Reciting the Qur'an in Ramadan

"The month of Ramadhân is the one in which the Qur'ân was sent down,
a guidance for mankind, clear proofs for the guidance, the Criterion; so
whoever amongst you witnesses this month, let him fast it." (cf. Soorah
al-Baqarah 2:185)

The word 'so' (fast) in this ayah leads to the following paraphrase of one aspect of its meaning:
"Fast this month because it is the one in which the Qur'ân was sent down"

Ibn 'Abbas narrates "that the Messenger of Allâh (may Allâh bless him and grant him peace) was
the most generous person, and he would be at his most generous in Ramadhân because Jibril
would come to him every night and he would rehearse the Qur'ân with him." (Saheeh
al-Bukhaaree, Eng. trans. 6/486)

Studying the Qur'ân in Ramadhân;
Coming together for this purpose;
Checking (one's memory/knowledge of) the Qur'ân with someone who has preserved it better;
Increasing recitation of the Qur'ân in Ramadhân;
That the night time is the best time to recite, when other preoccupations decrease and it is easier
to concentrate, as in Soorah al-Muzzammil 73:6..."Verily, the rising by night (for Tahajjud
prayer) is very hard and most potent and good for governing (the soul), and most
suitable for (understanding) the Word (of Allâh)."

Further, Fatimah (may Allâh be pleased with her) narrated from her father (may Allâh bless him
and grant him peace), who told her that Jibril would rehearse the Qur'ân with him (in
Ramadhân) once every year, and he did so twice in the year of his death. (Bukhaaree 6/485)

After mentioning the above aspects of the Sunnah, Ibn Rajab talks about the situation of the Salaf(the early Muslims) during Ramadhân:

"... Some of the Salaf would complete reciting the whole Qur'ân during the night prayer of
Ramadhân every 3 days, others every 7 days e.g. Qataadah, others in 10 days e.g. Abu Rajaa'
al-Atardi. The Salaf would recite Qur'ân in Ramadhân in Prayer as well as outside it. Al-Aswad
would finish the Qur'ân every 2 nights in Ramadhân; Ibrahim an-Nakh'I would do likewise in
the last 10 nights specifically, & every 3 nights during the rest of the month. Qataadah would
regularly finish the Qur'ân in 7 days, but in 3 days during Ramadhân, when he would study the
Qur'ân especially, and every night during its last 10 days. Al-Zuhri would say when Ramadhân
began, 'It is recitation of the Qur'ân and feeding of people.' When Ramadhân began, Imam Malik
would cease narrating Hadith and sitting with the people of knowledge, and stick to reciting the
Qur'ân from its pages, while Sufyan al-Thawri would leave other acts of worship and stick to
reciting the Qur'ân. 'Aishah would recite from the pages of the Qur'ân at the beginning of the
day in Ramadhân (i.e. after Dawn), until when the sun had risen, she would sleep. Zayd
al-Yaami would bring copies of the Qur'ân when Ramadhân began and gather his companions
around him. ..."

Ibn Rajab later continues, "The forbiddance of completing recitation of the Qur'ân in less than 3
days applies to this being made a regular practice, but as for favoured times such as Ramadhân,
esp. the nights in which Laylat al-Qadr is sought, or favoured places such as Makkah for the
visitor, it is recommended to increase reciting the Qur'ân to avail the time and place. This is the
view of Ahmad, Ishaq & other Imams, and the practice of others indicates this too."

The purpose here is not to discuss whether or not the latter view is correct or not, since that is
purely academic for most of us, as we do not get anywhere near reciting the whole Qur'ân in
three days! However, the practice of the Prophet (may Allâh bless him and grant him peace), his
Companions, and those who followed their path, should be clear enough. As a further example,
Bukhaaree (3/79) quotes from the noble Companion Zaid bin Thabit who answered the question,
"How much time was there between the pre-dawn meal and the Dawn Prayer?" by saying,
"Enough time to recite fifty ayat"; since the practice of the Arabs was to measure time in terms of
everyday actions, this shows that the Sahabah were pre-occupied with the Qur'ân, especially in
Ramadhân.

Compare all this with our sad state, when we talk so much about establishing Islâm,
implementing the Qur'ân, etc. and yet have such little contact with it, maybe not completing its
recitation ever at all since childhood, or perhaps never! Hence we become imbalanced in our
understanding of Islâm, because there are ayat which we rarely or never hear or think about; we
repeat only certain selected ayat over and over again; we lost the context of the verses, the
overall flow, argument and balance of the Qur'ân, all of which is beautiful & miraculous. Because
of this ignorance we go astray from the Straight Path, split up into sects, lose the blessings ofAllâh ...

"We took a covenant from those who said: we are Christians, but they
forgot part of the message with which they had been reminded, so we
ingrained amongst them enmity and hatred until the Day of Judgment..."
(Soorah al-Ma'idah 5:14)

In Saheeh al-Bukhaaree (6/521), there is an amazing piece of advice from the Prophet (may Allâh
bless him and grant him peace): "Recite the Qur'ân as long as your hearts agree on it; if you
disagree about it, stop reciting it (for the time being)" -- studying the Qur'ân should bring people
together!

In Soorah al-Mu'minoon "But they (men) have broken their religion among them into
sects, each group rejoicing in its belief"....(23:53), there is mention of the people before us
(in whose footsteps we would follow), who broke up their Deen into sects (zuburan), each party
rejoicing in what it had. One understanding of this, from the word zuburan meaning literally
'books', is that each sect left the Book of Allâh, & concentrated solely on the books of its own
sect, so "they split their deen up into books"!

The most twisted, ridiculous, shallow ideas, innovations and superstitions are propagated
amongst Muslims when they are away from the Qur'ân, because any little knowledge of the
Qur'ân would be enough to dispel them.

Hence, O slave of Allâh, leave aside secondary books and concentrate on studying the Blessed
Book of Allâh in this Blessed Month (use a goodtranslation/ commentary if needed), for it is the
source of all Knowledge in other books, and keep away from wasting time, especially in futile
discussions and arguments which lead nowhere, for that is a sure sign of being misguided, as the
Prophet (may Allâh bless him and grant him peace) said, "Whenever a people went astray after
they had been on guidance, they were given to argumentation (jadl)." (Ahmad, Tirmidhi, Ibn
Majah - Saheeh al-Jaami' al-Saghir, no. 5633)

Finally, remember that the Messenger (may Allâh bless him and grant him peace) will complain
to Allâh on the Day of Judgment that his people neglected the Qur'ân.... "And the Messenger
(Muhammad SAW) will say: "O my Lord! Verily, my people deserted this Qur'ân
(neither listened to it, nor acted on its laws and orders)... (Surah al-Furqan 25:30).
Neglect of the Qur'ân is of different levels, as Ibn al-Qayyim writes:

* Not reciting or listening to it;
* Not studying and understanding it;
* Not conveying its message;
* Not judging by it in personal and communal matters, at all levels of society
* Not believing in it.