Hafiz (; ar, حافظ, ḥāfiẓ,
pl. ''ḥuffāẓ'' ,
f. ''ḥāfiẓa'' ), literally meaning "memorizer", depending on the context, is a term used by
Muslim
Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...
s for someone who has completely
memorized the
Quran
The Quran (, ; Standard Arabic: , Classical Arabic, Quranic Arabic: , , 'the recitation'), also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation in Islam, revelation from God in Islam, ...
. Hafiza is the
female
Female (Venus symbol, symbol: ♀) is the sex of an organism that produces the large non-motile ovum, ova (egg cells), the type of gamete (sex cell) that fuses with the Sperm, male gamete during sexual reproduction.
A female has larger gamet ...
equivalent.
Ludwig W. Adamec
Ludwig W. Adamec (10 March 1924 – 1 January 2019) was a noted scholar on the Middle East and Afghanistan. He was a professor emeritus in the School of Middle East and North African Studies at the University of Arizona. (2009), ''Historical Dictionary of Islam'', pp.113-114. Scarecrow Press. .
Although a hafiz does not have formal authority like an aalim or a mufti, in places where the scholars are scarce, they are frequently consulted and often made an imam. Resultantly, a hafiz becomes the leader of his community and the go-to person for religious knowledge, counselling, and other religious disputes.
A hafiz is given great respect by the people of the community with titles such as "Hafiz Sahb" (Sir Hafiz), "Ustadh" (أُسْتَاذ) (Teacher), "Mawlana" (مَوْلَانَا) (Master), and occasionally
Sheikh
Sheikh (pronounced or ; ar, شيخ ' , mostly pronounced , plural ' )—also transliterated sheekh, sheyikh, shaykh, shayk, shekh, shaik and Shaikh, shak—is an honorific title in the Arabic language. It commonly designates a chief of a ...
(شَيْخ).
Importance
Hifz' is the memorization of the Quran. Muslims believe that whoever memorizes the Quran and acts upon it will be rewarded and honoured greatly by Allah, as Abdullah ibn Amr narrated that the Messenger of Allah said: “It shall be said - meaning to the one who memorized the Qur'an - 'Recite, and rise up, recite (melodiously) as you would recite in the world. Indeed your rank shall be at the last Ayah you recited” (Jami` at-Tirmidhi 2914)
Having memorised the Quran, the ''hafiz'' or ''hafiza'' must then ensure they do not forget it. To ensure perfect recall of all the learned verses requires constant practice. The memorisation of the Quran was important to Muslims in the past and also in the present. Yearly, thousands of students master the Quran and complete the book with
interpretation and also memorisation. The Quran is perhaps the only book, religious or secular, that has been memorized completely by millions of people.
In Pakistan alone, Qari Hafeez Jalandhari, the general secretary of the
Wafaq-ul-Madaris
Wifaq ul Madaris Al-Arabia, Pakistan (Urdu: ) is the largest federation of Islamic seminaries in Pakistan, founded in 1959. More than 10,000 seminaries and 23,000 madaris across Pakistan are affiliated with the federation. It controls all the s ...
, which is a central board accounting for most of the
religious seminaries in Pakistan, says that, in its network of madaris, "one million children have become Hafiz-e-Quran after an exam was introduced in 1982", with more than 78,000 (including 14,000 girls) every year, which he compared to the yearly output of
Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the A ...
, which is 5,000.
Cultural differences
For Muslims who are attempting to memorize certain
sura
A ''surah'' (; ar, سورة, sūrah, , ), is the equivalent of "chapter" in the Qur'an. There are 114 ''surahs'' in the Quran, each divided into '' ayats'' (verses). The chapters or ''surahs'' are of unequal length; the shortest surah ('' Al-K ...
s but are unfamiliar with the
Arabic script
The Arabic script is the writing system used for Arabic and several other languages of Asia and Africa. It is the second-most widely used writing system in the world by number of countries using it or a script directly derived from it, and the ...
, the
ulema
In Islam, the ''ulama'' (; ar, علماء ', singular ', "scholar", literally "the learned ones", also spelled ''ulema''; feminine: ''alimah'' ingularand ''aalimath'' lural are the guardians, transmitters, and interpreters of religious ...
have made various elucidations. There are mixed opinions on the usage of
romanization of Arabic
The romanization of Arabic is the systematic rendering of written and spoken Arabic in the Latin script. Romanized Arabic is used for various purposes, among them transcription of names and titles, cataloging Arabic language works, language ed ...
due to concerns about mispronunciations, higher approval of writing systems with close consonantal and vocalic equivalents to
classical Arabic or relevant and effective diacritics, and a preference for Quran tutors or recorded recitations from
qaris or any device with clear audible sound storage technology, such as CDs or cassettes.
Keeping the Quran memorized has always been a challenging and, at the same time, important issue in Muslim countries. In Iran, according to Resolution 573 of the Supreme Council of the Cultural Revolution, there is at least one specialized examination of the preservation of the Quran each year, according to specific criteria. The reviewer of this evaluation is Dar al-Qur'an al-Karim, a subsidiary of the Islamic Advertising Organization. According to Article 5 of the above Decree, holders of specialized qualifications for memorizing the Quran will enjoy the benefits of one to five art degrees, subject to the approval of the 547th session of the Supreme Council for Cultural Revolution. Therefore, the approval of the Qualification Degrees 1 to 5 of the Quran are in line with the Doctoral, Master's, Bachelor, Associate's Diploma and Diploma degrees, respectively.
[ :fa:حافظ (قرآن)]
See also
*
Qari'
*
Hafez
Khwāje Shams-od-Dīn Moḥammad Ḥāfeẓ-e Shīrāzī ( fa, خواجه شمسالدین محمّد حافظ شیرازی), known by his pen name Hafez (, ''Ḥāfeẓ'', 'the memorizer; the (safe) keeper'; 1325–1390) and as "Hafiz", ...
References
{{Authority control
Islamic terminology
Memory in culture