The ruling on one who forgets what he had memorized of the Qur'an
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Question:
This is your brother and your lover in Allah: Uthman from Dhahrān al-Janūb. He says, Your Eminence: A person memorized the Qur'an for the sake of an exam or a competition, and after finishing the exam or competition, he forgot these portions. He is now regretful of what has passed and is unable to memorize it a second time, because when he opens the mushaf to these surahs, he remembers that he memorized them the first time for other than the sake of Allah , and he feels distress. What should he do, Your Eminence? May Allah preserve you?
Answer:
He should strive to memorize it, and it does not harm him. The correct view is that if he forgets, he owes nothing. However, if he strives to memorize it, returns to it, and repeats reading it in the mushaf so that he may memorize it, that is better and more excellent. Memorizing the Qur'an is not obligatory; it is recommended. The important thing is action; the important thing is acting in obedience to Allah, performing what Allah has made obligatory, and refraining from what Allah has forbidden. This is the obligation: for a person to perform the obligations of Allah and refrain from the prohibitions of Allah.
As for his memorizing the Qur'an, it is not required. But if he increases in its recitation and repetition, there is great good in it. Each letter is a good deed, and a good deed is multiplied tenfold. And if memorization becomes easy for him, that is also great good. So if he memorizes and then forgets, or memorizes a surah and then forgets it, he owes nothing, if Allah wills. The hadith containing the threat is weak. But the believer strives; if he memorizes the Qur'an, he strives so that this memorization remains, and he persists with it so that he does not forget it. If he forgets it, let him return to memorizing it again. This is what is more appropriate for him, and this is what is best for him: that he strives.
This is your brother and your lover in Allah: Uthman from Dhahrān al-Janūb. He says, Your Eminence: A person memorized the Qur'an for the sake of an exam or a competition, and after finishing the exam or competition, he forgot these portions. He is now regretful of what has passed and is unable to memorize it a second time, because when he opens the mushaf to these surahs, he remembers that he memorized them the first time for other than the sake of Allah , and he feels distress. What should he do, Your Eminence? May Allah preserve you?
Answer:
He should strive to memorize it, and it does not harm him. The correct view is that if he forgets, he owes nothing. However, if he strives to memorize it, returns to it, and repeats reading it in the mushaf so that he may memorize it, that is better and more excellent. Memorizing the Qur'an is not obligatory; it is recommended. The important thing is action; the important thing is acting in obedience to Allah, performing what Allah has made obligatory, and refraining from what Allah has forbidden. This is the obligation: for a person to perform the obligations of Allah and refrain from the prohibitions of Allah.
As for his memorizing the Qur'an, it is not required. But if he increases in its recitation and repetition, there is great good in it. Each letter is a good deed, and a good deed is multiplied tenfold. And if memorization becomes easy for him, that is also great good. So if he memorizes and then forgets, or memorizes a surah and then forgets it, he owes nothing, if Allah wills. The hadith containing the threat is weak. But the believer strives; if he memorizes the Qur'an, he strives so that this memorization remains, and he persists with it so that he does not forget it. If he forgets it, let him return to memorizing it again. This is what is more appropriate for him, and this is what is best for him: that he strives.
Source
binbaz.org.sa
The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.