Subhanallah, the response I got from my post How I Tag My Quran Tafseer was so overwhelming! MasyaAllah tabarakallah, so many of you are interested to know further on the technical details of Quran tagging which I am more than happy to share.
For starters, these are the stationery / items that I suggest you own before starting Quran tagging. Of course, these suggestions are based on my own experiences and trial and error, so they are not exhaustive but at least it’ll give you a guidance before starting.
- Quran translation / Quran tafseer – I would highly suggest that you choose your Quran based on your preference – translation language, size of the Quran, tajwid color guide, word-by-word translation – basically there are so many options out there for you to choose your Quran, so take your time. You need to choose a Quran that you love so that it becomes a motivation for you to open and read it on daily basis, but most importantly, you must choose from a reliable publisher. If you opt for English translation, my suggestion is The Quran from Saheeh International (~RM60). It’s from a publication in Riyadh. Mufti Ismail Menk highly recommends this too, refer to this video. My current Quran tagging is on Quran with English translation from Pustaka Darul Iman (~RM40). It is good too, but I just feel that it’s much more easier to understand from Saheeh International translation.
- Highlighters – You would not want your highlighters to bleed through the pages of your Quran because that will be nasty (trust me), so I would highly suggest that you invest in good highlighters. My favorite is Zebra Mildliner! The colors are mild and it doesn’t bleed through the pages, so it keeps my Quran neat. It costs ~RM5 for each highlighter in Popular bookstores, but it’s worth it, I promise. Pro tip : When choosing a highlighter color, make sure that it is consistent with your flag color. For example, if you are choosing green flag, make sure you are highlighting the ayah with a green highlighter too. It’ll make so much difference!
- Stick- On Flags – My favorite is from Popbazic (you can get it from Popular bookstores at ~RM8) as they are thick and sturdy. I also have flags from 3M and Daiso, but they are a bit thinner and easy to accidentally fold. Popbazic flags are cheaper than 3M too. #supportlocal The only downside is it only comes in 4 colors. For my Quran tagging, I have different colors of stick-on flags for different categories. For example, green flag is for seerah, yellow flag is for dua’a, blue flag is for parenting, white flag is for different theme of a surah, etc. You can come out with your own system, but ensure consistency so it will be easier for you to refer later.
- Label maker – I don’t have reference of other label makers, so based on my experience, I would suggest Dymo Letratag LT100H. It’s affordable and you can easily get it too from most bookstores. I love that this label maker allows for special symbols and characters such as hearts and smiley faces, and importantly it allows you to do double line labels, or even go extra with formatting such as underline, bold, italic and vertical labels. You can customize your label with different size font and borders. It also have the options to save label texts and recalling stored label. This label maker is very user-friendly, you barely need to read the user guide! It is easy to print, just click the large “PRINT” button in the middle of the label maker and press the scissor button on the side of the label maker to cut the label. You can get this label maker from most of Popular bookstores and it’s retailing at around ~RM156.50.
- Labels – The labels are also from Dymo. Dymo has a wide range of labels, so choose those which are compatible with Dymo Letratag LT100H. Make sure to buy Dymo clear label tapes, and they are relatively cheap too compared to other brands. The labels are easy to peel – this is fairly important for giant hands like mine working on small labels! It retails at around ~RM32.55 in Popular bookstores for 4 metres length. I found it to be cheaper in Lazada and in Aeon or even in my local bookstores, so shop around.
- Ruler – I guess this is fairly basic, and you would think to skip this, but it’ll make a lot of a difference if you highlight with and without a ruler! I’m a bit of a perfectionist, so I will always highlight with a ruler. My rulers are from Muji, retailing at ~RM3.90. Pro tip : Make sure that you clean your ruler first every time you change the color of your highlighter. For example, if you are highlighting with a pink highlighter with your ruler, please make sure that you wipe your ruler clean first before using it with a yellow highlighter, else, you would transfer the pink highlighter ink on the yellow highlighter tip. Okay I hope it makes sense… #perfectionist To speed things up, I would usually have a dedicated ruler for each highlighters. Old credit cards make perfect rulers too.
- Scissors – You need scissors to adjust the width of the labels accordingly depending on the stick-on flags width. Who doesn’t love a good ol sharp pair or scissors, rights? My scissors are from Muji, retailing at ~RM7.90.
- Pens – This is optional, but I use a 0.25 mm pen to write footnotes on my Al-Quran for quick reference. You can use any pens, but I find notes written using a fine pen will make less distraction for when you are reading the Quran. My 0.25 mm pens are from Muji, retailing at ~RM4.90.
- Quran cover – This is optional too, but if you have the means, I would highly suggest that you invest in a Quran cover. Not only because of aesthetic reason, but you would also be protecting your Quran for when you bring it around. InsyaAllah, when you start tagging, Quran will be your best companion at all time, and you’ll find yourselves carrying it around more. My Quran cover is a gift from a very dear friend, Huda. p/s : She takes orders too, so if you would like to have a customize Quran cover, please be in touch.
That’s basically it and I really make dua’a that my posts and my sharing on Instagram inspire you to start learning the words of Allah SWT. I find peace in understanding His words and in finding my purpose in this dunya, alhamdulillah. I still have so much to improve as a Muslim and I hope you’ll make dua’a for me too to be always under His guidance. May Allah SWT strengthen our hearts and keep us istiqamah in this journey.
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