The history of the Noble Quran

The Quran is the backbone of Islam. On this Sacred Book of Allah depends the Islamic call, state, society and the civilisation of the Muslim world. It is the last Divine revelation, which was sent down to Prophet Muhammad , the last and final of all Prophets, may Allaah exalt their mention. His task was to convey the message of worshipping the One God, Allah, without ascribing any partners to Him. The Noble Quran, which is the source of guidance and mercy to mankind, is divided into one hundred and fourteen (114) Soorahs (chapters) of varying lengths. Ninety-three chapters were revealed in Makkah, while the remaining twenty-one were revealed in Madeenah.

The first revelation that the Prophet received was Soorat Al-'Alaq, which was in Makkah where Soorat An-Najm was to later became the first to be recited openly to the people. In Madeenah, Soorat Al-Mutaffifeen was the first one revealed after the Hijrah (migration). The Prophet had to flee to Madeenah to save his own life and the lives of his followers, upon the command of Allaah.
The last verse sent down to the Prophet was the saying of Allaah which means: “…This day I have perfected for you your religion and completed My favour upon you and have approved for you Islam as religion...” [Quran: 5:3]

Some chapters in the Quran focus on the call to Islam as guidance for humanity. They focus upon monotheism and the fight against polytheism and idolatry. Thus, stress is laid on all that is related to faith. In other chapters, attention is given to legislation, acts of worship, relationships among people and the laws that regulate matters within the Muslim community, government, and family.

A number of chapters inform about Resurrection, the Hereafter and the unseen; others relate the stories of various prophets and their calls to their people to return to Allaah. We see how the previous nations were severely punished when they disobeyed Allaah and denied the messages of previous prophets, may Allaah exalt their mention.

In addition, several chapters focus on the story of creation and the development of human life. In fact, Makkan revelations made the Muslims' faith in Allaah firmly established. On the other hand, Madeenan revelations were meant to translate the faith into action and give details of the Divine Law.

Allaah will forever preserve the Quran against all attempts to destroy or corrupt it. Being guarded by Allaah, it will always remain pure. There does not exist a single copy with any variation from the recognised text. Any attempt of alteration has resulted in failure.

Upon the command of the Prophet his Companions would write down what was revealed of the Noble Quran. They used, for this purpose, palm branches stripped of leaves, parchments, shoulder bones, stone tablets, etc. About forty people were involved in this task. Among them was Zayd Ibn Thaabit who showed his work to the Prophet . Thus, the Quran was correctly arranged during the Prophet’s life, but it was not yet compiled into one book. In the meantime, most of the Prophet’s Companions memorised the Quran.

When Abu Bakr became Caliph after the Prophet died, a large number of the Companions were killed during the War of Apostasy. 'Umar Ibn Al-Khattaab went to the Caliph and discussed the idea of compiling the Quran into one volume. He was disturbed, as most of those who memorised it had died. Then, Abu Bakr called for Zayd and commissioned him to collect the Quran into one book, which became known as the 'Mus-haf.'

After Zayd accomplished this great task and organized the Quran into one book, he submitted the precious collection to Abu Bakr who kept it in his possession until the end of his life. During the caliphate of 'Umar it was kept with his daughter Hafsah who was also a wife of the Prophet .

During the Caliphate of 'Uthmaan Islam reached many countries, and readers began to recite the Quran in different ways (dialects). 'Uthmaan then had various copies made and sent them out to the different Muslim lands, lest these dialects would cause alterations to the Quran, and kept the original copy with Hafsah . Thus, the Quran remained preserved and the Caliph was very much pleased with his achievement.

Today, every copy of the Quran conforms with the standard copy of 'Uthmaan . In fact, Muslims over the ages excelled in producing the best manuscripts of the Noble Quran in the most wonderful handwriting. With the introduction of printing, more and more editions of the Noble Quran became available all over the world.

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Muhammad is Allah’s Last Messenger, not the ‘founder’ of Islam

BY SUMAYYAH MEEHAN (Living Islam)
21 March 2008

THE Prophet Muhammad’s (pbuh) name has yet again been in the media as of late due to the republication of the offense Danish cartoon caricatures that continue to be used to taunt Muslims and tarnish the good name of the final messenger (pbuh).

As I watched the recent protests unfold on live television from Muslims around the world in Afghanistan, Pakistan and other nations, I became increasingly irritated with the broadcaster’s commentary. She kept referring to the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) as the ‘founder’ of Islam. And even her interviewees responded in a similar fashion by also referring to him as the ‘founder’ of Islam.

To imply that Muhammad (pbuh) founded Islam or created it is a gross and reprehensible lie that quite often is used by the enemies of Islam to water-down the impact that Muhammad’s (pbuh) prophethood had on the entire world. This world has never seen a greater man, prophet, father, statesman, politician, orator, warrior, commander, friend, teacher or confidant than Muhammad (pbuh).

The simple fact remains that centuries after Muhammad’s (pbuh) death, Islam runs strong with people converting every single day because the message of Allah in the Holy Quran rings true and is enticing to the seekers of all that is good in this world. The founder of Islam is actually Allah Almighty. Allah chose Muhammad (pbuh) to be the final Prophet sent to this world to give both a warning and glad tidings.

Allah Almighty says in the Holy Quran:
“Allah knows best with whom to place His Message.” (6:124)
Anyone who reads a biography of Muhammad’s (pbuh) life can see that his prophethood was crystal clear from the time when he was in his mother’s womb until he received his mission at the age of 40.

Muhammad’s (pbuh) mother Amina became a widow before he was even born as her husband died in a trade caravan. Even before his birth, Amina noted that her belly often emitted a light and she knew that her baby would somehow be special. Muhammad’s (pbuh) mother would die when he was six-years old and he would be sent to live with his grandfather until he died and then his uncle Abu Talib. The only thing Muhammad (pbuh) knew was loss as he was made an orphan thrice before he even reached puberty. The signs of Muhammad’s (pbuh) prophethood were always there. Once on a journey with his uncle to a monastery, a Christian monk witnessed a strange event. As Muhammad (pbuh) walked the sun never touched him. He was walking under a shade of which there was no viable source and the monk likened the shape of the shade to the wings of an angel. On the same trip, the monk noticed a mark centered perfectly between Muhammad’s (pbuh) shoulder blades and he told Abu Talib that past prophet’s had the same mark.

To know Muhammad (pbuh) was to love him. He was honest, kind and trustworthy. His profession was as a Shepard tending to his uncle’s flock however Muhammad (pbuh) had a knack as a merchant. He began doing trade work for a wealthy widow named Khadijah. She was so pleased with his success that she asked for his hand in marriage even though she was much older than Muhammad (pbuh), about 15 years. Muhammad (pbuh) was 25 years old and accepted her proposal. He could have most assuredly kicked his feet up and lived off of his wife’s wealth. But that was not his nature. Muhammad (pbuh) often spent days on end in a cave called Hira pondering upon this world and the creation of it. Muhammad (pbuh) did not believe the idols that his clansman worshipped had any power but he knew there was a creator somewhere. Then one night Allah sent the angel Jibreel to tell Muhammad (pbuh) that he was the final messenger (pbuh). Muhammad (pbuh) was so scared at seeing the vision of the angel and feeling his iron-tight embrace as he commanded this:
“READ! In the name of your Lord, Who has created (all that exists), has created man from a clot of congealed blood. READ! And your Lord is the most Generous…” (96:1-3)

But soon after the fear subsided, Muhammad (pbuh) stood tall and began delivering Allah’s message to any heart that would openly hear it. Overnight, Muhammad (pbuh) went from a man that was living in the lap of luxury to someone who was abused, beaten, spat upon, ridiculed, humiliated and scorned. Even in death, Muhammad (pbuh) still suffers.

Allah Almighty says in the Holy Quran: “And when they see you (O Muhammad), they treat you only in mockery (saying) ‘Is this the one whom Allah has sent as a Messenger?’ ” (25:41)
Countless plots to assassinate Muhammad (pbuh) were undertaken and anyone who followed his mission were either tortured or killed.

But through it all, Muhammad (pbuh) remained steady in delivering the word of Allah to the people and he had Allah with him all along the way. The message of Allah in the Holy Quran and Sunnah of Muhammad (pbuh) cannot be distorted or thwarted in anyway no matter how many cartoons are drawn or lies against Muhammad (pbuh) concocted.

However, the message will continue to grow and attract the intelligence of people who seek the truth with their eyes wide open instead of a mouth open so wide that it swallows whatever is ‘sold’ on TV.

