The Qur'aan is learnt only by receiving verbal instruction and transmission. Indeed, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) learnt the Qur'aan orally from Jibril (may peace be upon him). The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) used to recite the Qur'aan to Jibril once every year in the month of Ramadan, and he recited the Qur'aan twice in the year that he passed away.
The companions (may Allah be pleased with them) learnt the Qur'aan verbally from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and so did the generations of Muslims after them.
This is a distinct attribute of the Qur'aan. It is not like the rest of the revealed books because it has the special nature of being recited, as Almighty Allah says:
"وَإِنَّكَ لَتُلَقَّى ٱلۡقُرۡءَانَ مِن لَّدُنۡ حَكِيمٍ عَلِيمٍ"
"And most surely you are made to receive the Qur'aan from the All Wise, the All Knowing."
("receive" in this ayah means to receive verbally, in recitation form)
[An-Naml 6]
Therefore, anyone who memorizes, or is in the process of memorizing the noble Qur'aan should be careful about learning it orally from a proficient reciter and teacher before memorizing the verses. This is so that we do not establish our memorization upon on a weak foundation or with poor tajweed and recitation techniques. Once we memorize a verse in the wrong manner, it becomes difficult to correct the wrong and to relearn it.
The only way to recite properly and correctly is by learning it verbally. A common method these days is to listen to prominent reciters of the Qur'aan and to imitate them. This is very good, however it only solves half of the problem. We will still be left with the other half, which is reciting back to someone who is well versed enough to correct the mistakes we make. We cannot learn it without the help of a teacher, and we should invest our time and effort in finding a good/qualified teacher to learn from.
Many adults are hesitant about this step because they are either arrogant and do not want to learn from someone else, especially if the teacher is younger than they are, or because they feel they are too old to be making mistakes in the presence of a teacher. We have to drop this arrogance and make pleasing Allah our priority. If we always remind ourselves that pleasing Allah is the reason we are memorizing the noble Qur'aan, we will be able to look beyond all the barriers we human beings have put up against improving ourselves in this aspect of our deen.
This is also a reason why it is important for us to make our children learn and memorize the Qur'aan while they are still young. They learn faster and learn better by imitation. They are not afflicted with the issues that prevent adults from learning the Qur'aan. Once they learn it correctly, they will build a solid foundation that will last bi ithniLLAH.
We ask Allah to make us humble enough to understand the need for this fundamental step in memorizing the Qur'aan, and to put it into practice.
The source and main material used in preparing the content of this blog is the book, Ways of teaching the noble Qur'aan and memorizing it by Abu Abdrahman, Jamal ibn Ibrahim AlQirsh (طرائق تدريس القرآن الكريم وحفظه).