Tuesday 15 May 2018

The Fajr Reading Index: A cover-to-cover plan for Qur'an in Ramadan

How to read Qur'an cover-to-cover in Ramadan: The Fajr Index

All praise is due to Allah. We seek his choicest blessings for Muhammad and all who follow his ways till the last day.

Ramadan is the month of Qur'an as says Allah and his prophet - and their words are true and will so remain till the last day.

What Allah said about Ramadan: "The month of Ramadan in which was revealed the Quran, a guidance for mankind and clear proofs for the guidance and the criterion (between right and wrong)..." Qur'an 2:185

Narrated by al-Bukhaari (4614) from Abu Hurayrah (may Allaah be pleased with him) who said: Jibreel used to review the Qur’aan with the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) once every year, and he reviewed it with him twice in the year in which he passed away.

It is not mandatory but highly desirable (Mustahab) to at least read the Qur'an from cover to cover once in the month of Ramadan. That feat requires planning and discipline on the part of the reader.

Luckily, the Qur'an, standardised as it is, is already divided into 30 parts. Every thirtieth is known as a juz'i. Half a juz'i is called a hizb. In effect, 60 hizbs is one full Quran.

How then can we implement a Quran Performance Index (QPI) in seeking to complete the Qur'an in 30 or even 29 days?

What you need is the standard King Fahd type of Qur'an. It has 604 pages in total. Divide that by 30 and you get at least 20 pages daily. The known format for completing the Quran is four pages before / after each daily prayer (Fajr, Zuhr, Asr, Maghrib, Ishae.)


What does QPI with Fajr leverage propose?

Against the backdrop of the verse talking about reading Qur'an after Fajr being a witness for us. A reader in this case should put emphasis on reading after Fajr.

Allah said in Qur'an 17:78: "Perform As-Salat (Iqamat-as-Salat) from mid-day till the darkness of the night (i.e. the Zuhr, 'Asr, Maghrib, and 'Isha' prayers), and recite the Quran in the early dawn (i.e. the morning prayer). Verily, the recitation of the Quran in the early dawn is ever witnessed (attended by the angels in charge of mankind of the day and the night)."

Game plan:

1. Read a hizb every Fajr. Approximately 10 pages.
2. For each of the remaining four prayers, read quarter of a hizb - Which equates to 2.5 pages or so.
3. For obvious reasons, you could combine Magrib and Ishae (i.e. read 5 pages) after iftaar - because of Taraaweeh.

An illustrative situation - Starting project on Ramadan 1

After Fajr = Suratul Fatiha 1 - Suratul Baqara 74 [page 11]
After Zuhr = Suratul Baqara 75 - Suratul Baqara 91 [page 14]
After Asr = Suratul Baqara 92 - Suratul Baqara 105 [page 17]
After Magrib = Suratul Baqara 106 - Suratul Baqara 123 [page 19]
After Ishae = Suratul Baqara 124 - Suratul Baqara 141 [page 21]

With this, insha Allah, one should comfortably finish the Qur'an in Ramadan. Don't forget to try reading meanings and explanations as you go along. Get a reasonable and doable quota on this.

And whiles at it, plan for a post Ramadan structure for Qur'an reading, a page per day, juz'i per week. It all depends on you. May this Ramadan bring us great fortunes. Ameen.


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