Reading the Qur’an, Islam’s holy book

by Eric Walberg

The great conundrum of Islam for the non- Arabic speaker is: Can the sacred text be translated without losing its sacredness? Is the true meaning “lost in the translation”?
Translations of the untranslatable abound: probably close to a hundred by now, with new ones appearing all the time. Of course, the Quran should be read in Arabic, for many reasons: according to the Prophet himself, for the magic of the sounds and the power of recitation of the poetic language, perhaps simply as a mountain to be climbed for the faithful. But fewer than 20 percent of Muslims speak Arabic, so most Muslims can study the text only in translation. The process began soon after Mohammed died: the first being of the Fatiha into Persian by Salman Al-Farasi, one of the Prophet’s dearest companions. The first Western translation—into Latin in 1143 by the English monk Robert of Ketton—was a belated recognition by the then crusading Catholic church of the need to understand the enemy, and was intended as a refutation.
By the 18th c there was an increase in Western translations of the Quran, reflecting the ascendancy of the West in the dunya and its need to penetrate, understand, convert and/or conquer its great rival.
Alexander Ross, chaplain to King Charles I, offered the first English version in 1649, The Alcoran of Mahomet translated out of Arabique into French, by the Sieur Du Ryer...And newly Englished, for the satisfaction for all that desire to look into the Turkish vanities, “that so viewing thine enemies in their full body, thou must the better prepare to encounter his Alcoran.”
George Sale, a lawyer and corrector of the Society to Promote Christian Knowledge’s Arabic New Testament translation, brought out The Al Koran of Mohammed in 1734, which until quite recently was the most widely available English translation. Sale based his translation on the 1698 Latin translation by Maracci, the confessor of Pope Innocent XI. His exhaustive Preliminary Discourse claims the work is a “manifest forgery”, his interest to “effectually expose the imposture” with rules for “the conversion of Mohammedans”. Though there are inaccuracies in the translation and an obvious bias on his part, he grudgingly showed admiration for Islam and provided a respectful rendition. It was republished in 1975 and is still available free on the Internet.
By the 19th c, as the grip of Christianity weakened in the West, a new appreciation of Islam took root. Whereas Dante assigned Mohammed to the depths of hell, Goethe in East- West Divan writes: “the Koran, at first disgusting us each time afresh, it soon attracts, astounds and in the end enforces our reverence. This book will go on exercising, through all ages, a most potent influence.”
Edward Ross’s 1877 preface to a new edition of Sale’s translation shows the advance in the understanding of Islam in the century and a half since Sale: “What was good in Muhammadanism was entirely ignored, and what was not good, in the eyes of Europe, was exaggerated or misinterpreted. The central doctrine preached by Muhammad to his contemporaries in Arabia, who worshipped the Stars, and the Turks, who had no particular worship, was the unity of God, and that the simplicity of his creed was probably a more potent factor in the spread of Islam than the sword of the Ghazis. Through all the vicissitudes of thirteen hundred years the Koran has remained the sacred book of all the Turks and Persians and of nearly a quarter of the population of India. Surely such a book as this deserves to be widely read in the West, more especially in these days when space and time have been almost annihilated by modern invention, and when public interest embraces the whole world.”
Unsympathetic translations persisted, however. Reverend J Rodwell produced a translation in 1861, inventing the so-called chronological sura order and requesting his missionaries to critique the Prophet’s revelation as resulting from “self-deception, catalepsy, or hallucination.” As late as 1937, University of Edinburgh Orientalist Richard Bell produced a translation still attempting to rearrange the text chronologically and arguing that the Quran was “actually written by Muhammad himself”.
Because of the increasing academic interest in Islam, there was a blossoming of English translations among scholars in the 20th c, the most notably being The Koran Interpreted by Cambridge Arabic scholar AJ Arberry in 1957, probably still the best by a non-Muslim in terms of both its approach and quality, the first non-Muslim to acknowledge the orthodox Muslim view that the Quran cannot be translated, but only interpreted.
NJ Dawood (Daud), an Iraqi Jew, produced a translation in 1956 which is still available in a Penguin edition and is perhaps the most widely circulated non-Muslim English translation. The author’s bias against Islam is readily observable in the introduction and he adopted an unusual sura order.
While it was Christian missionaries who spearheaded translations of the Quran, followed by academics, Islam also encourages conversion, and the increasing challenge of Christian missionaries around the world naturally spurred Muslims into launching their own efforts to make the sacred text more accessible to all. Indian Muslims were the first from within the faith to translate the Quran into English. All wrote at a time of British colonialism and intense missionary activity. In the introduction to his 1912 translation Mirza Dehlawi writes he was motivated consciously by a desire to give “a complete and exhaustive reply to the manifold criticisms of the Koran by various Christian authors such as Drs Sale, Rodwell, and Sir W Muir.”
This early 20th c reaction spurred a lasting translation trend. In 1917, Muhammad Ali published his translation which was adopted by the Nation of Islam, both under the stewardship of Elijah Muhammad and current leader Louis Farrakhan. Ali’s biases show through, however. Consistent with his Lahori-Ahmadi creed, he sought to eschew any reference to miracles; so, for instance, God’s command to Moses “Strike the rock with your staff” was changed to “March on to the rock with your staff”. The Quran makes frequent mention of jinn (spirits), from which the English word genie is derived, whom Ali curiously argues are the Jews and Christians. He also denies Jesus’s virgin birth.
Muhammad Marmaduke William Pickthall, an English intellectual, son of an Anglican clergyman, novelist, traveller, and educator, converted to Islam in 1917 and published his translation in London in 1930. He was the first Western translator to insist that the Quran was untranslatable but that the general meaning of the text could still be conveyed to English speakers. His work is now criticised for using archaic, if elegant, prose, though it is nonetheless popular and still available as a Penguin paperback. It provides scant explanatory notes and background information, restricting its usefulness for an uninitiated reader.
The most popular among the seven available at Amazon along with Pickthall’s and Hilali’s (see below) is Abdullah Yusuf Ali’s The Holy Quran: Translation and Commentary, published in Lahore in 1937. He sought to convey the music and richness of the Arabic with poetic English versification. In 1989, Saudi Arabia’s Ar-Rajhi banking company financed the US-based Amana Corporation’s project to revise the Yusuf Ali translation to reflect an interpretation more in line with Wahhabi thought. Ar-Rahji offered the resulting version free to mosques, schools, and libraries throughout the world. The footnoted commentary about Jews raised hackles in Zionist circles, and in April 2002 the Los Angeles school district banned its use at local schools; however, Yusuf Ali’s translation has not suffered and is still #8321 at Amazon. Whatever their respective merits, the enduring popularity of Yusuf Ali and Pickthall is largely due to their extensive distribution in Pakistan, India and Indonesia, where copyright laws are ignored and cheap editions are snapped up by the huge English-reading Muslim population.
Muhammad Taqiyuddin Al-Hilali and Muhammad Muhsin Khan published their Explanatory English Translation of the Holy Quran: A Summarized Version of Ibn Kathir Supplemented by At-Tabari with Comments from Sahih al-Bukhari in Chicago in 1977. Born in Morocco, Hilali taught at Baghdad University and the Islamic University in Medina. Now the most widely disseminated Quran in Islamic bookstores and Sunni mosques throughout the English-speaking world, again with Saudi backing, this new translation is meant to replace the Yusuf Ali edition and comes with a seal of approval from both the University of Medina and the Saudi Dar al-Ifta. It is highly criticised at Amazon and in US academic circles for using the commentaries of Ibn Kathir and Al-Bukhari who Mohammed Khaleel dismisses in the tendentious Middle East Quarterly (Spring 2005) as being “medievalists who knew nothing of modern concepts of pluralism”. Khaleel blasts Hilali’s translation as “a supremacist Muslim, anti- Semitic, anti-Christian polemic” and Amazon gives prominence to similar scathing reviews.
Muhammad Asad, né Leopold Weiss, a Jewish convert to Islam, published The Message of the Quran in 1980. It is the most highly praised of all available translations by readers at Amazon but is criticised by Muslims as deviating from the viewpoint of the Muslim orthodoxy on many counts. It is banned in Saudi Arabia. Asad denies the occurrence of such events as the throwing of Abraham into the fire and Jesus speaking in the cradle. He also regards Luqman, Khizr and Zulqarnain as mythical figures.
Sayyid Abul Ali Maududi, founder of the Islamic Party (Jamaat Islami) in Pakistan, published The Meaning of the Quran in Lahore in 1967. In advice to readers Maududi writes: “The Quran was not revealed as a complete book at one and the same time; nor did Allah hand over a written copy of it to Muhammad (peace be upon him) at the very beginning of his mission and command him to publish it and invite people to adopt a particular way of life. Moreover, it is not a literary work of the common conventional type that develops its central theme in a logical order; nor does it conform to the style of such a work.” Maududi thus provided introductions to each sura with historical background and explanation of the text which is very useful and is available online at the University of Southern California website.
The Internet has transformed Quranic studies, allowing you to pick from among perhaps 50 translations, with dozens available free online, including several heretical versions, which are interesting as examples of the challenges that Islam faces in the 21st c. Rashad Khalifa’s The Quran: The Final Scripture, published in (of all places) Tucson in 1978 is one such. Khalifa was an Egyptian chemist who emigrated to Texas, where he undertook an extensive computer analysis of the Quran beginning in 1968, claiming that he proved the divine origins of the Quran via the number 19. He was stabbed to death in a gruesome unsolved murder in 1990. His life and death are shrouded in mystery and his writings and translation of the Quran, completely rejecting the hadith (traditions associated with the Prophet) and sunnah (actions attributed to the Prophet), have developed a cult following.
Another just published, by Edip Yuksel, Layth Saleh al-Shaiban and Martha Schulte-Nafeh, The Quran: A Reformist Translation, also rejects the hadith, sunnah and tafsir (interpretation), dismissing them—Khaleel at the Middle East Quarterly would no doubt agree—as “ancient scholarly interpretations rooted in patriarchal hierarchies. It is time to remove the accumulated layers of man-made dogmas and traditions that have attached themselves to the text.”
Finally, Laleh Bakhtiar, a Chicago Sufi convert to Islam, published The Sublime Koran this year, billed as the first translation by an American woman and providing a woman’s point of view. She questions the conventional meanings of some of the Koranic concepts; in particular, in 4:34 “daraba” is usually translated as “to beat”, supposedly condoning husbands beating recalcitrant wives, which Bakhtiar translates as “to go away”.
As a result of the availibitiy of multiple translations and commentaries on the Internet and the revolution that blogging has brought about, there is a rising tension between the traditional guardians of Muslim orthodoxy and a new crop of secular educated Muslims. But that is another story. Suffice it to say that these revisionist translations, rejecting the accumulated wisdom of centuries as outmoded, would mean dispensing with the works of the great Islamic philosophers Al-Bukhari, Ibn Sina, Al-Farabi, Ibn Rushd, Ibn Arabi, and Omar Khayyam, to name but a few. As Maududi argued, to strip the Quran of its historical context is wrong; but to strip it of its history is just as wrong. The hadith, sunnah and tafsir are part of any educated Muslim’s heritage, and can only enrich one’s reading of the Quran.
So which to choose from? This depends on your purpose. Downloading from the Internet is no substitute to having your own personal copy. And translations are only interpretations, so if you want to have the definitive experience in reading the text, you must read it in Arabic. In that case, your choice would be a bilingual edition where the English is as literal as possible, striving to provide a neutral, accurate translation with good tafsir (however patriarchal). In fact, a literary translation gets in the way of the Arabic novice’s efforts.
The Hilali text is easily available and adequate for this purpose, provided free from the Conveying Islamic Message Society (CIMS) in Alexandria in a user-friendly format in 30 durable paperback modules (one for each day of Ramadan), making it possible to read and carry a section comfortably. It has the extensive footnotes of important hadith and tafsir which offend the likes of Khaleel at the Middle East Quarterly, but we are all adults and can think for ourselves. CIMS does a fine service for non-Arabic speakers, providing many books about Islam free in many languages. It is a delight to get a post with several books from them—somehow it seems wrong to pay money for one’s spiritual sustenance. But it is possible to use Arberry, Pickthall or many others as reference texts for your reading of the Arabic original.
If you want a literary translation in English that aims to capture the poetry, both rhyme as well as metre, of the Arabic there are several works that attempt this in addition toYusuf Ali. Fazlollah Nikayin published Quran, A Poetic Translation from the Original in 1999 though it is now out of print. The Meaning of the Holy Koran Translated into English by Mohamed Hamed and Ahmad Hamid, completed in 2004 and awaiting publication, uses rhyme and metre to imitate the spellbinding musical quality of the Arabic text (see caption). An Egyptian doctor, Ahmad began the translation in 1933 and it was completed by his son Mohamed, also a doctor. If you want to memorise passages in English, this translation will be useful, as poetry is easier to memorise than prose. Mohamed argues that “the Arabic language is essentially a bicameral language, i.e., a language addressing two chambers of cognition simultaneously, allegorical and rational, so that a native Arabic translator has a distinct advantage over an English speaker, and a poetic text helps the reader to get closer to the experience of reading the text in Arabic.”
We have no final answer to the original question: Is the sacredness of the Quran translatable? Structuralists argue that language itself is a human attribute, and question to what extent something fixed in language can itself be sacred. They go so far as to ask whether this total focus on the reading of the Quran (the literal translation of Quran is “what is read"), where each word is the truth and cannot be challenged, is itself not akin to idol worship. In the Sufi tradition, the only truth is in heaven—anything contaminated by the dunya is a corruption. So just as the previous sacred texts, the Torah and the Gospels, are criticised by Muslims as corrupted, our reading of the Quran is inevitably corrupted by our limitations as humans living in history, with our various traditions and conceptions of the world muddying our sacred experience. Texts evolve as humans and human societies evolve, whereas the written word is fixed in a false worldly time (not heavenly eternal time).
While Islam has the advantage over Christianity and Judaism of being more focussed on the direct connection between Allah and man, some argue that the highly ritualised text- centric orthodox Islam can act as a stumbling block in this—the real—religious experience. Sufis are more laid back about the rituals of Islam, though no less concerned with the religious experience itself. Ibn Arabi urged followers when they pray to stay awake till they achieved a dream-waking state where a glimpse of paradise could be found. Though not a Sufi, Ibn Rushd argued in the 12th c that the prayers and rituals are marginal to charity, the monotheistic vow itself and pilgrimage. So to focus totally on finding the perfect translation is missing the spiritual point. If one is focused on the spiritual experience, just about any translation—by Muslim or non-Muslim—will do if used intelligently and with caution.
Then there is controversy between the monotheisms as to what constitutes a sacred text. If only Jews and Christians could agree that Jesus and Mohammed were prophets, a lot of problems would be solved in an instant. But even then, Muslims believe that the earlier revelations of prophets—the Torah and the preaching of Jesus—were neglected or corrupted by the Jews and Christians and have been replaced by God’s final and perfect revelation, the Quran. Jews and Christians counter that the historical biblical archaeological record, in particular the Dead Sea Scrolls, refutes this assertion, though it is unlikely this issue will ever be resolved. However if the proof is in the pudding, there is little doubt that the Quran wins hands down.
Any translation, any text for that matter, will inevitably reflect the limitations of both transmitter, writer, translator and/or reader in pursuit of the transcendental experience itself, which is beyond any words and any language. Just making a more approachable or enjoyable version is no guarantee that the reader will achieve enlightenment. And are ever newer and newer translations really necessary? But what more noble cause can a spiritually motivated person dedicate his/her life and intellect to?
A few words of advice to new readers of the Quran: THE QURAN presents various problems for the reader, especially a reader unfamiliar with Islam and Islamic history. The text assumes familiarity with many events from Jewish and Christian scriptures, retelling some of these events in partial and distinctive ways, and referring obliquely to others. It rarely offers detailed accounts of historical events; the emphasis is typically on the moral significance of an event, rather than its narrative sequence.
The revelation of the Quran began and went hand in hand with the preaching of the message over a span of 23 years. The different parts of the Quran were revealed step by step according to the many changing requirements of the Islamic movement during these stages. It therefore could not possibly possess the kind of coherence and systematic sequence expected of, say, a scholarly treatise or a tightly organised programme.
Moreover, the various fragments of the Quran, which were revealed in harmony with the growth of the Islamic movement, were not published in the form of written treatises, but were spread orally. Their style, therefore, bears an oratorical flavor rather than the character of a literary composition. This explains the many repetitions. The interests of a message and a movement demand that during a particular stage emphasis should be placed only on those subjects which are appropriate at that stage, to the exclusion of matters pertaining to later stages. As a result, certain subjects may require continual emphasis for months or even years. Interestingly, this can just as well apply to converts today, who may find the full programme of Islam overwhelming at first.
When the Prophet’s mission was completed, the chronological sequence of the various parts of the Quran could in no way be suitable to the changed situation. What was now required was a different sequence in tune with the changed context resulting from the completion of the mission. The order settled on was partly pragmatic—by size (from long to short), partly by theme (Islamic programme, accounts of prophets end-times) and period of revelation (Medinah or Makka).
There is also the structuralist and post-structuralist debate about the structure and significance of the Quran. Norman O Brown observes that the seeming “disorganisation” of Quranic literary expression—its scattered or fragmented mode of composition—is a literary device capable of delivering “profound effects, as if the intensity of the prophetic message were shattering the vehicle of human language in which it was being communicated.” Michael Sells, in Approaching the Quran, also argues that the repetition in the Quran is a valuable literary device: “The values presented in the very early Meccan revelations are repeated throughout the hymnic suras. There is a sense of directness, of intimacy, as if the hearer were being asked repeatedly a simple question: What will be of value at the end of a human life?”

