Q: What is the sin in the dunya and aakhirah for the one who learns the quraan or surahs of the quraan but forgets it completely after a period?
A: There is severe punishment for such a person. On one occasion Nabi (sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) related to the Sahaabah (radhiyallahu anhum) that at night he had seen a dream in which two people came to him and led him to a certain place. Nabi (sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) explained that on the way they passed by a person who was lying down and another person was standing at his head-side with a heavy boulder in his hand. He took the boulder and, with full force, he burst his head. Once the boulder struck him, it fell and rolled away to a far distance. When he went to pick up that boulder and by the time that he returned, this person’s head became normal again. So he burst it again. Later on, one of the two people told Nabi (sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) that the one whose head you saw getting smashed, he was a person whom Allah had blessed with the knowledge of the Qur’aan. He was negligent of it at night and did not practise on it during the day. He will be punished right until Qiyaamah in this way.
And Allah Ta’ala (الله تعالى) knows best.
Answered by:
Mufti Ebrahim Salejee (Isipingo Beach)