to ensure every individual has something effective for their learning style. You can swipe on the screen to read the verses that you are studying and you can swipe again to hide the verses and test yourself. If you are an auditory learner, it helps to listen to the verses several times before you start memorizing. The Qur'an Companion offers 15 different audio recitations to choose from. You can also record your own voice as you recite. Listening to your recordings helps you pinpoint your mistakes in memorization and it also helps you improve your pronunciation and tajweed. Many studies show that students experience improved learning when they have daily opportunities to interact with other students. Motivation also improves in a social environment. On Qur'an Companion, you can create a social group and introduce a challenge that you all work to meet, and you can interact with the members of the group. The application has a Hasanah Calculator, which calculates the good deeds you gained when reading the verses of the Qur'an, ten good deeds for every letter of the Holy Qur'an. The people in your group can compete in earning the largest number of good deeds. The members of your group are ranked based on deeds earned. Qur'an Companion designs a graph that tracks your progress over several months, so you can see how much you have achieved each month. By striving to study the Holy Qur'an you can become of the best people, as described by Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) in the authentic Hadith, "The best among you (Muslims) are those who learn the Qur'an and teach it." (Sahih Bukhari, Hadith number 5027) What is most important is to maintain a continuous relationship with the Qur'an and to be consistent. You may choose to memorize two lines of the Holy Qur'an each day, or half a page, or a full page, or two pages. Choose a pace that fits your lifestyle and learning capacity. Keep in mind that learning the Qur'an does require a great deal of effort and commitment, but it is not difficult. As Allah has revealed in the Qur'an, {And We have certainly made the Qur'an easy for remembrance, so is there any who will remember?} (Chapter 54, verse 17)