Originally published on Al Ahram online

Quran and World Peace

Man’s most fundamental needs can be summed as the need for knowledge, the need for peace and harmony, and the need for a way to salvation. That these needs have many degrees and modes and that they are closely related to one another cannot be denied. It is with these very questions that the Holy Qur’an — the last of the Divine Books — deals. Mostly people from outside look at it as a book containing some instructions about certain facts and principles of life and conduct. It, however, is not so. There are guiding principles regarding all vital issues, and one can unfold any number of valid interpretations.
Many of the best minds devoted to burning questions such as ecological problems, pollution, feeding of mankind, conquest of disease, bridging the gap between rich and poor and, in particular, world peace, have been inspired by the faith and tenets of Islam. And rightly so. Belief in One God brings us to believe in the oneness of mankind and on the unity of mankind is built the concept of human dignity and brotherhood. On the metaphysical-existential plane, many would concede today that true human happiness (in contradistinction to sensuous pleasure), mental peace, and tranquillity are not possible to attain without some sort of spiritual orientation. When man follows Divine Guidance, he becomes free from any fear for the present or the future, and any grief or sorrow for the past (khauf and huzn in the Qur’anic terminology).
According to the Qur’anic teachings, it is shirk (assigning partners to Allah) and kufr (repudiation and disbelief in Allah) that causes fasad (colossal wrongness) across the world — the corruption and disorder in which people indulge in this world, an active perversity which degrades things and depraves men. Iman (staunch religious belief), on the contrary, grants a believer serenity of spirit and heart, resultant upon faith and prayer, the awareness of the Divine sufficiency and inner tranquillity. A truly believing and practicing Muslim experiences in his heart sakinah (the Scheehinah of the Old Testament), the token of Divine Presence and the peace it brings with it. Needless to say, true faith and belief also entails ceaseless vigil on purity of motive and inner integrity.
Dr. Israr Ahmad, the author of this tract, firmly believes that the deep trouble and distress in today’s world may have a simple cause that we humans — and we must also add, we Muslims too — have not properly obeyed God’s essential instructions and thereby have missed our main goal. In his own modest way, Dr. Israr Ahmad has been actively busy in propagating and disseminating the Qur’anic message for the last twenty years. The present tract is based on a speech which he delivered on several occasions at well-attended meetings of students and general public with the sole purpose of calling people back to the Qur’an. I pray to the Almighty that this humble effort may serve the purpose of bringing entire humanity in the fold of genuine religious fellowship.

DR. ABSAR AHMAD

I shall deal with the topic of "The Qur’an and World Peace" at three different levels, viz., the peace and tranquillity of an individual person, the socio-political peace of a group, and finally, world peace.
An Individual Person’s Peace and Tranquillity
One may be surprised that I am embarking upon a discussion of world peace by first mentioning an individual’s personal peace and inner state of harmony. But a moment’s reflection will be sufficient to bring home to the reader the all-important truth that the most effective factor in establishing world peace is personal peace and mental satisfaction of an individual. This is so because of the following four reasons:
Firstly, an individual human being is the basic unit of humanity. A wall, however high and long it may be, is after all a complex of bricks. Its strength and stability depends on the strength and good quality of individual bricks. Similarly world peace is unthinkable without the spiritual and psychological peace of a large majority of its inhabitants.
Secondly, man in himself is a "miniature universe" and as such his consciousness reflects the entire cosmos. This important truth has been fully realized by the Sufis of Islam — the greatest researchers into human psychology. That is the reason why I have chosen their term — "miniature universe" or microcosm — to express my meaning.
Just as external and environmental happenings influence the inner state of man, it is equally true that man also influences the macro-cosmic physical universe around him. His inner state affects and brings about changes in the vast expanses of the material cosmos. Therefore, the peace and tranquillity enjoyed by human individuals necessarily makes its impression on the outer world. In other words, the subjective peace experienced within makes harmony possible in the world outside the individual.
Thirdly, even a cursory glance at world history is enough to show that often the personal disquietude of a few individuals led to disastrous wars resulting in widespread bloodshed and destruction. If we study closely the life-history and personalities of leaders like Hulagu Khan, Genghis Khan, Hitler and Mussolini, we come to know that it was due to their mental disquietude and perversity that the world peace was shattered and innumerable innocent human beings were savagely killed.
Fourthly, even now if we consider for a moment the few persons in whom tremendous powers are vested (such as those who preside in the White House and the Kremlin), we will be assured that world peace largely depends upon the inner peace and tranquillity of these very few individuals. Not to speak of mental disruption, even the nervous tension or anxiety of a single one of these men might spark off an extremely devastating nuclear war.

Iman — Doctrinal Belief

Viewed from this angle, Islam seems to occupy a unique position in the community of world religions. Iman is the collective term for all those beliefs on which the Islamic faith is based. The root of the word Iman is a-m-n, which points to the peace and tranquillity that the believer enjoys in his heart as a result of entertaining and upholding these beliefs.
The quintessence of Iman is belief in Almighty God, or Iman billah, which is constituted by intuitive knowledge of Allah (SWT) and a relationship to Him of hope and total dependence and submission. Only this type of personal and subjective relationship with Allah (SWT) can engender true and lasting peace in the heart of a man, providing a positive and durable ground for the stability of his inner being. Tauheed — oneness of God, which we translate as "unity" or "unityism" — is the characteristic term for this pure spiritual relation of a man to his Creator, which ultimately leads him to a state described by the Qur’an in these words: "Allah became pleased with them and they became pleased with Him" (Al-Bayyinah 97:8). This is a state in which the Creator and the worshipper are in total consonance with each other. A believer who has obtained this spiritual height is completely free from all anxiety and fear, and his mind and heart experience a bliss which can be felt but cannot be described in words.
In Surah Al-An‘am, Allah (SWT) first poses a question in this manner
…Which of the two parties has more right to security and peace, (tell me) if you know. (Al-An‘am 6:82)
and then the answer is supplied thus
It is those who believed and did not pollute their faith with zulm that are truly in security and are rightly guided. (Al-An‘am 6:83)
In short, true belief in Allah (SWT) is the sole positive and real ground for a man’s inner peace and happiness. This devotional relationship with Allah (SWT) accompanied with pure and resolute submission to His commands can be achieved and enhanced by remembrance of Allah (or zikr). The Qur’an says:
…Verily, in the remembrance of Allah do hearts find peace and satisfaction. (Ra‘d 13:28)
A person who is deprived of belief in Almighty Allah (SWT) can never enjoy even the semblance of mental peace. As a result of this lack of belief, he is always obsessed by ever-growing worldly ambitions. He is ever entangled in the blinding cobweb of his limitless desires. Most men die before seeing their desires and ambitions materialized, no better than travelers in the desert pursuing a mirage, whereas the more intelligent of these fall prey to assorted mental aberrations. Their minds become arenas of strife and conflicts. Their desires lead them to intense internal conflicts and frustrations and consequently they are transformed into infernos — their hearts set ablaze. These inner disruptions manifest themselves outwardly, giving rise not only to a ruthless and savage struggle for existence but also to vile competition, the use of unfair means in business and trade, greed, caprice, and false ostentation. As a result of all this, God’s earth becomes rampant with immorality, crime, corruption, and lawlessness.
At this stage, only belief in the Hereafter, which is a corollary of belief in Allah (SWT), comes to rescue a man from the abysmal depths of darkness. It provides an effective check against corruption and immoral conduct. The eschatological beliefs in bodily resurrection, the Day of Judgment, and reward and punishment in a future life, provide a powerful incentive to a believer not to omit his duties, to be content with his lawful rights, and to abide by the rules laid down in the Divine Law (Shari‘ah) regulating the conduct of his terrestrial existence. The Qur’an asserts unequivocally that there is only one psychological factor which can effectively keep man from transgression and immorality, and that is the belief in the Hereafter and in accountability on the Day of Reckoning.
Indeed not! Man behaves rebelliously for he deems himself to be independent. (But) towards your Lord indeed is the return. (Al-Alaq 96: 6-8)
It should be crystal clear from the above that it is impossible to have serenity of heart if we do not have a staunch belief in religious truths. Any scheme or plan of action geared towards bringing about world peace and harmony, if not based on the belief in Almighty Allah (SWT) and in the Day of Reckoning, is bound to fail. It can succeed only if it is based upon the tenets of Islamic faith.

