How the Prophet Recited the Quran Daily
The Prophet's Method of Reciting the Quran: From Daily Practice to Tajweed Foundations
Summary
This lecture from Shaikh Ali Mashhour's class on Zadul-Ma'ad (Provisions for the Hereafter) focuses on the chapter detailing how Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) recited the Quran. The discussion covers the unique nature of the Quran as a text—its special writing style, spelling conventions, and the high respect scholars maintained for it, including rules about touching the Mushaf only with wudu. The lecture establishes that while the Quran was compiled into a single bound volume during Abu Bakr's time, it was fully documented during the Prophet's lifetime, with the order of chapters traced back to the Prophet himself.
The core of the lecture details the Prophet's specific recitation practices, including his daily recitation schedule (completing the Quran weekly in a structured pattern of 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, and 13 chapters followed by the remainder), his meticulous enunciation of every letter, his elongation of the three elongated letters (alif, waw, ya), and his melodious style of recitation. The lecture emphasizes that the Prophet would recite one verse at a time with pauses, would seek refuge in Allah before reciting, and enjoyed hearing the Quran recited by others. It also covers the conditions for recitation—permissibility while in various states except janabah (major ritual impurity)—and the Prophet's instruction to beautify the Quran with pleasant voices.
Note: This transcript was generated using YouTube's automatic captioning, with AI-assisted cleanup for readability. It may contain inaccuracies due to background noise, audio quality, or limitations of the transcription software — particularly during Arabic recitation. Listener discretion is advised; please refer to the original video for precise wording.
We are restarting our weekly class or weekly discussion and our journey through the provisions for the hereafter provisions for the great appointment taken from the life and the legacy and the ways and the traditions of the best of mankind authored by the late and esteemed scholar of islam shem sudden even tonight inshallah ta'ala we would like to discuss the chapter regarding how the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam would recite the quran how the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam would recite the quran how often how he would actually recite it the way that he would extend and elongate certain letters which is later developed and refined into what is known as tajweed what is referred to as tajweed this is all taken from the sunnah of the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam and it is passed down from his companions through them to the tabernaein and until it has arrived to us the scholars of islam have not only perfected and preserved by allah subhanahu wa ta'ala's will and allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has not only preserved the quran through the scholars of islam it's wording its meaning and even its recitation the way that it is recited because the scholars of islam all agree that the quran is read in a way that is unique to it no other book is read in the same way that the quran is read there are certain things that do take on some of the features of the way that we recite the quran a then for example and then we make the adhan and we use what is called tajweed and there are certain things that follow suit the evan the iklana and so forth which are recited in a certain and particular way but there is no book that is recited in the way that the quran is recited it is recited in a very specific and special and unique way the quran is a book unlike any other obviously all of the muslims understand this or at least they know this even if when we really get down to the details many people are unaware of how of just how unique the quran really is however the uniqueness of the quran gives it a special place and position amongst the muslims and especially the scholarship of islam for example the way that it is written there is no other book there is no other words which are written in the way that the quran is written it has its own particular type of cursive it also has its own type of spelling which is specific to the quran no other book the regular words modern arabic ancient arabic they are not written in the same way that the quran is written there are certain liberties taken and certain rules of spelling which apply only to the quran and this is referred to as and the reason that the companions took this particular way of writing the quran different than the way that they write other things in the arabic language is because the quran has a number of recitations and in order for them to include these recitations in the way that they wrote it they spelled certain parts of the quran in a very specific way likewise the quran amongst the companions was known to be something that had to be written large and i know that that's kind of strange to us today i had read an article a few years back with regards to a certain islamic magazine that was congratulating a certain muslim individual for writing the smallest quran the world record of the smallest quran tiny tiny tiny unreadable this is something that disliked very much and he was noted to have scorned other tabern and other companions for writing the quran in small letters he would scorn them anybody he saw writing the quran in small print he would scorn them and tell them to exalt the quran by writing it in big clear beautiful lettering this is another thing also the companions the scholars of islam they viewed the quran so majestic and it is of course so majestic that even things that go along with the quran would take on the ruling of the quran what does that mean so for example the binding on the quran it is not permissible to touch the mushaf without udu and so the scholar said as well the