Quran Recitation Order For Every Month And Especially For Ramadan

By Sheikh Imran N. Hosein

Assalaamu ‘alaikum! Here is the division (which I recommend) of the Qur’an into 30 Ajza for daily recitation in order to complete the recitation of the whole Qur’an in one lunar month:

1st Juz, i.e., Juz to be recited on the first day of the month: al-Baqarah – 286 verses

2nd Juz; Āl-e Imrān – 200 verses

3rd Juz: al-Nisā’ – 177 verses

4th Juz: al-Māidah – 120 verses

5th Juz: al-An’ām – 165 verses

6th Juz: al-A’rāf – 206 verses

These, above, are all long Surahs, and so we have chosen to recite only one Surah on each of the first 6 days of the month. But on the 7th day we are confronted by 2 things which invite us to think. The first is that Surah al-Anfal is unusually short – with only 75 verses – while all the previous Surahs were long. Secondly, the Surah which follows al-Anfal is a long Surah – as long as the Surahs of the first 6 days. Why, then is al-Anfal so short? Thirdly, and most compelling of all, Surah al-Taubah, which comes immediately after al-Anfal, is the only Surah of the Qur’an which does not commence with Bismillah al-Rahman al-Raheem. What can these three important signs in the Qur’an signify?

Our view of this matter is that Allah Most High has deliberately given us al-Anfal as a short Surah, and has deliberately chosen Surah al-Taubah to commence without Bismillah al-Rahman al-Raheem, because He wants us to combine these two Surahs as our Juz for recitation on the 7th day of the lunar month; and Allah Knows best!

This departure on the 7th day from the system of recitation of single Surahs for the first 6 days of the month, not only indicates the Divine plan to now combine Surahs for daily recitation, but also alerts the believer to a very important stage in the passage of time during a lunar month, i.e., that the first week of the lunar month is now being completed.

When we have traversed the first 6 days of the week and we have arrived at the 7th day, we must now recall that the first six days were truly momentous days in the history of time, and Allah Most High wants us to pause on the 7th day in order that the event might be registered once again in our consciousness. It was for this reason that He ordained that the Sabbath Day, or the 7th day, be restricted for believers as a day of rest and prayer in order that the heart and mind might reflect on the history of time and, in consequence, be transported to a system of time with which the moon is connected. He reminds us of this no less than 6 times in the Qur’an:

إِنَّ رَبَّكُمُ اللّهُ الَّذِي خَلَقَ  السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالأَرْضَ فِي سِتَّةِ أَيَّامٍ ثُمَّ اسْتَوَى عَلَى  الْعَرْشِ يُغْشِي اللَّيْلَ النَّهَارَ يَطْلُبُهُ حَثِيثًا وَالشَّمْسَ  وَالْقَمَرَ وَالنُّجُومَ مُسَخَّرَاتٍ بِأَمْرِهِ أَلاَ لَهُ الْخَلْقُ  وَالأَمْرُ تَبَارَكَ اللّهُ رَبُّ الْعَالَمِينَ

(7:54 Qur’an, al-‘Araf,)

VERILY, your Sustainer is God, who has created the heavens and the earth in six days, and is established on the 7th day on the throne of His almightiness.  He covers the day with the night in swift pursuit, with the sun and the moon and the stars subservient to His command: oh, verily, His is all creation and all command. Hallowed is God, the Sustainer of all the worlds!

إِنَّ رَبَّكُمُ اللّهُ الَّذِي  خَلَقَ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالأَرْضَ فِي سِتَّةِ أَيَّامٍ ثُمَّ اسْتَوَى  عَلَى الْعَرْشِ يُدَبِّرُ الأَمْرَ مَا مِن شَفِيعٍ إِلاَّ مِن بَعْدِ  إِذْنِهِ ذَلِكُمُ اللّهُ رَبُّكُمْ فَاعْبُدُوهُ أَفَلاَ تَذَكَّرُونَ

(Qur’an, Yūnus, 10:3)

VERILY, your Sustainer is God, who has created the heavens and the earth in six days, and is established on the throne of His almightiness, governing all that exists. There is none that could intercede with Him unless He grants leave therefor. Thus is God, your Sustainer: worship, therefore, Him [alone]: will you not, then, keep this in mind?