Islam

As stated above, Iman or religious belief is essentially related with the inner realm and mental state of a person, and the internal peace and calm enjoyed by him is its greatest fruit. The external manifestation of this inner peace takes the form of an attitude towards life known as Islam, which in turn guarantees outer peace and harmony. Iman and Islam are indeed like the two sides of a single picture. Whereas one provides guarantee for inner peace and happiness, the other does so for external peace and harmony. The Holy Prophet’s (SAW) prayer which he used to say at the sight of a new moon every month contains a significant allusion to this very truth. The prayer, couched in simple but beautiful phrases, reads:
O Lord! Make this new moon full of glad tidings for us: of peace, Iman, well-being, and Islam
These truths were expressed more fully and explicitly in other traditions of the Prophet (SAW). For example, in one tradition he negated Iman (and swore thrice to emphasize it) in a person whose neighbor is not safe from his misbehavior. Secondly, morally wholesome behavior was regarded as the zenith of both Iman and Islam. Thirdly, the Prophet (SAW) defined a Muslim as one from whose hands and tongue other Muslims are safe. Fourthly, he preached in a very wide and general way to "take pity on the inhabitants of earth, if you wish that the Lord of the heavens takes pity on you."
Socio-Political Peace and Well-Being —Salamah
Human beings are gregarious by nature. Their relationships with each other assume the form of ever-widening circles. Starting from the interactions within the family nucleus, they develop to encompass clans, tribes, complex social systems, and political states. Quite logically, world peace lies in the amicability and cordiality of relations between these states because the world is, after all, nothing but a large multitude of these socio-culturaI groups and states. The internal harmony of a single group bears the same analogy to the peace of the total world as the inner serenity (i.e., Iman) of a person bears to the external well-being (i.e., Islam). That is why Islam has put the greatest emphasis on social peace and political and economic justice. As delineated by the Holy Prophet (SAW), the character-traits of a Muslim individual, which is the basic unit of Muslim social polity, are the highest ideals of human character ever envisaged by any moral philosopher. One can well imagine the tranquillity enjoyed at the social level by a community that is founded on such noble principles and whose members are so considerate, affectionate, and benevolent among themselves.
The Islamic social structure is established on the positive foundation of Al-hubb lillah — love for the sake of Allah (SWT) and in obedience to Him. Peace and well-being are its marks of distinction. That is why sincerity and companionship of two Muslims for the sake of Allah (SWT) is regarded by Him as the most excellent of religious virtues. This very attitude is amply reflected in the way people greet each other in the Islamic society by wishing each other peace and well-being. Assalamo Alaikum and Wa Alaikum Assalam are the cheering phrases constantly uttered and heard when Muslims meet and part with each other. The Holy Prophet (SAW) described these twin characteristics of a typical Islamic society in one of his sayings thus:
(O Muslims!) You will never enter Paradise unless you are believers. And you will never achieve genuine belief unless you love (and respect) each other. Shall I not tell you the way you can create love amongst yourselves? (That way lies in) frequently greeting each other with salam. (Reported by Abu Hurairah and narrated by Imam Muslim)
A major portion of the Surah of the Holy Qur’an entitled Al-Hujurat, revealed in Madinah, contains meticulously detailed instructions that help to maintain social harmony and well-being. Respectful behavior towards the leader and elders, in manner, voice, and demeanor, are the bonds and cement of an organized community. Rumors should be tested and selfish impatience should be curbed by discipline. Scandal or slander of all kinds should be condemned. All quarrels and differences should be patched up and reconciled, by the force of the community if necessary, but with perfect fairness and justice. Ridicule, taunts, and biting words should be avoided, whether the person spoken of is present or absent. Suspicion and spying are unworthy of believers. Mutual respect and confidence are a duty and a privilege in Islam. One can well imagine how much importance Islam assigns to social peace by enjoining upon Muslims to shun anything that corrodes it.
More than that, the Holy Qur’an delineates such golden principles of social and group life which cannot be found in any other religious book. For example:
…help one another in righteousness and piety, but do not help one another in sin and wickedness…. (Al-Ma’idah 5:2)
O believers! Stand out firmly for justice, as witnesses for the sake of Allah, even (if this may go) against yourselves, or your parents, or your kin…. (Al-Nisa 4:135)
O believers! Stand out firmly for Allah, as witnesses for the sake of justice, and let not the enmity of a people cause you to turn away from justice. Do justice, for that is akin to piety…. (Al-Ma’ida 5:8)
We have surely sent our messengers with clear signs (i.e., miracles and proofs), and sent with them the Book (i.e., revealed guidance) and the Balance (i.e., the Shari‘ah), so that mankind may stand by justice…. (Al-Hadeed 57:25)
The above verses of the Qur’an make it clear that the four fundamental principles of Islamic polity are righteousness, piety, justice, and fairness. The sole aim before a truly Islamic society should be to achieve these so that people live in peace and harmony.

World Peace

As far as I can understand, Islam has two schemes to offer for the promotion of peace: (a) a real and long-term scheme, and (b) a short-term or interim one.
As regards the real, durable, and universal scheme to bring about peace on earth, Islam asserts emphatically and unambiguously that it can be achieved only through responding to the call of Islam, by believing in Allah (SWT) as the Creator and Sustainer of the universe and submitting to His will as expressed in the last Divine Revelation, i.e., the Holy Qur’an. A true Islamic society has the potential to expand and take the entire world into its fold, and thus to save all human beings from exploitation, disruption, oppression, and disquietude. The vicissitudes of human history are witness to the fact that whenever humanity adopted an ideology and way of life other than Islam, the world was torn by injustice and warfare. The Holy Qur’an says:
Have you not seen how your Lord dealt with the Ad, of the (city of) Iram with lofty pillars, the like of whom were not created in (all) the land? And with the Thamud, who cut out (huge) rocks in the valley? And with Pharaoh of Stakes? They were those who had committed great excesses in the lands, and spread great mischief in them. (Al-Fajr 89:6-12)
Thus, the main emphasis of Islam is on calling the entire humankind towards faith in its Lord and Creator, and urging it to submit to His Will. Indeed, the real way to establish lasting peace on earth is the following: First of all, a true Islamic society and a genuine Islamic State needs to be established in one part of the world; this would act as a beacon, inviting the humankind towards the light of Iman and Islam. As a result, the boundaries of Islamic society and Islamic State would keep on expanding till the entire humanity would come within the fold of the love, benevolence and mercy of its Creator.
Under the present circumstances, however, this seems like a far-fetched idea. But Islam has a message of peace, love, and harmony for the interim period as well. Islam provides us with two cardinal principles, on the basis of which the peoples of the world can be united in global harmony. Thus, the ayah 13 of Surah Al-Hujurat reads:
O mankind! We created you from a single (pair of a) male and a female, and made you into nations and tribes, so that you may know each other. Verily the most honored of you in the sight of Allah is (one who is) the most righteous of you.... (Al-Hujurat 49:13)
Here the Holy Qur’an mentions two points which can create a deep sense of unity among the diverse races and religio-cultural groups of the world, viz., the unity of the Creator which leads us to the essential equality of humankind, and the common origin of the entire human race in the primordial pair of Adam and Eve, which leads us to the idea of universal brotherhood.
This ayah addresses all of humanity and not just the Muslim community. All humankind has descended from the first couple, Adam and Eve. Their tribes, races, and nations are conventional labels by which we may know their differing characteristics. Before Allah (SWT) they are all one, and the most righteous is the most honorable. Allah (SWT) is the Creator of all human beings and as such they are all equal before Him.
These two principles of unity of the human race and oneness of Creator may appear rather theoretical, but history tells us that the Prophet of Islam (SAW) established a society based on these very principles which was free of internal strife and conflict. Even H. G. Wells, who otherwise is a critic of the personal life of the Holy Prophet (SAW), acclaims that it was a great feat of Muhammad (SAW) that he, in fact, established a human society based on the lofty moral ideals of Islam.
Everybody knows that modern science and technology has brought about fantastic changes in contemporary life. Our globe has shrunk tremendously; we can travel from one corner of the earth to another in a matter of hours. The world has been reduced to a village, various countries being like localities of a single town. But this elimination of distance is entirely a physical and outer phenomenon. Mentally and psychologically, the various nations of the world are still far apart from each other. Even though at the political level men aspire to develop a universal brotherhood and a single world-State, yet in reality they cannot find a basis or value through which to overcome the barriers of color, creed, and race.
The desire for world peace and cordial relations among the nations of the world led to the formation of "League of Nations" in the early part of this century. But it failed miserably and ceased to exist after a few years because of the utterly selfish and inhuman attitude of some of the member countries. The yearning for peace and amicability in international relations persisted and it again resulted in the formation of a world body known as the "United Nations Organization." It is an open secret, however, that it too has failed to achieve its purpose. Most resolutions passed by the UNO are not implemented in clear defiance of its Charter. Even though it has a prestigious paraphernalia of offices and divisions, its efficacy as a custodian of peace has never been up to the mark.
If we look at the matter from the right perspective, we realize that only Islam can meet the challenge of the time. The failure of peace-making world bodies like the UNO lies in the fact that these cannot possibly offer a ground for treating various national and ethnic groups as equal partners in the community of nations. Islam, on the other hand, gives us two such fundamental concepts which alone can bind the human race in one single totality. It tells us that all human beings living on the surface of this earth come from one primordial pair — Adam and Eve — and as such they are like members of one family. Again, the Creator of all is Allah (SWT) and as such they are all equal in His eyes. White people have no superiority over colored nations, nor have Western nations any ground to boast against the Eastern ones. Islam totally negates all baseless values and attitudes which treat some people as inferior to others in any respect whatsoever.
The contents of the above mentioned ayah of Surah Al-Hujurat have appeared in reverse order in the first ayah of Surah Al-Nisa thus:
O mankind! Be mindful of your Guardian-Lord Who created you from a single person. Created, of like nature, his mate and from them twain scattered countless men and women. Be mindful of Allah through Whom you demand (your mutual rights), and (be mindful of violating relations based on) the wombs; for Allah ever watches over you. (Al-Nisa 4:1)
All our mutual rights and duties, according to Islam, are referred to Allah (SWT). We are His creatures; His will is the standard and measure of good, and our duties are measured by our conformity to His Will. The Prophet of Islam (SAW) has not only shown a way to salvation in a future life, but has also brought practical answers to the problems of this-worldly life. And surely we do need concrete facts. In today’s situation of crisis the call for renewal, change, and progress is heard everywhere. The Prophet Muhammad (SAW) is the prime example of a personality who understood how to bring about revolutionary progress and build a community of true brotherhood. For example, his address on the occasion of the Farewell Pilgrimage epitomizes the climax of his mission, in which he said: "An Arab has no superiority over a non-Arab, nor has a non-Arab over an Arab. You are all born of Adam, and Adam was made out of clay." This universalism is also depicted subtly in the above cited Qur’anic ayaat; both address all humanity and thus make explicit the fundamental facts shared by all human beings.
The role of an important pillar of Islam, Hajj, is also very significant in this context. The spirit of Hajj is the spirit of sacrifice of vanities, dress and personal appearance, pride relating to birth, national origin, accomplishments, work or social status. It signifies the brotherhood of all Muslims, demonstrated in the greatest of all international assemblies. The privileged cast away their arrogance and pride because they know it is a sin to be harsh or scornful to one’s bother. In bridging the gap between man and man, forgiveness (which is closely related with taqwa) plays an essential part. Magnanimity is a sign of strength.
Obviously, Qur’anic teachings can give lead to the rest of the world on the question of race relations. Islam has the best record of racial tolerance. Its mosque and pilgrimage gatherings have known no racial discrimination. The message of Islam has completely rejected racial prejudice or superiority of one race over the other. Even the western non-Muslim scholars admit this, the historian Arnold Toynbee among them. He writes:
The extinction of race consciousness as between Muslims is one of the outstanding moral achievements of Islam, and in the contemporary world there is, as it happens, a crying need for the propagation of this Islamic virtue. The forces of racial toleration, which at present seem to be fighting a losing battle in a spiritual struggle of immense importance to mankind, might still regain the upper hand if any strong influence militating against racial consciousness were now to be thrown into the scales. It is conceivable that the spirit of Islam might be the timely reinforcement which would decide this issue in favor of tolerance and peace. (A. J. Toynbee, Civiization an Trial, Oxford university Press, 1948, pp. 205-6)
The disregard of color and race in the Muslim world is expressed by Malcolm X in a moving account of his experiences in Makkah. He wrote:
For the past week, I have been utterly speechless and spellbound by the graciousness I see displayed at around me by people of all colors You may be shocked by these words coming from me. But on this pilgrimage, what I have seen and experienced, has forced me to rearrange much of my thought patterns previously held, and to toss aside some of my previous conclusions…. Perhaps if White Americans could accept in reality the Oneness of mankind — and cease to measure and hinder and harm others in terms of their "differences" in color…. Each hour here in the Holy Land enables me to have greater spiritual insight into what is happening in American between black and white.
It is most unfortunate that, to the total neglect of such magnificent teachings of universal brotherhood, Muslims themselves are taking to various secular slogans for uniting cross-sections of the world population on the basis of racial and national loyalties. It is height of insanity that people who produced the finest examples of human equality and brotherhood in their past on the basis of their faith alone are now adopting racial and ethnic nationalism as a panacea for their social and political ills. To give an historical example, Omar Ibn Al-Khattab (RAA) who belonged to the respectable Arab tribe of Quryaish and was the head of the then largest Muslim State of his time, used to address Bilal (RAA) — a black Muslim and a former slave of humble means — as Sayyidina (our master).
The upshot of my discussion is that the truth which is essential for the happiness and peace (of both individual as well as social at the widest level) is all there and complete in the Qur’an and the Sunnah (i.e., the tradition and practice of the Prophet). Whoever amongst Muslims studies the Holy Qur’an and the life of Prophet of Islam (SAW) in earnest must face the question: "Are you ready to follow the heights that Allah (SWT) shows you and be a witness to this unto the world?" I believe that the need of the hour is to explain and spread the teachings and wisdom of the Holy Qur’an, first among the Muslims themselves and then among the entire humankind. This can be achieved only through sincere and tireless efforts of those young men who decide to dedicate their lives to the learning and teaching of the Book of Allah (SWT). --(UniquePakistan)

