Does the hadith include reading a book such that one strives at the beginning of the reading until, when one tires, one has covered a great deal of it?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner : ... The common experience is that one has energy in the first few days.
The Shaykh : Which book?
The questioner : The Book ... .
The Shaykh : Yes.
The questioner : One has energy ... regarding the book, and says, "I will memorize more than the usual amount in the first few days so that when boredom sets in, I will have covered a portion of the book." Is this...
The Shaykh : He says, "What should I focus on?"
The questioner : Meaning, he focuses on increasing ... the memorization in the first few days.
The Shaykh : Yes.
The questioner : So that when he gets bored afterwards...
The Shaykh : So he has covered a portion? Yes, it appears that this is not what is intended. However, in the case of the Qur'an, it may fall under the hadith, because reciting the Qur'an is an act of worship in itself. But memorizing a book from the standard texts is not an act of worship in itself, but rather according to the intention. So it appears that there is no harm in this. When a person memorizes a book, he finds that he only wants to memorize it, so he is, meaning, in his state of energy, he may memorize in one day what he would not memorize in two days. Yes, that is right.
The Shaykh : Which book?
The questioner : The Book ... .
The Shaykh : Yes.
The questioner : One has energy ... regarding the book, and says, "I will memorize more than the usual amount in the first few days so that when boredom sets in, I will have covered a portion of the book." Is this...
The Shaykh : He says, "What should I focus on?"
The questioner : Meaning, he focuses on increasing ... the memorization in the first few days.
The Shaykh : Yes.
The questioner : So that when he gets bored afterwards...
The Shaykh : So he has covered a portion? Yes, it appears that this is not what is intended. However, in the case of the Qur'an, it may fall under the hadith, because reciting the Qur'an is an act of worship in itself. But memorizing a book from the standard texts is not an act of worship in itself, but rather according to the intention. So it appears that there is no harm in this. When a person memorizes a book, he finds that he only wants to memorize it, so he is, meaning, in his state of energy, he may memorize in one day what he would not memorize in two days. Yes, that is right.