Dear Hafiz - Mawlana Muhammad Salim Dhorat

Few responsibilities in Islamic life carry the weight - or the honour - of Ḥifẓ al-Qur’ān. Dear Hāfiz is a transcribed address by Shaykhul Ḥadīth Ḥaḍrat Mawlānā Muḥammad Salīm Dhorat, delivered on the occasion of a Ḥifẓ completion ceremony, and offered here as a sustained meditation on what it means to truly be Ahl al-Qur’ān - a person of the Qur’ān.

Drawing on the Qur’ān, authenticated Ḥadīth, and the example of the Ṣaḥābah and pious predecessors - among them Sayyidunā ’Uthmān, ’Urwah ibn Zubayr, and Uways al-Qarnī - the author traces the immense status the Sharī’ah confers upon the Ḥāfiẓ, and the corresponding responsibility that status demands. The address moves through several interlocking themes: the honour of being counted among the "select people of Allāh," the danger of neglect and forgetting what has been memorised, and - critically - a structured, practical path back to retention for those who have lost ground.

Key themes examined:

Throughout, the tone remains measured and instructive rather than sentimental - the counsel of an experienced teacher addressing students he has taught for decades, grounded consistently in cited Qur’ānic verses and Ḥadīth from Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī, Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim, the Sunan collections, and classical biographical and Ḥadīth-commentary literature.

Intended audience: Ḥuffāẓ and students of Ḥifẓ, teachers and administrators of Madāris and Dār al-’Ulūms, spiritual mentors (Shuyūkh), and any reader seeking a grounded, textually-anchored treatment of what sustaining a connection to the Qur’ān in practice requires. Suitable for institutional and personal libraries serving Islamic educational communities.

Dear Hāfiz closes as it opens: as a sincere, scripturally-rooted call to recognise, protect, and live up to the trust of the Qur’ān.