الَّذِي خَلَقَ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضَ وَمَا بَيْنَهُمَا فِي سِتَّةِ  أَيَّامٍ ثُمَّ اسْتَوَى عَلَى الْعَرْشِ الرَّحْمَنُ فَاسْأَلْ بِهِ  خَبِيرًا

(Qur’an, al-Furqān, 25:59)

He who has created the heavens and the earth and all that is between them in six days, and is established on the throne of His almightiness: The Most Gracious!  Ask, then, about Him, [the] One who is [truly] aware.

اللَّهُ  الَّذِي خَلَقَ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضَ وَمَا بَيْنَهُمَا فِي سِتَّةِ  أَيَّامٍ ثُمَّ اسْتَوَى عَلَى الْعَرْشِ مَا لَكُم مِّن دُونِهِ مِن  وَلِيٍّ وَلَا شَفِيعٍ أَفَلَا تَتَذَكَّرُونَ

(Qur’an, al-Sajdah, 32:4)

IT IS GOD who has created the heavens and the earth and all that is between them in six days, and is established on the throne of His almightiness. You have none to protect you from God, and none to intercede for you [on Judgment Day]: will you not, then, bethink yourselves?

وَلَقَدْ خَلَقْنَا السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضَ وَمَا بَيْنَهُمَا فِي سِتَّةِ أَيَّامٍ وَمَا مَسَّنَا مِن لُّغُوبٍ

(Qur’an, Qāf, 50:38)

We have indeed created the heavens and the earth and all that is between them in six days, and [that] no weariness could ever touch Us.

هُوَ الَّذِي خَلَقَ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضَ فِي سِتَّةِ أَيَّامٍ  ثُمَّ اسْتَوَى عَلَى الْعَرْشِ يَعْلَمُ مَا يَلِجُ فِي الْأَرْضِ وَمَا  يَخْرُجُ مِنْهَا وَمَا يَنزِلُ مِنَ السَّمَاء وَمَا يَعْرُجُ فِيهَا  وَهُوَ مَعَكُمْ أَيْنَ مَا كُنتُمْ وَاللَّهُ بِمَا تَعْمَلُونَ بَصِيرٌ

(Qur’an, al-Hadīd, 57:4)

He it is who has created the heavens and the earth in six days, and is established on the throne of His almightiness. He knows all that enters the earth, and all that comes out of it, as well as all that descends from the skies, and all that ascends to them. And He is with you wherever you may be; and God sees all that you do.

Of course our 7th day of recitation of the Qur’an would hardly ever fall on Youm al-Sabt, or the Sabbath Day, but we are nevertheless reminded of the importance of the 7th day of the week.

7th Juz:
al-Anfāl – 75 &
al-Taubah – 129

8th Juz:
Yūnus – 109 &
Hūd – 123

9th Juz:
Yūsuf – 111 &
al-Ra’d – 43

10th Juz:
Ibrahīm – 52 &
al-Ḥijr – 99

This writer prefers to restrict the recitation of the Juz for the 11th day to Surah al-Nahl, not just because it is a long Surah, but also because it allows us to combine the recitation of Surah al-Isra with Surah al-Kahf on the 12th day of the month. We have provided adequate evidence elsewhere that these two Surahs of the Qur’an are Divinely-linked with each other.

11th Juz:
al-Naḥl – 128

12th Juz:
al-Isrā – 111 &
al-Kahf – 110

13th Juz:
Maryam – 98 &
Ṭā Ḥā – 135

14th Juz:
al-Anbiyā’ – 112 &
al-Ḥajj – 78

When the 14th day of the month has ended and the 15th night commences, the time of the full moon has arrived. Since this is the time of most Nūr or light, Allah Most High gives us Surah al-Nūr be recited on the 15th day. Whenever he recites this Surah while reciting the whole Qur’an once a lunar month, the believer is thus alerted to the arrival of that stage in the passage of time during the lunar month, when half the month has ended, and half now remains.