binding of the mushaf is not permissible to touch without wudu and even the string that is in it the piece of ribbon that is used as a bookmark is not permissible to touch without wudu as well as part of the mushaf why because it is something that is included and attached to the wording of the quran this is how exalted the quran is in the view of the scholarship of islam likewise the holders of the must-have the wooden holders you know that we would you find them in a lot of massage they they usually open up they fold open and you can put the mustaf in it the scholars of islam disliked as a rahimahullah mention that the books of hadith be placed in these holders that these holders be used for nothing except for the mushaf except for the quran and that even the books of hadith should not be placed in these holders why because of the special place and the great esteem that the scholars of islam hold the quran in and so tonight inshaallah ta'ala we are going to discuss some of the things about the quran that were specific to the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam with regards to how he recited it how often how his voice was whether he was on wudu or not etc we have to understand that the compilation of the quran into one binded book occurred in the time of abu bakr al-sadiyah but the entirety of the quran was documented and was written down in the time of the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam so it's important for us to understand that just because the the book the quran was compiled in the time of abu bakr and put into order and binded into one bound book doesn't mean that it wasn't completely documented in the time of the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam every single verse of the quran was written and documented and preserved during the lifetime of the prophet muhammad the only thing that occurred in the time of abu bakr al-sadiq is that they took those writings that were written down and they put them into one book altogether and it's not this small at that time it was a huge very big book we move on to the time of arthur mandevin when he took this one bound book that was with abu bakr and then it was with omar and then after the death of omar the martyrdom of umar it was passed on to hafsah the wife of the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam and also the daughter of took this original book that was compiled in the time of abu bakr al-sadiq and he made four copies or some scholars mentioned five copies some scholars mentioned six copies of this same book with a group a committee of four of the companions of the prophet salallahu alaihi wasallam who were most versed in the quran and the way that the quran is written and spelled and the way that it was compiled originally by in the time and the era of abu bakr al sadiq and so the quran as a complete book altogether bound together this is something that occurred in the time of abu bakr but writing the quran documenting it the quran being written meticulously every verse in order and also in the correct opinion the order of the chapters of the quran this all came from the prophet muhammad the scholars of islam differ on whether or not the chapters of the quran are something that are passed down from the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam or was this a an idihed or a scholarly judgment according to the companions of the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam now here is the issue whether or not the order of the chapters meaning it starts with surat al fatiha al baqarah you know et cetera et cetera this order of the quran beginning with surat al-fatiha ending with surat nes is this something that came from the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam which ultimately means that it came from allah directly or is this something that was itched he had on the part of abu bakr and umar and the companions of the time and they later all agreed on this order this is a difference of opinion amongst the scholars however the correct opinion is that this is something that came from the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam because when we look for any pattern that is obvious as to how the quran was compiled we can't really find it it's not compiled from longest chapter to shortest it is roughly longest to shortest but you'll have a very long chapter followed by a short chapter followed by another very long chapter so it's not longest to shortest also we see other parts of the quran which you would think would go together are separated so for example all of the chapters of the quran that start with alif laam meem or alif lam they're not all together they're scattered throughout the quran likewise it doesn't follow the order that the chapters were revealed you'll have chapters from the medany era then you have chapters from the meccan era and then it goes back to the medini era and then it goes back to the and so on and so forth so it's not categorized that way either nor is it categorized by subject the the quran it has certain subjects each chapter has certain themes and we see that the themes of the quran don't seem to be the work of man in the way that they are organized and so when we look at the sunnah of the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam we see that any narration which discusses him reciting multiple chapters always comes in order so he would always recite surat al-allah and then for instance or he would always recite surat al-jumu' and surat al-munahfir afterwards always there's never a time when surat al-munahfir khun was recited before surat al-jumu' or surat al-alah was recited after suratul rashiya right even times when he would speak about the chapters of the quran there's only one time to my knowledge in which the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam recited certain chapters of the quran out of their order that is known today where he recited surat al-baqarah and then in nisa and then surat al-imran