7 tips for improving your relationship with the Quran

Are you one of those people who rarely touches the Quran? Or do you read daily, but don't find it is having the impact on you that it should? Whatever the case may be, these are some simple tips that can help you connect with the Quran.
1. Before you touch it, check your heart
The key to really benefiting from the Quran is to check your heart first, before you even touch Allah's book. Ask yourself, honestly, why you are reading it. Is it to just get some information and to let it drift away from you later? Remember that the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) was described by his wife as a "walking Quran": in other words, he didn't just read and recite the Quran, he lived it.
2. Do your Wudu (ablution)
Doing your Wudu is good physical and mental preparation to remind you you're not reading just another book. You are about to interact with God, so being clean should be a priority when communicating with Him.
3. Read only 5 minutes everyday
Too often, we think we should read Quran for at least one whole hour. If you aren't in the habit of reading regularly, this is too much. Start off with just five minutes daily. If you took care of step one, Insha Allah (God willing), you will notice that those five minutes will become ten, then half an hour, then an hour, and maybe even more!
4. Make sure you understand what you've read
Five minutes of reading the Quran in Arabic is good, but you need to understand what you're reading. Make sure you have a good translation of the Quran in the language you understand best. Always try to read the translation of what you've read that day .
5. Remember, the Quran is more interactive than a CD
In an age of "interactive" CD-Roms and computer programs, a number of people think books are passive and boring. But the Quran is not like that. Remember that when you read Quran, you are interacting with Allah. He is talking to you, so pay attention.
6. Don't just read, listen too
There are now many audio cassettes and CDs of the Quran, a number of them with translations as well. This is great to put on your walkman or your car's CD or stereo as you drive to and from work. Use this in addition to your daily Quran reading, not as a replacement for it.
7. Make Dua (supplication)
Ask Allah to guide you when you read the Quran. Your aim is to sincerely, for the love of Allah, interact with Him by reading, understanding and applying His blessed words. Making Dua to Allah for help and guidance will be your best tool for doing this.

The virtues in the recitation of certain surahs and ayats

Tameem ad-Dari (radiAllahu anhu) reported that the Messenger of Allah (salAllahu alayhi wasalam) said, “Whoever recites (in prayer) with a hundred verses in a night, it will be written for him as devout obedience to Allah for the night.”
Abdullah bin Mas’ud (radiAllahu anhu) reported that the Messenger (salAllahu alayhi wasalam) said, “Whoever recites one letter from the Book of Allah then he will receive a good reward, and every good deed is rewarded with ten times its like. I do not say that Alif Laam Meem is one word but Alif is one word, Laam is one word and Meem is one word.”
Ibn Imran (radiAllahu anhu) reported that the Messenger of Allah (salAllahu alayhi wasalam) said, “Whoever recites the Qur’an then let him ask from Allah by it, for there will come a people who recite the Qur’an and will the ask from people by it.”
A’isha (radiAllahu anha) that the Messenger of Allah (salAllahu alayhi wasalam) said, ‘Reciting the Qur’an during prayer is more excellent than reciting it at other times, and reciting the Qur’an at a time other than during prayer is more excellent than extolling Allah and declaring His greatness. Extolling Allah is more excellent than sadaqah, sadaqah is more excellent than fasting, and fasting is a protection from Hell.[Bayhaqi Shu’ab al-Iman, Mishkat al-Masabih #2166]

Saying ‘Bismillah’
The Prophet (salAllahu alayhi wasalam) said that it is one of the names of Allah the distance between it and Allah’s greatest name, is but like the distance between the black and white of the eye seen from a close angle.[Hakim & Dhahabi in The Book of Excellence of the Qur’an 1/552]
Ibn Abbas (radiAllahu anhu) said, concerning ‘Bismillah’, Allah evolved it for you, and never had He evolved it unto any community before you.[Hakim in Al-Mustadrak & Dhahabi in ‘The Book of Excellence of the Quran 1/551]

Surah al Fatihah (1)
A man came to the Prophet (salAllahu alayhi wasalam), embraced Islam then returned to his people. On his way there were a group of men who had with them a mad man in iron manacles. The group said, that they heard that the travelers friend (i.e. Prophet Muhammad) had something good with him and so he exorcised the mad man with Surah al Fatiha, and he was cured. As reward they gave the traveler 100 sheep. He then returned to the Prophet and narrated the story. The Prophet asked if he did anything other than recite al-Fatiha, he said no. So the Prophet said that while these people make their livelihoods out of false incantations (i.e. worshipping false idols) the traveler earned the 100 sheep through something lawful; so he could keep the sheep.[Abu Dawud 3398/a]
Abu Sa’id Ar-Rafi’ bin Al-Mu`alla (radiAllahu anhu) reported: The Messenger of Allah (salAllahu alayhi wasalam) said, “Shall I teach you the greatest Surah in the Qur’an before you leave the mosque?” Then he (salAllahu alayhi wasalam), took me by the hand, and when we were about to step out, I reminded him of his promise to teach me the greatest Surah in the Qur’an. He (salAllahu alayhi wasalam) said, “It is `Alhamdu lillahi Rabbil Alamin (i.e., Surat Al-Fatihah) which is As-Sab` Al-Mathani (i.e., the seven oft-repeated Ayat) and the Great Qur’an which is given to me.”[Sahih Al-Bukhari]
Abu Hurairah (radiAllahu anhu) reported that when Allah’s Messenger (salAllahu alayhi wasalam) asked Ubayy ibn Ka’ab (radiAllahu anhu), “Do you want me to teach you a Surah the like of which has not been revealed in the Torah, the Injeel, the Zabur, nor the Qur’an?”, and also asked what he recited in his prayers. He replied Umm-ul Qur’an (Surah Fatihah) the Prophet (salAllahu alayhi wasalam) proclaimed, ‘By Him in whose dominion my soul is, nothing like it has been revealed in the Torah, the Gospel, the Psalms, or the Qur’an and it is seven of the oft-repeated verses in the Mighty Qur’an which I have been given’[at-Tirmidhi, Al-Hakim says that this hadith is Sahih on the conditions established by Imam Muslim (Tafseer Mazhari 1:30)]
Abdullah Ibn ‘Abbas (radiAllahu anhu) reported that Allah’s Messenger (salAllahu alayhi wasalam) said ‘Rejoice in the two lights brought to you which have not been brought to any prophet before you’: al-Fatihah and the last verses of Surah al-Baqarah (2: 2854), (said an angel to the Prophet, blessings and peace be on him)[Muslim].
Ambari in his ‘Kitabur-Rad’ through his own chain of narrators has mentioned from Mujahid ibn Jabr (rahmatullahi alaih) that Iblees the accursed of Allah Ta’ala lamented on four occasions: first when he was cursed; secondly when he was cast out of Heaven to the Earth; thirdly when Muhammad (salAllahu alayhi wasalam) was given the Prophethood; fourthly when Surah Fatihah was revealed and it was revealed in Madinah.
Once the Prophet (salAllahu alayhi wasalam) was traveling when he disembarked and began walking alongside a companion. He asked him, ‘Shouldn’t I tell you the best part of the Qur’an?’ then he recited ‘Alhamdu lilahi rabil alameen’ (Praise be to Allah, Lord of the Worlds).[Hakim 1/560; Dhahabi]
Abu Saeed al-Khudr’i narrates that while on a journey we halted at a place. A girl came to us and said: “The chief of this tribe has been stung by a scorpion and our men are not present, is there anybody amongst you who can recite something upon him to treat him?” Then, one of our men went along with her although we did not think that he knew any such treatment. However, our friend went to the chief and recited something upon him and the chief was cured. Thereupon, the chief gave him thirty sheep and gave us all milk to drink. When he returned, we asked our friend: “Did you know anything to recite upon him to cure him?” He said: “No, I only recited Umm al-Kitab (i.e. Surah al-Fatihah) upon him.” We said that do not do anything until we reach Madinah and ask the Prophet regarding this (practice and reward-whether the sheep were lawful or not for us). Upon reaching Madinah, we narrated this to the Prophet (salAllahu alayhi wasalam), whereupon he remarked: “How did he come to know that Al-Fatihah can be used as a cure? (Rasulullah said this in astonishment) Distribute your reward amongst yourselves and allot a share for me as well.[Sahih al-Bukhari]
Ibn ‘Abbas said, “While Jibril (alayhis salam) was sitting with the Prophet, he heard a sound above him and raised his head. He said, ‘This is a door of heaven which has been opened today and which has never been opened before today. An angel descended from it.’ He said, ‘This is an angel who has descended to earth who has never descended before today.’ He gave the greeting and said, ‘Give the good news of two lights which you have been given and which no Prophet before you was given: the Fatiha of the Book and the end of Surah al-Baqarah (2). You will not recite a letter of them without being given it.’”[Muslim, Riyad as-Salihin by Imam an-Nawawi]
Abu Sulaiman says that once a group of Companions were in an expedition (ghazwa) when they happened to come across an epileptic person, who was unconscious. One of the Companions recited Surah Al-Fatiha and blew in his ear. The epileptic person immediately cured. When Sayyidana Muhammad (salAllahu alayhi wasalam) was informed of this, he said: “It (Surah Al-Fatiha) is “The Mother of the Qur’an” (Umm al-Qur’an) and is a cure for every disease.”[This narration has been recorded by Ath-Thua’lbi from Abu Sulaiman, who narrated it from Muawiya bin Saleh (radhi Allah anhu), Tafseer Mazhari 1:31]
Sa’ib (radhi Allah anhu) bin Yazeed says that Rasulullah (salAllahu alayhi wasalam) recited Surah Al-Fatihah and blew it on me. To safeguard me against calamities, Rasulullah (salAllahu alayhi wasalam) recited this Surah and put his blessed saliva in my mouth.[At-Tabraani narrated this tradition in ‘Al-Awsat’, Tafseer Mazhari 1:31]
Anas (radhi Allah anhu) said: “When you recite Surah Al-Fatihah and Surah Al-Ikhlas upon lying on your bed, you will be safeguarded and should become fearless of every thing except death.”[Narrated by Baraa’, Tafseer Mazhari 1:31]
The Prophet said, ‘Whoever mastered the first seven (chapters or verses) from the Qur’an is a pontiff’.[Hakim 1/564; Dhahabi]
The Prophet said, ‘The mother of the Qur’an are the seven oft repeated verses’[Bukhari 4704]
It is narrated from Jabir (radhi Allah anhu) that Rasulullah (salAllahu alayhi wasalam) said: “O Jabir, shall I inform you about the best Surah revealed in the Qur’an?” Jabir said: “O Messenger of Allah, please inform me.” Rasulullah (salAllahu alayhi wasalam) said: “It is Fatiha tul Kitab.” Jabir adds: “And I think that Rasulullah (salAllahu alayhi wasalam) said that Al-Fatiha is a cure for every diseases.” Jabir is also reported to have said: “Fatiha tul Kitab is a medicine for every disease except death.”[Recorded by Al-Khal’i in his Fawa’id, Tafseer Mazhari 1:30]
The Prophet said, ‘In the Fatiha of the Qur’an, there is a cure for all maladies(illnesses)’[Darimi 3236, also narrated by Ad-Darmi in his Al-Masnad and Al-Bayhaqi in Shu’bul Imaan, Tafseer Mazhari 1:30]
Surah Al-Fatihah is equivalent to two thirds of the Qur’an[Al-Bayhaqi and Al-Haakim, Tafseer Mazhari 1:31]

