Repetition – The Best Method of Memorisation and Things that Weaken The Memory

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Abū Masʿūd Aḥmad ibn al-Furāt al-Rāzī (d. 258 AH / 872 CE) used to repeat every ḥadīth five hundred times. A man once said to him, “I continually forget the narrations that I have memorised.” Abū Masʿūd replied, “You must revise every single narration five hundred times.” The man exclaimed, “Who is able to do that?” Abū Masʿūd responded, “That is why you are unable to memorise.”¹

Abū Bakr Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh al-Abharī al-Mālikī (d. 375 AH / 985 CE) said: “I read Ibn ʿAbd al-Ḥakīm’s Mukhtaṣar five hundred times, al-Asadiyyah seventy-five times, al-Muwaṭṭaʾ and al-Mabsūṭah thirty times, and Ibn al-Barqī’s Mukhtaṣar seventy times.”²

Ismāʿīl ibn ʿUmar Ibn Kathīr (d. 774 AH / 1373 CE) said: “Abū Bakr al-Anṣārī would recount any issue from a lesson when asked, without having to revise it. This was possibly due to the fact that in the early stages of his pursuit of knowledge he would repeat every lesson four hundred times.”³

Yaḥyā ibn Maʿīn (d. 233 AH / 848 CE) said: “We do not know a ḥadīth by heart unless we write it down or listen to it fifty times.”⁴

Abū Isḥāq Ibrāhīm ibn ʿAlī al-Shīrāzī (d. 476 AH / 1083 CE) said: “I used to repeat every issue of qiyās one thousand times. When I finished, I would do the same with the next issue. I likewise repeated every lesson one thousand times.”⁵

Ibn al-ʿAjamī (Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad, d. 884 AH / 1479 CE) used to repeat his lesson fifty times.⁶

Ibrāhīm ibn Ismāʿīl al-Muzanī (d. 264 AH / 878 CE) said: “I read al-Risālah five hundred times, and I would find a new benefit every time I read it.”⁷

Abū Isḥāq al-Shīrāzī also used to repeat a lesson one hundred times, and if he was eating raisins, he would revise it seventy times.⁸

Al-Ḥasan ibn Abī Bakr al-Naysābūrī (d. 405 AH / 1014 CE) said: “A jurist does not commit an issue to memory until he repeats it fifty times.”⁹

ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn al-Jawzī (d. 597 AH / 1201 CE) narrated: “Al-Ḥasan mentioned that a jurist repeated a lesson in his house so frequently that an elderly woman said to him, ‘By Allah, even I have memorised it.’ He asked her to repeat it, and she did so. After a few days, he said to her, ‘Repeat that lesson.’ She replied, ‘I have not memorised it.’ He said, ‘I repeat the lesson so that I am not afflicted by what has afflicted you.’”¹⁰

These narrations illustrate the extraordinary diligence, perseverance, and discipline of the early scholars in memorisation and revision. Their success was not attained through natural ability alone, but through sustained effort, constant repetition, and lifelong commitment.

The Mauritanian Method of Memorisation

Among the most effective methods of memorisation is the traditional Mauritanian approach, which is based upon intensive repetition and gradual consolidation.

Day One

1. Write or read the text to a teacher until it can be read perfectly.

2. Read the text three hundred times from memory, occasionally referring back to ensure nothing has been omitted.

3. Return to the text and read it two hundred times from memory.

4. Finally, read it again from memory two hundred times.

Day Two

1. Read the previously memorised text one hundred and fifty times from memory.

2. Apply the same method used on Day One to the new text.

Day Three

1. Read Day One’s text fifty times from memory.

2. Read Day Two’s text one hundred and fifty times before beginning a new text.

Day Four

1. Read Day Two’s text fifty times.

2. Read Day Three’s text one hundred and fifty times before proceeding further.

This systematic method reinforces long-term retention and prevents gradual loss of memorised material.

