While I do not want to discourage the memorization of the Qur'an in general, we need to talk about the many Muslims who misunderstand the importance and function of memorizing the Qur'an.
First of all, if you want to be a seeker of knowledge or a scholar, then you either must be a hafidh or be working towards being one.The Qur'an is the key to all knowledge. At the very least be consistently working towards it if you are not already one.
But if your intention is not to become a seeker of knowledge or a scholar, then it is different. Memorizing the Qur'an is not obligatory, but learning theology, fiqh, tasawwuf, and tajwid to the extent you can recite the Fatihah properly is. If you do not understand enough of Islam to have correct belief, protect yourself from doubts, fulfill obligations in worship and society, avoid sins, and maintain a relationship and connection with Allah then memorizing the Qur'an is a secondary endeavour, and to prioritize it before the others is a serious miscalculation of effort.
As for those parents who force their kids into completing hifdh programs, take heed. It is not obligatory for your kid to be hafidh, but it is obligatory for you to impart the aforementioned obligatory Islamic knowledge unto them, whether it be from yourself (if you are learned) or by signing your kid up for classes. If you make your kid memorize the Qur'an but they don't have sufficient knowledge to understand it and contextualize it, they don't receive the necessary tarbiyah to absorb it into their character, they have to go through oppression and suffering at your hands or their teachers' to complete their hifdh, or your intention is corrupt and you are just putting your kid through hell so you can brag about it to your friends, then you are just placing the burden of proof on your child. At any moment they can implode and all that Qur'an in their heart will be a proof against them on the Last Day.
And they do implode. There is a reason I'm writing this post. I'm tired of seeing and hearing about huffadh leaving Islam, forgetting all their Qur'an, turning to sin, and grossly misunderstanding the religion. Stop treating the hifdh of the Qur'an like a replacement for a strong Islamic Education. And if it wasn't clear already then reading a translation is not even close to enough.
As for the hafidh: Please note that your hifdh has not made you into a seeker of knowledge. You will not truly understand the Qur'an until you learn other Islamic sciences too. Don't be in a rush to teach or do da'wah just because you've done your hifdh. People will praise you and the ignorant will come to you thinking you are a 'Shaykh'. Don't let your nafs fall for it. There is a reason the majority of the fuqaha (The Hanafis, Malikis and Shafiis) preferred the more knowledgeable in fiqh to lead the prayer over the 'most read'.
Hifdh without Arabic is pointless. Arabic alone applied to understand the Qur'an without obligatory (and further) knowledge often leads to misguidance. Recitation of the Qur'an without the rules of the Qurra is not giving the Qur'an its due right. At least ensure that you know how to recite the Qur'an well in one riwayah e.g. Hafs.
Just like a seeker of knowledge though, mind your intentions. Its a great blessing and act of worship to memorize the Qur'an. Don't do it to be known as the 'qari' or the 'hafidh'. Don't let it all go to waste. Remember, the 'people of the Qur'an' are not necessarily those who have memorized it, they are those who also understand it, are companions of it, understand it and teach it.
