Hafidh of Harry Potter?

Over the break, one way I dealt with some of my extra time is to get into reading. At the moment, I'm nearly half-way through the Harry Potter series (which I had started before, but never finished.) I don't think I'm really close to being fanatical about the series at all, but I know plenty of people who are.

I know people who have read the entire series several times, over a dozen times even. They might read it every year. Everytime a new book comes out. I'm not talking about reading a single book here, but a series of books. One friend of mine even joked once that her daughter was "hafiz in Harry Potter" because she had read it so many times.

Can you imagine, if we read the Qur'an that often, that many times?

When my family gets together, a game we like to play is called Scene It? Basically it's a sort of board game with questions about different movies you must answer to progress around the board. Now there are themed Scene It? games, including a Harry Potter one, which is based on the first five Harry Potter films. (This is kind of sad and embarrassing to admit.) This year, it was the Harry Potter Scene It? my family played during holiday get-togethers. The game would ask players about the names of characters, some trivia about artifacts, and even some plot details.

Can you imagine if because of our enthusiasm from the Qur'an we knew all the stories in it? If we knew when the passages were revealed, and their relevance today?

Or do we as Muslims really prefer to open a book by J.K. Rowling, so she can remind us of Harry Potter? How can that be better than a book from the Lord of the Worlds, reminding us of His Mercy and His Glory, and of our meeting with Him?

And when you meet Him, would it really be better to have your mind full of the details of the life of an imaginary boy wizard, or full of the Qur'an?

I'd rather devote my memory to the Qur'an, and let it be a light for me on the Day of Judgment, when there might be no other light. May Allah make us among the ones who read His book, who understand it, and who act on it, and whose lives are enriched by it.