How much Quran should a child memorise a day?
By Zubair Sattar, founder of Online Quran Learnings · Updated · 5 min read
3 Days Free Trial · Female supervisor in every class
The short answer
For most children a few new lines a day is right: about 1 or 2 lines at 5 or 6, 2 to 5 lines at 7 to 9, and up to half a page or a page for strong older readers. The teacher sets the amount after hearing your child, and cuts it whenever yesterday’s lines are not secure.
A starting point by age
| Age | New lines a day (sabaq) | Revised the same day |
|---|---|---|
| 5 to 6 | 1 or 2 lines, or one short ayah | Yesterday’s lines and one short surah |
| 7 to 9 | 2 to 5 lines | The last few days, and a few older surahs |
| 10 to 12 | 5 lines to half a page | The last week, and part of an older juz |
| 13 and up | Half a page to a page | The last week, and a full older juz in rotation |
These are starting points, not targets. A 7-year-old who reads fluently may take more; a 10-year-old who still reads slowly should take less. In the 3-day free trial the teacher listens to your child read and suggests a first amount.
Why revision decides the amount
Every Hifz class has three parts: sabaq, the new lines; sabqi, the last few days; and manzil, older pages in rotation. New lines are only worth adding if the old ones stay.
- If yesterday’s lines come back with mistakes, the teacher keeps the same sabaq or makes it shorter.
- If sabqi is smooth for a week, the sabaq can grow by a line or two.
- As the memorised part grows, revision takes more of the class. That is normal, and it is why the amount of new lines often stays steady for a long time.
More on keeping it: Quran memorisation with murajaah and why children forget their lessons.
What a daily amount adds up to
The common 15-line mushaf has 604 pages, about 9,000 lines. Juz Amma is about 23 pages. At five days a week, with no weeks off, the sums look like this:
| New lines a day | Juz Amma | The whole Quran |
|---|---|---|
| 3 lines | About 5 months | About 11½ years |
| 5 lines | About 3 months | About 7 years |
| 8 lines (about half a page) | About 2 months | About 4½ years |
| 15 lines (one page) | About 5 weeks | A little over 2 years |
Real life adds revision days, exams and holidays, which is why most children take about 3 to 5 years for the whole Quran. See how long Hifz takes. A steady amount every weekday beats a big amount some days.
Signs the amount is too much, or too little
Tell the teacher what you hear at home. The amount should change with your child, not with a chart.
Quick questions
Is a page a day too much for a child?
For most children under 12, yes, at least at the start. A page a day suits older, fluent readers whose revision is already strong.
Should my child memorise at the weekend too?
Light revision at the weekend helps more than new lines. A common plan keeps new lines to weekdays and uses one weekend day to go over the week.
How many classes a week for Hifz?
We suggest five, so new lines and revision happen every day. Each class is 30 minutes, live and one-to-one.
