Advice for One Afflicted with Excessive Forgetfulness

Question:
A letter reached the program from the Hawl al-Amil district in Mosul, Iraq, sent by a listener from there who says, "Your brother in Islam: (S. F. A.)." His letter is two pages long, and I have summarized what is in those two pages in the following statement: "How do I treat excessive forgetfulness, since I forget much of what I memorize from the Qur'an, or the hadiths, or the narrated supplications?"

Answer:
You must treat this by several means, among which are: asking Allah, supplicating to Him, and striving to have Him help you to memorize His Book, the hadiths of His Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), and everything that benefits you. Ask Him often, for He is the One who said, the Exalted: [Ghafir: 60], and He is the One who said, (Exalted and Majestic is He): [al-Baqarah: 186]. So supplicate to Him constantly, (Exalted and Majestic is He), and ask Him to help you and to grant you the memorization of His great Book, the Sunnah of His trustworthy Messenger (may Allah's prayers and blessings be upon him), and everything that benefits you. Do this in your prostration, in the final part of the tashahhud, in the night prayer, between the adhan and the iqamah, and when the preacher is seated on Friday until the prayer is completed, at the appropriate times, such as between the two khutbahs, and such as the prostration in the Friday prayer, in the final part of the tashahhud. All of these are times when supplication is answered. Likewise, at the end of the day on Friday, after the 'Asr prayer, if you sit waiting for Maghrib, supplicate to your Lord, for it is a time when supplication is answered.
The second is: increasing study and care. You study what you have memorized from the Book of Allah, you care for it at specific times, you organize them, and you study what you have memorized; because study is one of the causes of memorization. And so it is with the hadiths; you study them and care for them. If you delay in attending to them, they may slip away from you, meaning you strive to study them and review them from time to time. The closer the time, the more preferable and closer to memorization, according to your capacity.
The third matter is: guarding against sins and evil deeds. The evil of sins is great, and they are among the most dangerous things for your memorization and for your understanding as well. From this is the saying of al-Shafi'i (may Allah have mercy on him):
I complained to Waki' of my poor memory
And he guided me to abandon sins
And he said, know that knowledge is light
And the light of Allah is not given to a sinner
So this is a great remedy: guarding against sins and staying away from them, from backbiting and talebearing, from being lazy about the prayers, from undutifulness to parents or one of them, from severing family ties, from consuming riba (usury or interest), from lying, from harming Muslims with your words or your actions, and from other such sins. Guard against them, stay away from them, and repent to Allah for what has passed of them. From this is the saying of Malik (may Allah have mercy on him) to al-Shafi'i (may Allah have mercy on him) when he sat before him, and Malik saw in al-Shafi'i eagerness and good understanding, he said: "I see that Allah, the Exalted, has cast upon you some of His light, so beware of extinguishing this light with sins."
So the point is: that sins are among the causes of the darkness of the heart, and the loss of the light of the heart, and among the causes of poor memorization and poor understanding, and among the causes of all evil. Allah, the Exalted, said: [al-Shura: 30].
So the evil of sins is great, and their consequences are severe. Therefore, it is obligatory for the believing man and the believing woman to guard against them, stay away from them, and repent to Allah for what has passed of them.
The fourth is: guarding against the company of people of evil, for their company is among the causes of evil, and it is included among the sins. So the company of people of evil, and people of gossip and idle talk, makes you forget the good. So beware of the company of the wicked, and the company of people of idleness and unemployment who have no task except gossip and useless talk, for this makes you forget what you are eager for, namely the Book of your Lord and the Sunnah of your Prophet (may Allah's prayers and blessings be upon him). We ask Allah for success for us and for you.

The presenter : O Allah, amen. May Allah reward you with good.