Furthermore, the parents are a good example for reaching this goal along with patience and forbearance, kind repetition, and nice follow-up. The parents are equal in that mission, however the mother is the main pillar in this great mission in the sight of Allah (may He be Exalted), here are some guidelines for help:
1- The blessing of listening to the Qur'an for pregnant women:
A number of scientists in USA mentioned that fetus is affected by all cases and conditions of the mother, whether joy or anger. When she reads loudly, the fetus gets affected of what she is reading, so how would be the case if she is reciting the Glorious Qur'an or listening to it frequently?! The comfort which the mother feels returns to her fetus with much goodness. This is confirmed by Dr. Muhammad Ratib An-Nabulsy by saying: "A pregnant mother who recites the Qur'an begets a child so much connected to it." [1]
2- Listening to and reciting the Qur'an during the nursing period.
Scientists mentioned that the baby gets affected much by the surrounding stuff, where the sense of hearing would have started in receiving the surrounding sounds and voices. So, a baby stores these sounds even if it is incapable of using them in this period [of nursing], but later on it uses them. If the nursing mother listens to the Qur'an during this period or recites it loudly, no doubt it will affect her baby very much and make the Qur'an easy for it. Therefore, we see that Allah (Glory be to Him) commands a mother to nurse her baby for two full years and destined that suckling is one of the baby's rights, as we see Allah (Glory be to Him) secures food and clothing for the mother and her baby during these two years as He says in the Glorious Qur'an: "The mothers shall give suck to their children for two whole years, (that is) for those (parents) who desire to complete the term of suckling, but the father of the child shall bear the cost of the mother's food and clothing on a reasonable basis." [Surat Al Baqarah: 233].
3- Reciting the Qur'an before the children:
How many times have we seen children trying to imitate their parents in their sitting and their movements of bowing down and prostration! Thus, reciting the Qur'an frequently before the children endears it to them and exhorts them to memorize it later on. In addition to the great blessing which Allah sends down while reciting the Qur'an, goodness prevails inside the entire house; moreover the family meeting to recite the Qur'an is very desirable and its virtue is countless.
4- Copies of the Qur'an are the most beautiful gifts that are given to children:
Man was created and the love of possession is in his heart, how many times have we seen children protecting their toys from others? This instinct should be more functioned positively. Hence, offering copies from the Qur'an to children in different occasions draws it near to it and pushes them to memorize the Glorious Qur'an without tension.
5- Celebrating children when they finish memorizing the Qur'an:
Exhortation is desirable to the people and much more to children. Whenever Allah guides our children to memorize a portion of the Qur'an, we should offer them gifts so that the children would not forget that moment, wish not to miss the chance, and their attachment to the Qur'an increases until they reach a high degree of love and approach the Qur'an out of their love not out of fear of commands or rebuke.
6- Narrating the stories of the Qur'an to children:
Storytelling is beloved to children, and if the parents narrate the stories of the Qur'an in an easy and interesting style, it will contribute to the attachment of children to the Qur'an and they shall have the desire to hear more Qur'anic stories, but rather memorizing the Qur'an very easily which will reinforce their linguistic skills.
7- Incentive contests for memorizing the Qur'an, especially the short Surahs:
These contests are done inside the house and between a child and his brothers and sisters or calling friends to the house and encouraging all children to memorization. The questions of these contests should be suitable for children such as asking the children about the animal which Abrahah used in his war against Quraysh or asking about the synonymous of the word traveling from Surat Al Fil [i.e., journey]. Asking the children about two seasons of the four seasons that were mentioned in Surat Quraysh [i.e., winter and summer] or asking about a word which indicates the desire to eat [i.e., hunger]; all these questions exhort them to memorize the Book of Allah.
8- We teach the children during their first years through the Glorious Qur'an:
We teach the children how to read and write from the Ayahs of the Qur'an, math from the number of Rak`ahs, biology from the different kinds of animals that were mentioned in the Qur'an, history from the stories of previous nations, and the features of the universe from the Ayahs which speak about the heaven, the earth, rivers, seas, and so on; all these increase their attachment to the Qur'an.
9- Searching for the words of the Qur'an according to the age of children:
A child is careful in his early years to increase his linguistic vocabularies and tries to learn as much vocabularies as it could, trying to form sentences. We should seize the opportunity to increase the children's vocabularies from the Glorious Qur'an, especially the short Surahs, such as asking it about the word Quraysh and which Surahs contain that word or about the words At-Tin and Az-Zaytun, which exhort the child to memorize these Surahs and know their vocabularies.