Surah al Baqarah (2)
The Prophet said, ‘The Qur’an and those who committed themselves to it will be presented on the Day of judgement, preceded by Surah al-Baqarah and Surah al Imran’.[Muslim 805]
The Prophet (salAllahu alayhi wasalam) said, ‘Learn how to recite Surah al-Baqarah for there is a blessing in it, and there is sorrow for abandoning it, and it is unbearable for the idle’ and that ‘al Baqarah and al Imran are like two flowers which will shade their learner on the day of Judgement, as if there were two large clouds or two flocks of birds’.[Ahmad 21872 & Buraida al-Aslami Muslim 1/553]
The Prophet said, ‘Recite Surah al Baqarah in your dwellings and do not keep them as tombs. He also said that whoever recited Surah al Baqarah at night would be crowned with a crown of paradise.’[Baihaqi in Al-Shuaib]
Abu Huraira reported that the Messenger of Allah (salAllahu alayhi wasalam) said, “Do not turn your houses into graves. Shaitan is barred from any house in which Surat al-Baqarah (2) is recited.” [Muslim 780, 4: 1707]
The Prophet was asked, ‘Which part of the Qur’an is the best?’. He replied, ‘The Surah in which the cow is mentioned’. He was then asked ‘Which part of that Surah?’. He replied, ‘The verse of the Throne and the last pasrt of Surah al Baqarah came down from under the Throne’[Darimi 3248]
The Prophet (salAllahu alayhi wasalam) said, ‘Al Baqarah is the top (or pinnacle) of the Qur’an. Eighty angels came down with each one of it’s verses and extracted the verse of the throne from under the throne, and it was joined to the other verses’[Ahmad 5/26]
Abu Ummamah (radiAllahu anhu) narrated that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said, “Whoever recites Ayat Al-Kursi immediately after each prescribed Prayer, there will be nothing standing between him and his entering Paradise except death.”[an-Nasa’i, Ibn Hibban, Darimi 3249/A]
Imam Ahmad (rahimullah) said: It was narrated that Asma’ bint Yazid ibn As-Sakan (radiAllahu anha) said, I heard the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) say about these two verses— “Allah! There is no god but He, the Ever-Living, the One Who sustains and protects all that exists…” [Al-Baraqah, 2: 255] and “Alif. Laam. Meem. Allah! None has the right to be worshiped but He, the Ever-Living, the One Who sustains and protects all that exists” [’Al ‘Imran, 3: 1-2]— that they contain the greatest name of Allah.[abu Dawud, at-Tirmidhi, Tafsir of Imam Ibn Kathir]
Ubayy ibn Ka’b reported that the Messenger of Allah (salAllahu alayhi wasalam) said, “O Abu’l-Mundhir! Do you know which ayat in the Book of Allah is greatest you have?’ I said, ‘Allah. there is no god but Him, the Living, the Self-Sustaining.’ (W2:253; H2:256) He struck me on the chest and said, ‘May knowledge delight you, Abu’l-Mundhir!’”[Muslim, Riyad as-Salihin by Imam an-Nawawi]
Imam Ahmad narrated: Muhammad ibn Ja’far told us, Uthman ibn Itab told us, he said: I heard Abu As-Sulayl saying, A man from among the Companions of the Prophet (salAllahu alayhi wasalam) addressed the people until a large number had gathered around him, then he climbed onto the roof of a house and addressed the people, saying: “The Messenger of Allah (salAllahu alayhi wasalam) said, ‘Which verse of the Qur’an is the greatest?’ A man said, ‘Allah! There is no god but He, the Ever-Living, the One Who sustains and protects all that exists…’ [Al-Baqarah, 2: 255].’ He said: He put his hand between my shoulders and I felt coolness in the center of my chest, [or he said] he put his hand on the center of my chest and I felt coolness between my shoulders, and he said, ‘Congratulations on your knowledge, Abul-Mundhir.’”Another version of the same hadith.[Tafsir of Imam Ibn Kathir]
It was reported from the Messenger (salAllahu alayhi wasalam) that “It is the greatest verse in the Book of Allah.” (referring to Ayat al-Kursi). It was narrated from Ubayy ibn Ka’b (radiAllahu anhu) that the Prophet (salAllahu alayhi wasalam) asked him which verse in the Book of Allah was the greatest. He said, “Allah and His Messenger know best.” He repeated it several times, then he said, “Ayat Al-Kursi.” The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said, “Congratulations upon your knowledge, Abul-Mundhir. By the One in Whose hand is my soul, it has a tongue and two lips, and it glorifies the Sovereign (i.e., Allah) at the foot of the Throne.”[Tafsir of Imam Ibn Kathir]
Abu Umamah (radiAllahu anhu) reported that the messenger of Allah (salAllahu alayhi wasalam) said, “The greatest name of Allah, which if He is called by it, He responds, is in three surahs: Al-Baqarah, ‘al ‘Imran and Ta-Ha.” Hisham ibn Ammar, the khateeb of Damascus, said: “In Al-Baqarah, it is ‘Allah! There is no god but He, the Ever-Living, the One Who sustains and protects all that exist’ [Al-Baraqah, 2: 255]. In ‘al ‘Imran it is ‘Alif. Laam. Meem. Allah! There is no god but He, the Ever-Living, the One Who sustains and protects all that exists’ [’al ‘Imran, 3: 1-2]. And in Ta-Ha it is ‘And (all) faces shall be humbled before (Allah), the Ever- Living, the One Who sustains and protects all that exists’ [Ta-Ha, 20: 111].”[narrated in a marfu’ report (one that is traced all the way back to the Prophet [salAllahu alayhi wasalam], Tafsir of Imam Ibn Kathir)]
The Prophet said, ‘Whoever recites 4 verses from the first part of Surah al Baqarah, the verse of the Throne, two verses after the verse of the Throne and three verses from the last part of Surah al Baqarah, Satan would never come near him or the members of his family on that day, and nothing he despises would come near him or the members of his family, and never are these verses recited over a madman without him regaining his consciousness’[Darimi 3249/A in the Book of Excellence of the Quran; an-Nasai in the Deeds during the Day and Night; Ibn Hibban & Tabrani]
Abdullah ibn Mas’ud (radiAllahu anhu) said, ‘Whoever recited ten verses from al-Baqarah in the night, Satan shall not have access to that house, during the night till he wakes in the morning. These are: Four from the first part of the Surah, followed by the verse of the Throne, two verses after the verse of the Throne and three from the last part of the Surah’.[Darimi 3248/A]
Abu Umamah (radiAllahu anhu) reported that the Prophet (salAllahu alayhi wasalam) said, ‘Recite Surah al-Baqarah: for to hold on to it is a barakah (blessing), to leave it is a regret’[Muslim]
Abu Hurairah (radiAllahu anhu) reported that the Prophet (salAllahu alayhi wasalam) said, ‘Everything has a hump, and the hump of the Qur’an is al-Baqarah’[at-Tirmidhi, ad-Darami]
Abu Mas’ud al-Badri (radiAllahu anhu) reported that the Prophet (salAllahu alayhi wasalam) said, “If anyone recites the two ayats at the end of Surat al-Baqarah (2) at night, they will be enough for him.”[Sahih al-Bukhari 6:61 #530, Agreed upon]
It was narrated from Abdullah ibn Ubayy ibn Ka’b (radiAllahu anhu) that his father told him that he had a vessel in which he kept dates. He used to check on it and found that the number was decreasing. So he kept guard on it one night and saw a beast that looked like an adolescent boy. He said: I greeted him with salams and he returned my greeting, then I asked him, “What are you, a jinn or a human?” He said, “A jinn.” I said to him, “Show me your hand.” So he showed me his hand, and it looked like a dog’s paw with dog’s fur. I said, “Do all the jinn look like this?” He said, “I know no one among the jinn who is stronger than I.” I said, “What made you do what you did [i.e., taking the dates]?” He said, “We heard that you are a man who loves charity, and we wanted to have some of your food.” Ubayy asked him, “What will protect us from you?” He said, “This verse, Ayat Al-Kursi.” Then the next day he [Ubayy] went to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and told him (about what had happened) and he said, “The evil one spoke the truth.”[Tafsir of Imam Ibn Katheer]
Ibn ‘Abbas (radiAllahu anhu) said, “While Jibril (salayhis salam) was sitting with the Prophet, he heard a sound above him and raised his head. He said, ‘This is a door of heaven which has been opened today and which has never been opened before today. An angel descended from it.’ He said, ‘This is an angel who has descended to earth who has never descended before today.’ He gave the greeting and said, ‘Give the good news of two lights which you have been given and which no Prophet before you was given: the Fatiha of the Book and the end of Surah al-Baqarah (2). You will not recite a letter of them without being given it.’”[Muslim, Riyad as-Salihin by Imam an-Nawawi]
Abu Umamah (radiAllahu anhu) reported that the Messenger of Allah (salAllahu alayhi wasalam) said ‘Read the two radiant ones al-Baqarah and Al ‘Imran for they will come on the Day of Resurrection like two clouds, or two shades, or two flocks of birds, pleading for their companions’[Muslim]
Al-Nawwas Ibn Sam’an (radiAllahu anhu) reported that the Messenger of Allah (salAllahu alayhi wasalam) said ‘The Qur’an will be brought on the Day of Resurrection, along with its companions who used to act by it, at the front being Surah al-Baqarah and Al ‘Imran like two black clouds or canopies with light, or two flocks of birds pleading for their companion’[Muslim]
Abu Huraira (radiAllahu anhu) said, “The Messenger of Allah (salAllahu alayhi wasalam) put me in charge of guarding the zakat of Ramadan. Someone came and began to take handfuls of food. I grabbed him and said, ‘By Allah, I will take you to the Messenger of Allah!’ He said, ‘I am needy and have a large family and I am in dire need.’ I let him go and in the morning the Prophet said, ‘Abu Huraira, what did you do with your prisoner yesterday?’ I said, ‘Messenger of Allah, he complained of dire need and a large family, so I showed mercy to him and let him go on his way.’ He said, ‘He lied to you and he will come back.’ So, from the words of the Messenger of Allah, I knew that he would come back. Therefore, I lay in wait for him and he came and once more began to take handfuls of food. I seized him and said, ‘I will take you to the Messenger of Allah!’ He said, ‘Let me go. I am in need and have a large family. I will not come back again.’ I had mercy on him and let him go his way. In the morning the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said to me, ‘Abu Huraira, what did you do with your prisoner yesterday?’ I said, ‘Messenger of Allah, he complained of dire need and a large family, so I showed mercy to him and let him go on his way.’ He said, ‘He lied to you and he will come back.’ So I lay in wait for him a third time and he came and began to take handfuls of food. I grabbed him and said, ‘I will take you to the Messenger of Allah! This is the third time. You claimed you would not come back and then you came back.’ He said, ‘Let me go. I will teach you some words which will help you with Allah.’ I said, ‘What are they?’ He said, ‘When you go to bed, recite the Throne Verse, “Allah, there is no god but Him, the Living, the Self-Sustaining…” to the end of the ayat. You will have someone guarding over you from Allah and shaitan will not come near you until morning.’ So I let him go his way. In the morning, the Messenger of Allah (salAllahu alayhi wasalam) said to me, ‘What did you do with your prisoner yesterday?’ I said, ‘Messenger of Allah, he claimed that he would teach me some words which would help me with Allah, so I let him go his way.’ He said, ‘What are they?’ I said, ‘He said to me, “When you go to bed, recite the Throne Verse to the end: ‘Allah, there is no god but Him, the Living, the Self-Sustaining’.” He said to me, “You will have someone guarding over you from Allah and shaitan will not come near you until morning.”‘ The Prophet (salAllahu alayhi wasalam) said, “He told you the truth even though he is a liar. Do you know whom you were speaking with on these three days, Abu Huraira?’” He said, “No.” The Prophet said, “It was Shaitan.”[Sahih al-Bukhari]

