METHODOLOGY FOR STUDY OF THE QUR'AN
by Sheikh Imran Nazar Hosein
CHAPTER TWO
Preparation for study through continuous daily recitation of the Qur’ān
“… Recite then, as much of the Qur’ān as you may do with ease …”
(Qur’ān, al-Muzammil, 73: 20)
One of the beautiful names of the Lord-God is al Alīm, i.e., the one who truly possesses knowledge. Hence true knowledge comes from Him. Since the Qur’ān is His Word, it is He Who will confer knowledge on the student who wishes to study the Qur’ān. It is to Him that the student must turn for guidance and help when studying the Qur’ān.
The very first word of the Qur’ān that He revealed to the heart of the Prophet (s) was the command: Iqra! (i.e., read or recite)! It was from this command of Iqra that the Book got its name of al-Qur’ān, i.e., that which is read or recited! The implication is that He Who sent down the Qur’ān, wants that the Book be continuously recited from cover-to-cover all through life. The Qur’ān has indeed recorded the command to the blessed Prophet that He must recite the Book:
“(Say): I (Muhammad (s)) am commanded only to serve the Lord-God of this land which He has made sacred, and unto Whom all things belong. And I am commanded to be of those who surrender (unto Him),
“And (I am commanded) to recite the Qur’ān. And whoever is rightly-guided (while reciting this Qur’ān, studying it and following it) is rightly-guided for (the good of) his own soul; and as for him who goes astray (through neglect of this Qur’ān) say (unto him): Lo! I am only a warner.”
(Qur’ān, al-Naml, 27:91-2)
Since Allah Most High declared, compassionately so, that Muslims should recite the Qur’ān as much as is easy for them, the Prophet (s) recommended that the Qur’ān should be recited from cover to cover once a month. This should be done all through life! Those who wish to do more, were permitted to recite once a week – but not faster than that:
It was narrated that ‘Abdullah bin ‘Amr said: I memorized the Qur’ān and recited it all in one night. The Messenger of Allah said: ‘I am afraid that you may live a long life and that you may get bored. Recite it over the period of a month.’ I said: ‘Let me benefit from my strength in my youth.’ He said: ‘Recite it in ten days.’ I said: ‘Let me benefit from my strength and my youth.’ He said: ‘Recite it in seven days.’ I said: ‘Let me benefit from my strength and my youth,’ but he refused (to alter it any further).
Sunan Ibn Mājah
Here is another Hadīth on the subject:
Narrated Abdullah ibn Amr ibn al-’Ās: Yazīd ibn Abdullah said that Abdullah ibn Amr asked the Prophet: In how many days should I complete the recitation of the whole Qur’ ān, Messenger of Allah?
He replied: In one month.
He said: I am more energetic to complete it in a period less than this. He kept on repeating these words and lessening the period until he said: Complete its recitation in seven days.
He again said: I am more energetic to complete it in a period less than this.
The Prophet (s) said: He who finishes the recitation of the Qur’ān in less than three days does not understand it.
(Sunan Abī Dāūd)
Since Nabī Muhammad (s) was himself required by Angel Gabriel to recite the whole Qur’ān during a period of one month, i.e., during every month of Ramadān, it is quite clear that the Qur’ān should be recited from cover-to-cover once a month. For this reason we find the Qur’ān divided into thirty parts. If one part were to be recited daily, the recitation of the Qur’ān can be completed cover-to-cover once a (lunar) month. This method of recitation of the Qur’ān also allows us to keep track of lunar time as the lunar month progresses from a fragile new moon, to a gloriously beautiful full moon, to a moon in a state of such decline that it looks like an old withered branch of a date palm, until the moon finally disappears into the darkness of the sky to make way for a new moon and another month.
Those, on the other hand, who wished to recite the whole Qur’ān once a week were advised by the Prophet (s) with respect to the portion of daily recitation, as follows:
On the first day they should recite the first 3 Sūrahs;
on the second day the next 5;
the third day the next 7;
the fourth day the next 9;
the fifth day the next 11;
the sixth day the next 13;
and on the seventh day they should recite all the rest of the Qur’ān until the end.
This continuous recitation, cover-to-cover, constitutes an essential prerequisite for the study of the Qur’ān. Whoever accepts the Qur’ān as the revealed Word of the One God and does not continuously recite the Book, would be in disobedience of the very first word revealed in the Book, which was also a divine command, i.e., Read or Recite! Such conduct would qualify as forsaking or abandoning the Qur’ān, and Nabī Muhammad (s) himself was made to complain to his Lord God against such of his followers in a verse of the Qur’ān:
AND the Messenger (of Allah) will say: “O my Lord-God! Surely my people have forsaken this Qur’ān” (since, among other things, they no longer recite it continuously)!”
(Qur’ān, al-Furqān, 25:30)
Our gentle readers would be absolutely amazed to know that there are multitudes of Muslims today who spend long hours of the night singing great songs in praise of Nabī Muhammad (s), but who do not recite the Qur’ān as it ought to be recited, i.e., from cover-to-cover at least once a month.
Prophet Muhammad (s) has declared that the soul will be questioned by Angels in the grave. Among the questions will be: Who is the Prophet you followed? If the answer that is given is Muhammad (s), then that will imply that the Book which was accepted as the Word of the Lord-God, and which supposed to be recited, studied, and followed, would be the Qur’ān.
It is entirely possible that the soul can then be handed a copy of the Qur’ān in the grave, and can be commanded to recite the Qur’ān. The purpose of this very first test in the grave would be to determine whether this Muslim was guilty of forsaking the Qur’ān, or whether he or she used to recite the Qur’ān regularly. If the soul is discovered through this test to be one of those guilty of forsaking the Qur’ān, then punishment in the grave can possibly commence with this failure.
There are those who would not be able to recite the Qur’ān in Arabic, and who may request a translation in French, English, Urdu, German, etc. They would then learn to their dismay that there is only one Qur’ān, and it is in Arabic, and that they never devoted any effort to learn enough Arabic to recite the Qur’ān in Arabic. The fate of the Arab who speaks Arabic, and yet cannot recite the Qur’ān in Arabic, or who recites the Qur’ān haltingly at a speed embarrassingly slower than a cow, would not be pleasant to behold.
Someone who has just become a Muslim, and does not as yet know how to recite the Qur’ān in Arabic, will not, of course, suffer the same fate, if he dies in that condition, as one who has spent his life as a Muslim without reciting the Qur’ān regularly.
to be continued .....
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