he recited them in this order in the narration of this is the only time that i am aware of and this was earlier before the final revision of the quran in the final year of the life of the prophet why is this important it's very important because it tells us that the order of the quran is very important and this is why the companions disliked that anybody recite the quran backwards that we recite it backwards now i'm not speaking about memorization usually in memorization people start with the smaller chapters before the larger chapters but it is agreed upon that the quran should be recited when we are reciting it to start with surat al-fatiha and go in the order that is in the mushaf because this is what all of the ummah of islam have agreed upon we've also all agreed that the quran should never be printed in any other order the quran should never be printed in any other order than the order of chapters that it is in in the time of abu bakr al-sadiq and later in the time of uthman so these are a few this is kind of a prelude to our subject and our topic tonight we'll listen to some of the words of ibm allah with regards to how the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam would behave with the quran and how he would recite it he says chapter is regarding the way that the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam would recite the quran the first thing he mentions is that the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam had a an amount of the quran that he would always recite every single day and he would never miss this is referred to as a hezek it's not the same hizb that you find in the must-have today these that are in the must-have these things came way later the way that the companions would recite the quran is that if they would start a chapter they would end it they would never stop in the middle of a chapter and so what is narrated is that the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam would usually recite the quran every week one time completely so he would recite the first day three chapters which would be al-baqarah al-imran and nisa the second day would be five chapters the third day would be seven chapters the fourth day would be nine chapters the fifth day would be 11 chapters the sixth day he would recite 13 chapters and then the seventh and final day he would recite the rest and the remainder of the quran it works out to about four about in our current mushaf today as of around 85 to 90 pages a day this is how much the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam would usually recite daily around 80 pages or so about four and a half of our current taji of the quran this is the way that he would recite the quran and this is important because each chapter of the quran refers back to itself so the beginning of the chapter has to do with the end of the chapter and the end of the chapter is reliant on the beginning and so he would not if he would start a chapter he would not he would always end it he says and the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam would recite the quran in meticulous order and he would recite uniquely and clearly enunciate every letter of the quran that he would recite and he would always recite the quran one verse at a time he would not recite multiple verses without stopping at the end of each verse and when he would reach an elongated letter of the quran he would elongate it the elongated letters of the quran are three alif wow and these three he would elongate appropriately so he would recite for instance and he would elongate them as we do and as we have in our common recitation of the quran this is taken from the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam what.
[Silence]
And before reciting the quran he would start with seeking refuge in allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala from the cursed shaitaan so he would say verbatim and he took this command directly from allah subhanahu wa in which allah says sometimes and this is more during the night prayer that he would pray alone he would recite allah to become in a shaytan allah i seek refuge in you from a shaytan minhem in himself and he would to and he enjoyed hearing the quran recited to him not only he reciting the quran but also listening to it recited from another and one of the instances is that he listened to the quran being recited by ibn masrood he requested that abdullah recite to him some of the quran and he listened to ibn masrud's recitation of the quran in the exact chapter as mentioned in the sahih is surat nisa that he listened to even who recite the quran until he began to his eyes began to water because he was listening and so affected by the recitation of ibm and he would recite the quran in any position that he was in standing up sitting down lying down he would recite the quran he would recite the quran on wudu and not having wudu we're speaking about recitation of the quran from memory but as far as touching the muslif this is something that we have to have for because the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam as was reported in a sunnin quran that no one should touch the quran except that he be in a state of purity and what's meant by purity here is is that he be pure in his clothing and that he be in a state of wudu the only time he would not recite the quran from memory is if he was in a state of geneva sexual impurity if he is in a state of janabah he would not recite the quran until he bathed and he would also recite the quran melodiously he would use a melody when he would recite the quran he would not read it any other words would be read rather he would read it harmoniously and melodiously and sometimes he would elongate and reverberate certain letters of the quran as ibn mushafel and he had reverberated the alif in one of the one of the words of that chapter what does this mean this means to change the pitch of a person's voice as they are elongating a letter this has been reported by imam.
