Q: Your Eminence Shaykh `Abdul `Aziz bin `Abdullah ibn Baz (may Allah protect him)
A ssalamu `alaykum warahmatullah wabarakatuh (May Allah's Peace, Mercy, and Blessings be upon you!)
We submit to your Eminence a suggestion about reducing the amount of Qur'an to be memorized in Umm AlQura University. This does not mean that we dislike memorizing the Qur'an; but there are two reasons for this suggestion:
Keep refreshing your knowledge of the Qur'an, for I swear by Him in Whose Hand is the life of Mahammad that it is more liable to escape (be forgotten) than camels which are hobbled.
Therefore, we would like your Eminence to help your students and fulfill their desire to reduce the amount of the Qur'an required to be memorized to two Juz' (a 30th of the Qur'an) and replace the last two hours with the subject of UsululFiqh (principles of Islamic jurisprudence) or Sirah (the Prophet). May Allah reward you with the best!
A: Wa `alaykum Assalamu warahmatullah wabarakatuh:
We appreciate your concern about the Book of Allah, but we do not agree with you on your suggestion. We wish that plans of the University are good and blessed and that they bring good results In sha'aAllah (if Allah wills).
May Allah show mercy to so and so; he has reminded me of such and such a verse which I had forgotten.
I am a human being like you and liable to forget like you.
Chairman of the Departments of Scholarly Research, Ifta', Daw`ah and Guidance