15th Juz:
al-Mu’minūn – 118 &
al-Nūr – 64

16th Juz:
al-Furqān – 77 &
al-Shu’ara – 227

17th Juz:
al-Naml – 93,
al-Qaṣaṣ – 88 &
al-Ankabūt – 69

18th Juz:
al-Rūm – 60,
Luqmān – 34,
al-Sajdah – 30 &
al-Ahzāb – 73

19th Juz:
Saba’ – 54,
al-Fāṭir – 45,
Yā Sīn – 83 &
al-Sāfāt – 182

20th Juz:
Sād – 88,
al-Zumar – 75 &
Ghāfir – 85

21st Juz:
Fussilāt – 54,
al-Shurā – 53 &
al-Zukhruf – 89

22nd Juz:
al-Dukhān – 59,
al-Jāthiyah – 37,
al-Ahqāf – 35,
Muhammad – 38 &
al-Fattah – 29

When the 22nd day of the month has ended, the implication would be that only one week can now remain for the month to be completed. The believer must be observant to momentous change that takes place in the sky during this last week of the lunar month as the month comes to an end, i.e., that the moon eventually disappears from the sky during the last days of this week, and the stars then take over the night-sky.  Star-light then replaces moon-light in the night sky.

Allah Most High gives us Surah al-Najm, i.e., the Surah of the star, followed by Surah al-Qamar, i.e., the Surah of the moon, on the 23rd day of the month, so that, as we recite these 2 Surahs on that day of the month, they would not only alert us that starlight would now replace moonlight in the sky, but also that the last week of the month has now commenced.

23rd Juz:
al-Hujurāt – 18,
Qāf – 45,
al-Dhāriyāt – 60,
al-Ṭūr – 49,
al-Najm – 62 &
al-Qamar – 55

24th Juz:
al-Raḥmān – 78,
al-Wāqi‘ah – 96,
al-Hadīd – 29 &
al-Mujādilah – 22

25th Juz:
al-Ḥashr – 24
Mumtaḥinah- 13,
al-Ṣaff – 14,
al-Jumu’ah – 11,
al-Munāfiqūn – 11,
al-Taghābun – 18,
al-Ṭalāq 12 &
al-Taḥrīm – 12

26th Juz:
al-Mulk – 30,
al-Qalam – 52,
al-Ḥāqqah – 52 &
al-M‘ārij – 44

27th Juz:
Nūh – 28,
al-Jinn – 28,
al-Muzzammil – 20,
al-Muddaththir – 56,
al-Qiyāmah – 40,
al-Insān – 31 &
al-Mursalāt – 50

28th Juz:
al-Naba’ – 40,
al-Nāzi‘āt – 46,
‘Abasa- 42,
al-Takwīr – 29,
al-Infiṭār – 19,
al-Muṭaffifīn – 36,
al-Inshiqāq – 25,
al-Burūj – 22,
al-Tāriq – 17,
al-A‘lā – 19 &
al-Ghāshiyah – 26

29th Juz:
al-Fajr – 30,
al-Balad – 20,
al-Shams – 15,
al-Layl – 21,
al-Ḍuḥā – 11,
al-Shraḥ – 8,
al-Tīn – 8 &
al-‘Alaq – 19

When the 29th day of the month ends, we have a duty to look in the evening sky (i.e., the sky above us in the location on earth where we are) to see whether the new moon is visible. If we see the new moon, we would then have to complete the recitation of the remaining Surahs of the Qur’an in order to complete the recitation of the whole Qur’an cover-to-cover. If, on the other hand, the new moon is not seen, we would then have just a few short Surahs to recite on the 30th day of the month in order to complete the recitation of the whole Qur’an.

30th Juz:
al-Qadr – 5,
al-Bayyinah – 8,
al-Zalzalah – 8,
al-‘Ādiyāt – 11,
al-Qāriah – 11,
al-Takāthur – 8,
al- ‘Aṣr – 3,
al-Hamazah – 9,
al-Fīl – 5,
Quraysh – 4,
al-Mā‘ūn – 7
al-Kauthar – 3,
al-Kāfirūn – 6,
al-Naṣr – 3,
al-Masad – 5,
al-Ikhlāṣ – 4,
al-Falaq –  5 &
al-Nās – 6.

Categories: Education, Islam

Tags: Islam, Quran, Ramadan, Ramzan, Sheikh Imran N Hosein