The Difficulty of Memorizing the Qur'an and the Heart's Turning Away from It
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner:
Honorable Shaykh, may Allah grant you success. The questioner says: Whenever I try to memorize the Qur'an, I find it difficult for me. Is my heart considered to be turning away from reading the Qur'an and from it?
The Shaykh:
No, it is not turning away, if Allah wills. But you have negligence. You have negligence, and the soul loves laziness and idleness. However, if you accustom it to this, it will become accustomed to it and take pleasure in it. At first, it will be repelled, but if you accustom it, it will take pleasure in it. It will take pleasure in it. For this reason, some of the Salaf said, "I struggled with standing in night prayer for—I do not know how many years he said, but he said thirty years—and I took pleasure in it for twenty years," when his soul was tamed and became accustomed to it. Yes, there is no doubt that the soul is repelled by obedience,[Yusuf 12:53]. Therefore, souls are of three types: the one that commands evil, the one that rebukes its owner, and the tranquil soul, the soul that is tranquil, which takes pleasure in obedience, becomes familiar with it, and longs for it. Yes.
The questioner:
Honorable Shaykh.
The Shaykh:
But do not despair, my brother. Resolve to memorize the Qur'an, even if you are tired the first time. Then, afterwards, you will take pleasure in it, by the permission of Allah. Yes.
Honorable Shaykh, may Allah grant you success. The questioner says: Whenever I try to memorize the Qur'an, I find it difficult for me. Is my heart considered to be turning away from reading the Qur'an and from it?
The Shaykh:
No, it is not turning away, if Allah wills. But you have negligence. You have negligence, and the soul loves laziness and idleness. However, if you accustom it to this, it will become accustomed to it and take pleasure in it. At first, it will be repelled, but if you accustom it, it will take pleasure in it. It will take pleasure in it. For this reason, some of the Salaf said, "I struggled with standing in night prayer for—I do not know how many years he said, but he said thirty years—and I took pleasure in it for twenty years," when his soul was tamed and became accustomed to it. Yes, there is no doubt that the soul is repelled by obedience,
Indeed, the soul is a persistent enjoiner of evil, except those upon which my Lord has mercy
إِنَّ النَّفْسَ لَأَمَّارَةٌ بِالسُّوءِ إِلَّا مَا رَحِمَ رَبِّيThe questioner:
Honorable Shaykh.
The Shaykh:
But do not despair, my brother. Resolve to memorize the Qur'an, even if you are tired the first time. Then, afterwards, you will take pleasure in it, by the permission of Allah. Yes.
Source
شرح إغاثة اللهفان من مصائد الشيطان لابن القيم، بداية من قول المُصَنِّف : والمقصود : أن من علامات أمراض القلوب عدولها عن الأغذية النافعة — islamhouse.com (52:01)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.