Nothing, however, is attained except by the will, permission, and power of Allah ﷻ.

Matters That Aid Memorisation and Those That Weaken It

Shaykh Muqbil ibn Hādī al-Wādiʿī (d. 1422 AH / 2001 CE) mentioned several matters that strengthen memorisation:

• Acting upon what has been memorised. Wakīʿ ibn al-Jarrāḥ (d. 197 AH / 812 CE) said: “Whoever wishes to memorise ḥadīth, let him act upon it.”
  (al-Suyūṭī, al-Tadbīr, 1/588)

• Mindfulness of Allah ﷻ (taqwā). Allah ﷻ says: “Be mindful of Allah, and Allah will teach you.” ۞ (al-Baqarah 2:282)

• Abstaining from excessive citrus foods.

• Eating raisins.

• Consuming bitter frankincense in moderation.

• Consuming ginger in moderation.

• Frequent repetition.

• Constant revision.

• Sitting with students who possess strong memorisation.

• Allocating a suitable time and place for study.

Al-Khaṭīb al-Baghdādī mentioned in al-Faqīh wa al-Mutafaqqih the inappropriateness of memorising near flowing water or scenic trees, as such environments distract the mind.

Additional beneficial practices include:

• Avoiding unnecessary problems.

• Maintaining good physical health.

• Consuming honey and milk.

• Abstaining from sin.

Matters that weaken memorisation include:

• Excessive sleep.

• Sleeping after Fajr.

• Overeating.

• Excessive vinegar.

• Excessive citrus fruits.¹¹

These guidelines demonstrate that memorisation is not merely a technical exercise, but a holistic discipline that involves spiritual, physical, intellectual, and ethical dimensions.

References

1. Shams al-Dīn Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad al-Dhahabī (d. 748 AH / 1348 CE), Tahdhīb al-Tahdhīb, Dār al-Maʿrifah, Beirut, 1996, vol. 1, p. 58.

2. Abū al-Faḍl al-Qāḍī ʿIyāḍ ibn Mūsā (d. 544 AH / 1149 CE), Taqrīb al-Masālik, Dār al-Gharb al-Islāmī, Beirut, 1983, vol. 1, p. 427.

3. Ismāʿīl ibn ʿUmar Ibn Kathīr (d. 774 AH / 1373 CE), al-Bidāyah wa al-Nihāyah, Dār al-Fikr, Beirut, 1987, vol. 12, p. 227.

4. ʿAlī ibn al-Ḥasan Ibn ʿAsākir (d. 571 AH / 1176 CE), Tārīkh Dimashq, Dār al-Fikr, Beirut, 1995, vol. 14, p. 65.

5. Tāj al-Dīn ʿAbd al-Wahhāb al-Subkī (d. 771 AH / 1370 CE), Ṭabaqāt al-Shāfiʿiyyah al-Kubrā, Dār Iḥyāʾ al-Kutub al-ʿArabiyyah, Cairo, 1964, vol. 4, p. 115.

6. Shams al-Dīn al-Dhahabī, Siyar Aʿlām al-Nubalāʾ, Muʾassasat al-Risālah, Beirut, 2001, vol. 23, p. 115.

7. Yaḥyā ibn Sharaf al-Nawawī (d. 676 AH / 1277 CE), Tahdhīb al-Asmāʾ wa al-Lughāt, Dār al-Kutub al-ʿIlmiyyah, Beirut, 1996, vol. 1, p. 59.

8-10. ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn al-Jawzī (d. 597 AH / 1201 CE), al-Ḥath ʿalā Ḥifẓ al-ʿIlm, Dār al-Kutub al-ʿIlmiyyah, Beirut, 1998, pp. 43-44.

11. Nūr al-Dīn al-Wasābī, al-Fatāwā al-Ḥadīthiyyah, Dār al-Āthār, Ṣanʿāʾ, 2005, p. 164.