Question

Jazaakumu Allahu khairan for your supplement about Ramadan, the Month of the Qur'an.  Alhamdulillah, we shared it in our tajweed class this morning.

A few questions came up:

1. If someone has difficulty still in reading the Qur'an and, for example, reads some letters with wrong articulation so that it sounds like another letter or makes mistakes in the timing, should they still try and read as much Qur'an as they can during the month for reward and worship or would that not be a good idea for them until they can read better?  One suggestion was that they could read along with a tape.

2. If someone is trying to read the whole Qur'an during the month but is slow in reading  so that they are struggling to get it "all in" before Eid so they skip the surahs that they read during their salah from memory or read on a weekly basis such as surah Al Kahf on Fridays when they reach them in their reading.  Is that still considered reading the "whole" Qur'an? 

Ramadan mubaarak to you.

 

Answer

Wa iyyakum wa al-muslimeen, and Ramadhan mubaarak to you and all the Muslims.  May Allah accept our fasting and righteous deeds, increase our faith, and grant all khair for the Muslim nation.

May Allah reward you and the tajweed class for being so eager to achieve the highest amount of reward in this blessed month.

1. We think reading along with a tape of a known sheikh is an excellent idea for the student that makes mistakes in the letters themselves, or cuts off the medd letters, or makes medd letters out of normal vowels.  The student this way insha’ Allah achieves the goal or reading as much Qur’an as possible, and at the same time does not change the Qur’an, if they are careful to recite as the sheikh recites in the tape. 

2. Skipping surahs when trying to make a khatmah, but reading them at a different time during the attempt to make the khatmah, insha’ Allah counts as a khatmah, as far as we could ascertain by asking different knowledgeable teachers of the Qur’an with ijaazah in the Qur’an.  Certainly they will receive reward from Allah for reading as much of the Qur’an as possible.  The most important thing, from answers obtained from all we asked, was that all of the Qur’an is read sometime during the attempt to make the khatmah.  Of course it is much better and sunnah to recite it in the order the Prophet  instructed the revelation to be arranged.  If one truly desires to make a khatmah and makes their intention “niyyah” pure, and struggles in it for Allah’s cause, insha’ Allah it will be possible.  Those that have difficulty in recitation receive double reward, subhana Allah, and Ramadhan is a blessed month, so they are doing a great amount of good for their soul, insha’ Allah, with their striving to finish the complete Qur’an in this special month.  In a hadeeth related by Bukhari and Muslim, Aa’ishah reported that the Prophet, , said, “He who recites the Qur’an fluently will be in the company of the noble and virtuous angels, and he who recites the Qur’an haltingly and with difficulty will have a double reward.”

May we point out that surah Al-Kahf is mostly in the 15^th juz’, and since Ramadhan started on a Friday, the reading of juz’ 15 (if reading one juz’ a day) will coincide with a Friday.  We start our day at Maghreb, meaning the first of Ramadhan starts at Maghreb of the night before we start our fast, so if Friday day is the first of Ramadhan, the eager student may try to complete surah Al-Kahf on Thursday night, then spend the day Friday starting on the khatmah.  May Allah make your class’s desires and goals a reality, and make easy for them the recitation of the Qur’an as it was revealed to our beloved Prophet, .