Surah al Imran (3)
Abdullah ibn Masud (radiAllahu anhu) said, ‘What an excellent treasure Surah al Imran is to the pauper when he recites it in prayer during the last part of the night’[Darimi 3264/A]
The Prophet said, ‘Allah’s most Magnificent name, which when used to implore Him, He responds, is found in three Surahs. Al Baqara, Al’ Imran and Taha’[Hakim & Ibn Majah 3856]
The Prophet said to Muadh (radiAllahu anhu), ‘Should I not teach you a supplication which, when used to implore Allah, Allah shall pay your debt, even it be as huge as Mount Uhud? He then mentioned them (i.e. Surah al Imran verse 26 & 27)’[Tabarani in Al Saghir 1/330]
Makhul (radiAllahu anhu) reported that the Messenger of Allah (salAllahu alayhi wasalam) said, “If anyone recites Al ‘Imran on a Friday, the angels will invoke blessings on him till night comes.”[Darimi transmitted it. Mishkat al-Masabih #2172]
Usman ibn Affan (radiAllahu anhu) reported that the Messenger of Allah (salAllahu alayhi wasalam) said, “If anyone recites the end of Surah ‘Al Imran at night, the reward for a night spent in prayer will be recorded for him.”
Abu Umamah (radiAllahu anhu) reported that the Messenger of Allah (salAllahu alayhi wasalam) said ‘Read the two radiant ones al-Baqarah and Al ‘Imran for they will come on the Day of Resurrection like two clouds, or two shades, or two flocks of birds, pleading for their companions’[Muslim]
Al-Nawwas Ibn Sam’an (radiAllahu anhu) reported that the Messenger of Allah (salAllahu alayhi wasalam) said ‘The Qur’an will be brought on the Day of Resurrection, along with its companions who used to act by it, at the front being Surah al-Baqarah and Al ‘Imran like two black clouds or canopies with light, or two flocks of birds pleading for their companion’[Muslim]
Surah al An’am (6)
Jabir (radiAllahu anhu) reported that The Prophet (salAllahu alayhi wasalam) said, ‘So many Angels accompanied its revelation that the horizon was covered with them’[Hakim, Dhahabi & Baihaqi]
The Prophet (salAllahu alayhi wasalam) said, ‘The Qur’an was revealed in one fifth part, whoever memorised it in one fifth parts would not forget it. Except for Surah al An’am, which was revelaed in it’s entirity, seen off by seventy angels from each heaven until they delivered it to the Prophet. Never has it been recited over a sick person, without Allah granting him a cure’[Baihaqi & Khatib]
Umar ibn al-Khattab (radiAllahu anhu) reported that The Prophet (salAllahu alayhi wasalam) said, “Surah An’aam is from the core of the Qur’an”[Tafsir of al-Qurtubi]
Surah Hud (11)
Ka’ab (radiAllahu anhu) reported that The Prophet (salAllahu alayhi wasalam) said, ‘Recite surah Hud on Fridays’[Darimi transmitted it in mursal form. Mishkat al-Masabih #2174]
Surah Yusuf (12)
The Prophet said, ‘Teach your relatives the recitation of Surah Yusuf, for, any Muslim who recites it or teaches it to his family and slaves, Allah shall ease for him the agony of death, and give him the strength that will prevent him from envying a fellow Muslim’[Ibn Asakir]
Surah al Kahf (18)
The Prophet (salAllahu alayhi wasalam) said, ‘Whoever recited Surah al Kahf in the same manner in which it was revealed, it will serve for him as a light on the Day of Judgement, from his domicile to Makkah. And whoever recited the last ten verses, and it happens that the Dajjal should appear after that, Dajjal will not be empowered over him’.[Hakim 1/564 & Dhahabi]
Abu’d-Darda’ reported that the Messenger of Allah (salAllahu alayhi wasalam) said, “Anyone who memorises ten ayats from the beginning of Surat al-Kahf (18) will be protected from the Dajjal.”[Muslim, Riyad as-Salihin by Imam an-Nawawi 183 #1012]One variant has, “from the end of Surat al-Kahf.”
The Prophet (salAllahu alayhi wasalam) said, ‘Whoever recited Surah al Kahf on a Friday, Allah will kindle for him abundant light to brightly illuminate the period between the two Fridays (the Friday on which the recitation was made and the next Friday)’[Hakim 2/367, Mishkat al-Masabih #2175, however Baihaqi disagreed with it’s authenticity in Sahih Al Jami 2/1104]
Narrated Al-Bara’bin Azib: A man was reciting Surah Al-Kahf and his horse was tied with two ropes beside him. A cloud came down and spread over that man, and it kept on coming closer and closer to him till his horse started jumping (as if afraid of something). When it was morning, the man came to the Prophet, and told him of that experience. The Prophet said, “That was As-Sakina (tranquility) which descended because of (the recitation of) the Qur’an.”[Sahih al-Bukhari 6:61 #531, at-Tirmidhi 2810/A]

Surah Ta Ha (20)
Abu Hurairah (radiAllahu anhu) reported that Allah’s messenger (salAllahu alayhi wasalam) said, A thousand years before creating the heavens and the Earth, Allah recited Ta-Ha and Ya-Sin, and when the angels heard the recitation they said, ‘Happy are the people to whom this comes down, happy are the minds which carry this, and happy are the tongues which utter this.[Darami transmitted it, at-Tirmidhi]
Abu Umamah (radiAllahu anhu) reported that the messenger of Allah (salAllahu alayhi wasalam) said, “The greatest name of Allah, which if He is called by it, He responds, is in three surahs: Al-Baqarah, ‘al ‘Imran and Ta-Ha.” Hisham ibn Ammar, the khateeb of Damascus, said: “In Al-Baqarah, it is ‘Allah! There is no god but He, the Ever-Living, the One Who sustains and protects all that exist’ [Al-Baraqah, 2: 255]. In ‘al ‘Imran it is ‘Alif. Laam. Meem. Allah! There is no god but He, the Ever-Living, the One Who sustains and protects all that exists’ [’al ‘Imran, 3: 1-2]. And in Ta-Ha it is ‘And (all) faces shall be humbled before (Allah), the Ever- Living, the One Who sustains and protects all that exists’ [Ta-Ha, 20: 111].” [narrated in a marfu’ report (one that is traced all the way back to the Prophet [salAllahu alayhi wasalam], Tafsir of Imam Ibn Kathir)]

Surah al Mu’minun (23)
Ibn Masud (radiAllahu anhu) recited (Surah al Mu’minun from verse 115 to 118) in the ear of an afflicted person and the man was cured. The Prophet said, ‘What did you reicte in his ear?’. Ibn Masud told him, and the Prophet (salAllahu alayhi wasalam) said, ‘By He in Whose hand lies my soul, Were a believing man to recite it over a mountain, it would have melted’.[Fath al Qadir 3/502]

Surah as Sajdah (32)
The Prophet would not sleep until he recited Surah as Sajdah.[at-Tirmidhi 5/165; Hakim 2/412 & Dhahabi in Sahih al Jamiea (22/789)]
Khalid ibn Ma’dan (radiAllahu anhu) said, “Recite the Deliverer, which is Alif Laam Tanzeel, for I have heard that a man who had committed many sins used to recite it and nothing else. It spread its wing over him and said, ‘O’ My Lord, forgive him, for he often used to recite me.’ So the Lord Most High made it an intercessor for him and said, ‘Record for him a good deed and raise him a degree in place of every sin.”Khalid (radiAllahu anhu) also said, “It will dispute on behalf of the one who recites it when he is in his grave saying, ‘O’ Allah, if I am part of Thy Book, make me an intercessor for him. But if I am not a part of Thy Book, blot me out of it.’ It will be like a bird putting its wing on him, it will intercede for him and will protect him from the punishment in the grave.” He said the same about Tabaarakalladhi (Surah Mulk).Khalid (radiAllahu anhu) did not go to sleep at night till he had recited them. Taus said that they were given sixty virtues more than any other Surah in the Holy Qur’an.

Surah Yasin (36)
Anas (radiAllahu anhu) reported that the messenger of Allah (salAllahu alayhi wasalam) said ‘Everything has a heart and the heart of the Qur’an is Ya Sin. Anyone who reads it, God will write down for him ten readings of the Qur’an’[at-Tirmidhi 2812/A & Dhahabi, Maqal]
The Prophet said, ‘Whoever recited Surah Yasin in the night seeking Allah’s pleasure, Allah would forgive him’[Ibn Hibban, Darimi 3283/A, Abu Yala, Tabarani, Baihaqi & Ibn Mardawaih]
Abu Hurairah (radiAllahu anhu) narrated that the messenger of Allah (salAllahu alayhi wasalam) said, ‘Whoever reads surat Ya-Sin in the night, he will be forgiven. And whoever reads Ha-Meem, the one in which smoke is mentioned, he will be forgiven.’[Abu Ya’la reported it]
Ma’qil Ibn Yasar (radiAllahu anhu) reported that the messenger of Allah (salAllahu alayhi wasalam) said ‘Whoever reads Ya Sin, seeking Allah’s pleasure, his past sins will be forgiven, so recite it over the dying among you’[Bayhaqi]

Surah al Fussilat (41)
The messenger of Allah (salAllahu alayhi wasalam) said, ‘Everything has its fruit and benefits, and the fruit of the Qur’an is Ha-Meem (another name for Surah al-Fussilat). Chapters beginning with Ha-Meem are beautiful, fresh, fragrant, splendid mesdows. Whosoever desires to walk around in the mesdows of Paradise should recite these surahs’[Al-Tadhkar Fi Afdal Al-Adhkar by Imam al-Qurtubi]

Surah ad Dukhan (44)
Ibn Masud (radiAllahu anhu) said, ‘The ‘ha-meems’ are the embelishments of the Quran[Hakim, Dhahabi, Ibn Al Mundhir & Baihaqi]
The ‘ha-meems’ refer to the seven Surahs which have ha-meem at the start.
Abu Hurairah (radiAllahu anhu) narrated that the messenger of Allah (salAllahu alayhi wasalam) said, ‘Whosoever recites Surah ad-Dhukhan every night, seventy thousand angels will ask forgiveness for him’[at-Tirmidhi]
Abu Hurairah (radiAllahu anhu) narrated that the messenger of Allah (salAllahu alayhi wasalam) said, ‘Whoever reads surat Ya-Sin in the night, he will be forgiven. And whoever reads Ha-Meem, the one in which smoke is mentioned, he will be forgiven.’[Abu Ya’la reported it]
The messenger of Allah (salAllahu alayhi wasalam) said, Chapters beginning with Ha-Meem are beautiful, fresh, fragrant, splendid mesdows. Whosoever desires to walk around in the mesdows of Paradise should recite these surahs’[Al-Tadhkar Fi Afdal Al-Adhkar by Imam al-Qurtubi]
NB: The ‘ha-meems’ refer to the seven Surahs which have ha-meem at the start are: Surahs Ghafir or Al-Mu’min (40), Fussilat (or Ha-Meem) (41), Shura (42), Zukhruf (43), Dukhan (44), Jathiyah (45), Ahqaf (46)

Surah al Fath (48)
Umar (radiAllahu anhu) narrated that the Prophet (salAllahu alayhi wasalam) said, ‘A Surah of the Qur’an was revealed to me tonight, indeed it is the dearest Surah to my heart, than anything under the sun’. Then the Prophet recited Surah al Fath verses 1-5.[Sahih al-Bukhari 6:61 #532]

Surah ar Rahman (55)
The Prophet (salAllahu alayhi wasalam) went to the companions and recited Surah ar Rahman but they were all quiet. He told them that he went to the jinn and recited it to them and they were responsive. And when he would recite the verses ‘And which of the favours of the Lord will you deny’ the jinn would respond ‘There is nothing among your bounties that we can deny, all praise belong to Allah’[Tirmidhi, Ibn al Mundhir, Al Adhama & Hakim 2/474]
Abdullah Ibn Mas’ud (radiAllahu anhu) reported that the Prophet (salAllahu alayhi wasalam) said, ‘Everything has an adornment, and the adornment of the Qur’an is Surah ar Rahman’[Bayhaqi in Shuab al Eiman]

