Whether you’re a new Muslim or Arabic is not your first language or you want to be able to learn and understand the Quran, learning a few versus from the Quran that you can recite during prayers to be able to carry out your 5 daily prayers is the foundation point.
The literature of the Quran is very poetic so memorisation is a lot easier than most languages and is one of the traits and blessings of the Quran.
Breakdown of the Quran
The Quran in itself was released during 2 periods of the Prophet Muhammed PBUH lifetime. The first part was released in Mekkah before his plight to Medina.
Mekkah Period
Revelation of the Quran began in Mekkah with Surah Iqra, (click on link here) and for the next 23 years revelations would be recited and recorded. The first 13 years in Mekkah the versus are much shorter and they are more concerned with the Oneness of God ; (Tawheed) matters of the day of Judgement; the start of creation;, life and death and descriptions of heaven and hell.
These verses, (ayahs) are much shorter and are mostly situated at the end of the Quran. They are also a lot easier to memorise and students starting to learn the Quran will begin their journey learning these short versus.
These versus are perfect for recitation and will provide a stepping stone for the later chapters.
Medinah Period
The punishment and torture afflicting the Messenger and his companions at the hands of the people of Mekkah forced them to migrate to the city of Medina after 10 years of spreading the message in secret. The city of Medina is 450km North of Mekkah and here the Messenger was greeted warmly by its people and continued to spread the message and new revelation .
During this 10 year period in Medina the revelations are more detailed and contain issues pertaining to how to interact with one another as humans, including do’s and don’t, (halal and haram), the lives and stories of previous Prophets and their peoples, instructions of how to carry out certain rituals such as fasting, hajj, how to treat women, inheritance, doing business, trade, not taking or giving usury and many other commandments that were given to previous prophets, reiterated and confirmed again.
Some of these Chapters although much longer have encapsulated stories that are pleasurable to read and understand which makes it easier for the reader to memorise, such as Surah Ibrahim (Abraham) Surah Maryam (Mary), Surah Al-Kahf (The Cave) and many others.
In total there are 30 equal Chapters in the Quran also known as Juzz in Arabic, with 114 Surahs (verses) that vary in length from a few words to several pages.
But where do we start and what are the most important verses to memorise?
Surah Al-Fatiha
Surah Al Fatiha or Al Hamdu, is the beginning chapter of the Quran. It comprises of 9 short versus.
Surah Al Fatiha translated as “the opening” is the most important verse in the Quran for memorisation as from it we pray the 5 daily prayers.
Al Fatiha is similar to the Lords prayer and is repeated throughout all prostrations of the prayer. It is a short set of verses that Glorify Allah and is easy to remember.