10- We should make the Qur'an inseparable from the children in all their conditions:
We should give them a copy of the Qur'an and exhort them to carry it wherever they go as a source of comfort to them, a blessing that accompanies them in their conditions, and protects from evils, thus their attachment to it increases; however we should teach them the manners of dealing with the Qur'an.
11- Exhorting the children to watch the channels which are specialized in the Glorious Qur'an, especially children's competitions in the Qur'an:
This motivates them to compete where they see children of the same age competing in memorizing the Qur'an then they are honored and rewarded. The parents should encourage the children to memorize the Qur'an to participate in these competitions to consolidate in their minds that they are able to be like those children or even better.
12- Using the modern technologies in memorizing the Qur'an:
Most children have passion for these modern technologies, and if you follow this way, you shall facilitate the memorization of the Qur'an, in addition to meeting their desire to use these new technologies that are often used in other things. Furthermore, these methods enable the children to record their recitation and listen to it, and know their mistakes.
13- Let us encourage our children to participate in all competitions, whether in the masjids, schools, or associations, etc.:
The children are often unable to memorize the Qur'an on their own, however if the matter was collective, it will be more competitive, especially if some prizes were fixed for outstanding students. A child is always trying to be superior, but if it is not successful, it will continue in the competition until it excels. So, parents have to encourage them until they become diligent and love the Qur'an and always praise their efforts in memorization.
14- Encouraging the children for recording their recitation to the Qur'an:
This generates self-confidence in children and the feeling that they can memorize the Qur'an. Moreover, frequent recording gives a glance for the level of children in their reading skill from a stage to another.
15- Encouraging the children to participate in all religious activities in school through reciting the Qur'an:
There is no doubt that many activities were the main reason for the emergence of a number of talents that were refined later and their owners became socially privileged. The participation of children in the school broadcast by reciting some Ayahs and the praise of their teachers to them encourage them more and make them more attached to the Qur'an. Here we must note that teachers must encourage the children to memorize the Qur'an and praise them every time they do something good in order to love the Qur'an more and master its recitation.
Moreover, the parents should be closely connected with the teachers to promote that attachment in the hearts of the children.
16- Listening to the children while reciting the Qur'an or while narrating stories from the Qur'an:
Very often we see that parents do not pay attention to the reading of their children or their narration of stories, which make the children feel that they are neglected or not important. However, we should listen carefully to their stories with encouraging words and kissing, along with correcting some information so as to make the piece of information clear and understood in the minds of children. All these will give them power to continue in memorizing the Qur'an, reinforce the self-confidence inside them, and train them for good speech.
17- Encouraging children to lead one another especially at home and when the children meet their friends or neighbors. It is OK to motivate your child to lead its friends to increase its self-confidence and to memorize the Qur'an more.
18- The weekly session for the Glorious Qur'an at home:
Family members should cooperate to make a weekly session for the Glorious Qur'an in order to glorify, revere, draw the attention, and endear the children to the memorization of the Qur'an.
19- Sessions of memorizing the Qur'an in the masjid are very essential for the children:
The sessions of teaching the Qur'an to young children are very important where children enter a world of competition with their mates as well as they are able to correct their recitation by teaching them Tajwid (the way of reciting the Qur'an).
20- Holding some funny competitions about the Qur'an:
This encourages a child to memorize and search for anything that is related to the Glorious Qur'an and takes into consideration the easiness of teaching it.
21- Encouraging the children to look up words in lexicons to find out the meanings of the Qur'an:
This will enrich their vocabularies and strengthen their relationship with the Glorious Qur'an.
22- Encouraging the children to read the books of Tafsir:
The knowledge of interpretation of the Qur'an encourages them to memorize it, taking into account their ages, and focusing on the interpretation of the Ayahs which contain the stories of the Qur'an, and on short Surahs.
23- Sessions of knowledge enlighten the way of the Qur'an to children:
How many children Allah has guided because of their attendance to the sessions of knowledge with their parents and the Qur'an was made beloved to them?!
24- Using the Qur'anic terminologies in the life of a child:
We should remind the child of "Allah is with those who fear" [Surat An-Nahl: 128] and with the obedience to its parents: "And be dutiful to your parents" [Surat Al Baqarah: 83], along with other Ayahs through which we can guide it to goodness in its daily life.
These are some of the major directions that help the children to memorize the Glorious Qur'an, besides other experiments that may facilitate the same process, let us remember some important and fundamental matters as follows:
● Endearing and exhortation instead of scolding.
● Stimulation and facilitation instead of causing difficulties.
● Motivational gift and encouraging speech.
● Fair competition and collective learning.
● Education through the Glorious Qur'an.
● Continual patience
● Invocation.