[Silence]
We have two narrations one narration of mentions that the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam beautify and adorn the quran with your voices meaning to recite it melodiously and to recite it with your best of voice and to recite it in pitch right and also the statement of the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam allah listens to nothing as closely as he listens to a prophet with a good voice who is reciting the quran melodiously this narration has been collected also in a sahih muslim so we see that the quran is to be recited and we are to do our best to recite it in the most melodious most beautiful voice that we can muster individually and this of course is varies from voice to voice from person to person but the point of this is to add an emotional tone or an emotional undertone to the logical and ultimate truth of the wording of the quran allah goes and to recite the quran melodiously and harmoniously is what's meant by it is two things he says.
[Silence]
He says the first understanding of melodious recitation of the quran is that it be recited in a way that is not strenuous and out of character for the reciter for a person to strain himself to recite in a way that is not natural to him this is something which is disliked by the companions and the self the predecessors of this ummah rather a person is to recite the quran to the best of his ability without straining himself to recite it in a way that is unnatural to the way that his voice naturally is.
[Silence]
He says in the second understanding that some people took of melodious harmonious recitation of the quran is that the quran be recited according to the laws and rules and sciences of music this is something which is impermissible this is something which is very very popular especially now during the last during the last 100 years or so it's become very popularized that people recite the quran according to the different notes and keys and bars of music and that we take the rules of music and apply them to the recitation of the quran this is also what's referred to as this is usually done with a drum or usually done with a stringed instrument in order to harmonize the voice according to the notes that are found on instruments this is something which is impermissible this is something which the companions and the tabian greatly disliked and would warn people from doing this that this is incorrect that a person not use the laws and ruling of music to recite the quran whether it be the intonation or whether it be the actual enunciation and pronunciation of the words of the quran the words of the quran are not to be stooped to these levels this is something which has made a huge appearance in our final days here as i mentioned in the last hundred years it's been around since the time of the tavian very sparsely but it's become very popularized lately because of radio and so forth and this is all part of the prophecy of the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam that he said that he said sallallahu alaihi he will sell them in an authentic narration collected by imam al-bukhari in a terrier in which he said hastened to do good deeds before one of six things appear on the earth these are signs of the hour and he mentions that one of the things that will occur he mentions many things police states and people will no longer keep ties with their kin and so forth he mentions as well that one of the things that will occur near the end of time yet.
[Silence]
That one of the signs of the hour is that some of the muslims will take the quran to be a musical instrument and something that is a source of entertainment rather as a source of guidance for what it truly is he said that a man would become an imam and lead prayer and be placed at the head and be placed to lead prayer not because he is most understanding nor because he is most knowledgeable amongst the congregation they will put him to lead them in prayer because he is put there to sing to them meaning the quran it is just an entertainment it's not something that is taken seriously and it's people taken seriously and he mentions that near the end of time people would use the quran for the dunya rather than the hereafter that people would start to use the quran to profit in this world rather than the hereafter and make a living only using the quran and writing the coattails of the quran this is referring to people that do not take the quran seriously they do not follow its commandments rather they merely use it and use their voices to gain leadership positions amongst the muslims that is enough and sufficient for us tonight insha allah we have covered the way that the prophet salallahu we covered many things with regards to the specifics of the quran next week inshallah we will be discussing a separate chapter of the quran with regards to how the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam would visit the ill and the sick and how he would emphasize visitation of those who are ill and those who are sick from amongst the muslims and even visitation of non-muslims as we will mention inshallah muhammad we ask allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to grant us wisdom to benefit us from what we have heard and to make us of those who hear the truth and have the insight to distinguish it from falsehood and the courage to follow it to its end allah be.