Surah al Waqiah (56)
Abdullah ibn Mas’ud reported that the Prophet (salAllahu alayhi wasalam) said, ‘Whoever recites surah al Waqiah at night would never encounter poverty’[Ibn as-Sunni 620, Bayhaqi]
The Prophet said, ‘Surah al Waqiah is the Surah of Wealth, so recite it and teach it to your children’[Ibn Asakir]

Surah al Hadid (57)
The Prophet (salAllahu alayhi wasalam) used to recite Surahs of Glorification before returing and he said that there is a verse in them which is better than a thousand verses.[Tirmidhi 5/181]NB: These Surahs are: Al-Hadid, Al-Hashr, As-Saf, Al-Jum’ah and At-Tagabun

Surah al Hashr (59)
The Prophet said, ‘Whoever when he wakes in the morning says ‘I seek refuge with Allah against the accursed satan’ and then recited three verses from the last part of Surah al Hashr, will be assigned seventy thousand angels to pray for him until the evening, and should he die that day, he would have died a martyr’[Ibn Ahmad, Darimi, Tirmidhi 5/182]

Surah al Mulk (67)
The Prophet said, ‘There is a surah in the Qur’an which is only thirty verses. It defended whoever recited it until it puts him into paradise’ i.e. Surah al Mulk[Fath al Qadir 5/257, Sahihul Jamiea 1/680, Tabrani in Al-Awsat & Ibn Mardawaith]
Abu Huraira (radiAllahu anhu) reported that the Messenger of Allah (salAllahu alayhi wasalam) said, “The Qur’an contains a surah of thirty ayats which will intercede for a man until he is forgiven. It is: ‘Blessed be He who has the Kingdom in His Hand!’ (67)”[abu Dawud, Ahmad, at-Tirmidhi, Riyad as-Salihin by Imam an-Nawawi Ch.183 #1016]
The Prophet (salAllahu alayhi wasalam) said, ‘Surah al Mulk is the protector from the torment of the grave’[Sahihul Jamiea 1/680, Hakim 2/498 & Nasai]
Jabir (radiAllahu anhu) said it was the custom of the Prophet (salAllahu alayhi wasalam) not to go to sleep until he had read Tabarakallahi Biyadihil Mulk and Alif Laam Meem Tanzeel.[Ahmad, Tirmidhi and Darami]
Anas (radiAllahu anhu) reported Rasulullah (sallallahu alaiyhi wasalam) as saying, “There is a Surah which will plead for its reciter till it causes him to enter paradise (Tabarakallahi Biyadihil Mulk).”[at-Tabrani]
Abdullah Ibn ‘Abbas (radiAllahu anhu) reported that the Prophet (salAllahu alayhi wasalam) said, ‘It is my desire/love that Surahtul Mulk should be in the heart of every Muslim’[Hakim, al-Hisnul Haseen by the cassical scholar Muhammad al-Jazri]
Ibn Abbas (radiAllahu anhu) said that one of the Prophet (salAllahu alayhi wasalam)’s companions set up his tent over a grave without realising that it was a grave and it contained a man who was reciting the Surah Tabarakallahi Biyadihil Mulk up to the end. He went and told the Prophet (salAllahu alayhi wasalam) who said, ‘It is The Defender; it is The Protector which safeguards from Allah Ta’ala’s punishment’[at-Tirmidhi]
Khalid bin Madam (tabie) said about surat Al Mulk and ‘As Sajda that these two surahs will fight for their reciter in the grave and will say, ‘O Allah! If we belong to your book, accept our intercession in his favour. In case we do not, get us obliterated. These surahs will spread their wings like birds and will save the person from the torment of the grave.’[Mishkat al-Misbah]
It was narrated that Abdullah ibn Mas’ud said: Whoever reads Tabarakallahi Biyadihil Mulk [i.e. Surah al-Mulk] every night, Allah will protect him from the torment of the grave. At the time of the Messenger of Allah (sallallahu alaiyhi wasalam) we used to call it al-mani’ah (that which protects). In the Book of Allah it is a surah which, whoever recites it every night has done very well.[an-Nasa’i]

Surah al A’la (87)
‘Ali (radiAllahu anhu) narrated ‘He loved this Surah’[Ahmad]
Surah al Zilzilah (99)
Abdullah Ibn ‘Abbas and Anas Ibn Malik (radiAllahu anhum) reported that the Prophet (salAllahu alayhi wasalam) said, ‘Whoever recited Surah Zilzilah (99) would get the reward of reciting half the Qur’an. Whoever recited surah al Kafirun (109) would get a reward as if reading a quarter of the Qur’an. Whoever recited Surah al Ikhlas (112) would get a reward as if reading one third of the Qur’an’.[at-Tirmidhi 2818/A]
An old man, saying that his heart had difficulty in remembering, and tongue his sluggish asked the Prophet (salAllahu alayhi wasalam); “Teach me the reading of a comprehensive surah.”So Prophet (salAllahu alayhi wasalam) taught him to recite Idha dul dilatil ardhu dhildalaha up to the end. The man said, “I swear by Him who has sent you with the truth that I shall never recite more than that.”

Surah Aadiyat (100)
The Prophet said, ‘Whoever recietes Aadiyat his reqard equals one half of the Qur’an’[Hakim 1/566 & Tirmidhi 2894]

Surah at Takathur (102)
The Prophet said, ‘Whoever recited one thousand verses in one night would meet Allah with a smile on his face’. Someone said, ‘O Apostle, who can recite a thousand verses?’. The Prophet (salAllahu alayhi wasalam) then recited Surah at Takathur and then said, ‘By He in Whose hand my soul is, it is equal to a thousand verses’[Al Khatib in Al Muttafaq wal Muftaraq & Dailami in Fath al Qadir 5/487]

Surah al Kafirun (109)
The Prophet said, ‘Recite surah al Kafirun and then go to sleep after coming to its end, for it is a clearance from shirk’[Abu Dawud 4396 & Hakim 1/565]
Abdullah Ibn ‘Abbas and Anas Ibn Malik (radiAllahu anhum) reported that the messenger of Allah (salAllahu alayhi wasalam) said ‘It is equivalent to a quarter of the Qur’an’[at-Tirmidhi, 2818/A].
Abdullah ibn Umar Al-Khattab (radiAllahu anhu) reported that Allah’s messenger (salAllahu alayhi wasalam) said, “Qul Huw Allahu Ahad” is equal to a third of the Qur’an and “Qul ya ayyuhal Kafirun” is equal to a fourth of the Qur’an.”[at-Tabarani, classed as Sahih]

Surah al-Nasr (110)
Anas (radiAllahu anhu) reported that the Prophet (salAllahu alayhi wasalam) said, ‘It is equivalent to a fourth of the Qur’an’[at-Tirmidhi]

Surah al Ikhlas (112)
Anas mentioned that a man said to the Prophet (salAllahu alayhi wasalam) , ‘I really love this surah’. The Prophet replied, ‘And your love for it will enable you to enter paradise’[at-Tirmidhi 2826/A, Riyad as-Salihin by Imam an-Nawawi Ch.183 #1013]
Abu Sa’id al-Khudri (radiAllahu anhu) reported that the Messenger of Allah (salAllahu alayhi wasalam) said about the surah, “Say: He is Allah, Absolute Oneness” (112), ‘By Him in Whose hand my soul is, it is equal to one third of the Qur’an!’[Sahih al-Bukhari 6:61 #533, Riyad as-Salihin by Imam an-Nawawi Ch.183 #1010]
“Qul Hu Allahu Ahad” is equal to a third of the Qur’an and “Qul ya ayyuhal Kafirun” is equal to a fourth of the Qur’an.”[at-Tabarani, classed as Sahih]
Mu’adh bin Anas (radiAllahu anhu) reported that the Messenger of Allah (salAllahu alayhi wasalam) said, “Whoever recites (Qul Hu Allahu Ahad) ten times, Allah will build for him a house in Paradise.”
Abu Huraira (radiAllahu anhu) reported that the Messenger of Allah (salAllahu alayhi wasalam) said that “Say: He is Allah, Absolute Oneness” is equal to a third of the Qur’an.[Muslim, Riyad as-Salihin by Imam an-Nawawi Ch.183 #1012]
Abdullah Ibn ‘Abbas and Anas Ibn Malik (radiAllahu anhum) reported that the Prophet (salAllahu alayhi wasalam) said, ‘Whoever recited Surah Zilzilah (99) would get the reward of reciting half the Qur’an. Whoever recited surah al Kafirun (109) would get a reward as if reading a quarter of the Qur’an. Whoever recited Surah al Ikhlas (112) would get a reward as if reading one third of the Qur’an’.[at-Tirmidhi 2818/A]
Anas (radhi Allah anhu) said: “When you recite Surah Al-Fatihah and Surah Al-Ikhlas upon lying on your bed, you will be safeguarded and should become fearless of every thing except death.”[Narrated by Baraa, Tafseer Mazhari 1:31]
Abu Sa’id al-Khudri (radiAllahu anhu) reported that the Messenger of Allah (salAllahu alayhi wasalam) said to his Companions, “Are any of you unable to recite a third of the Qur’an in a night?” That was difficult for them and they said, “Which of us is able to do that, Messenger of Allah?” He said, “[The surah] ‘Say: He is Allah, Absolute Oneness, Allah, the Everlasting Sustainer of all’ (112) constitutes a third of the Qur’an.’”[Sahih al-Bukhari 6:61 #534, Riyad as-Salihin by Imam an-Nawawi Ch.183 #1010]
Anas (radiAllahu anhu) reported the Prophet (salAllahu alayhi wasalam) as saying, “If anyone recites two hundred times daily, Qul huwallahu ahad the sins of fifty years will be wiped out, unless he is in debt.”[at-Tirmidhi and Darami].The latter version has ‘fifty times’ and he did not mention ‘unless he is in debt’
A’isha (radiAllahu anha) reported that whenever the Prophet (salAllahu alayhi wasalam) went to bed every night, he used to cup his hands together and blow over it after reciting Surat Al-Ikhlas, Surat Al-Falaq and Surat An-Nas, and then rub his hands over whatever parts of his body he was able to rub, starting with his head, face and front of his body. He used to do that three times.[Sahih al-Bukhari 6:61 #536]

Surah al Falaq (113)
The Prophet said, ‘O Uqba, learn to recite Surah al Falaq, for you would never recite a surah more cherished by Allah and more profound in His sight that this surah’[Durais, Ibn al Anbari, Hakim, Dhahabi & Ibn Mardawaih]
The Prophet (salAllahu alayhi wasalam) used to seek refuge from the jinn as well as from the evil eye until Surah al Falaq and An Naas were revealed. When they were sent down, he utilised them and left other things.[at-Tirmidhi #1984, Riyad as-Salihin by Imam an-Nawawi Ch.183 #1014]
‘Uqba ibn ‘Amir reported that the Messenger of Allah (salAllahu alayhi wasalam) said, “Have you not seen the ayats sent down this night the like of which have never been seen before? ‘Say: I seek refuge with the Lord of Daybreak,’ and ‘Say: I seek refuge with the Lord of mankind.’” (113 & 114)[Muslim]

Surah an Nas (114)
A’isha (radiAllahu anha) reported that whenever the Prophet (salAllahu alayhi wasalam) became sick, he would recite Mu’awwidhat (Surat Al-Falaq and Surat An-Nas) and then blow his breath over his body. When he became seriously ill, I used to recite (these two Surahs) and rub his hands over his body hoping for its blessings.[Sahih al-Bukhari 6:61 #535]
‘Uqbah Ibn ‘Amir (radiAllahu anhu) reported that the messenger of Allah (salAllahu alayhi wasalam) said ‘No seeker of refuge can seek refuge with anything like these two’[abu Dawud]
References:-Riyad as-Salihin (The Meadows of the Righteous) by Imam Abu Zakariya Yahya bin Sharaf An-Nawawi Ad-Dimashqi- The Excellence of the chapters and verses of the Qur’an by Mohammad Abdul Bashir Rafiuddeen- Al-Hisnul Haseen by Imam Ibn al-Jazari Muhammad ibn Muhammad- Selected Surahs from the Qur’an and their Excellence by AlBirr Foundation, UK- Munajati Maqbul by Abdul Rahman Tariq