Reciting short Verses from a Surah during Salah

[Ruhi_Rose]

Salam Alaykum my dear MV folks.   If I am reciting some memorized Verses from a particular Surah taken from different portions of that Surah (or Chapter) during salah after reciting Fatiha, is it necessary to recite those Verses in order of the Ayat numbers?    I know we don’t need to go in serial order in regard to the Surahs, that is, for example a Verse from the 20th Surah can be recited before a Verse from the 10th Surah.  But do we need to stick to the serial order while reciting Ayats within a same Surah?

A friend of my husband was saying Ayats of the same Surah even if picked from different parts of that Surah must be recited serially according to Ayat numbers.

[Heba E. Husseyn]

.....  But do we need to stick to the serial order while reciting Ayats within a same Surah?

.........   

Jurists sometimes demand that.  If you can follow that order it’s good.  But according to the instructions of the Noble Quran, that’s clearly not necessary.

“Recite, then, of the Qur'an that which is easy for you.”  73:20 Al Muzzamil.

Allah has highlighted the above a second time in the same Ayat, kindly read V.73:20 in full. 

Therefore, Allah Almighty has made it very clear that we can recite whatever is easy for us to remember of the Quran or whatever is easy for us to memorize and recite from the Quran.  Allah never said that our recitations of the Quran must be in the same order as His Revelations .. as long as we recite His Revelations accurately WITHOUT any changes compared to the original.  This is the only important thing, and indeed this is very, very important.

We usually pick Ayats of the Quran for memorization during the process of reading it. Many of us read the Quran every day, others may read it once or twice a week.   So, at different times of our reading we pick different Verses to memorize.  We memorize Verses of our choice to be recited during salah or as dhikr.   As we know, the Noble Quran has 114 Chapters (Surahs) and over 6,000 Verses.   E.g.  Surah 2, Al-Baqrah, which is the longest Chapter of the Quran has 286 Verses in total.  Now for instance, I may select today V.2:156 (Inna lilahey wa inna lilahey rajoun) to memorize.  A few months later during my daily reading sessions of the Noble Quran, I may decide to pick V.2:153 (Inn Allahey mais sabireen) for memorization.   If it’s easy for me to remember the Verse numbers in order during recitation and I recite them in order, that’s very good.  However, if I’m unable to recall the order, I can still recite with the accuracy with which I have memorized these Verses.  Subhan’Allah.   That does NOT change the Verse numbers nor the order of compilation of the Final Message.  It does NOT have any bearing on the order of compilation of the Noble Quran.  Particularly, if you have memorized quite a lot of the shorter Verses from lengthy Surahs like Al-Baqrah or Al-Imran or An-Nissa over a period of several months or years, during recitation it might be difficult to recall them in order of the Ayat numbers unless you selected & memorized them in order of the Ayat numbers, which usually doesn’t happen.  So, will give up reciting those Ayats of the Noble Quran you have memorized only because you are not able to recite them in order?  Certainly not.  Instead, you recite what you have memorized, exactly as Allah mentions in V.73:20 twice.

VERY IMPORTANT
What is really important is that we must recite the Verses memorized correctly, exactly as given in the Quran.  By that, I don’t mean that the words of the Ayat must be recited with the perfect Arabic pronunciation.  What I mean is that nothing is to be changed or omitted or added in that Ayat regardless of the quality of one’s pronunciation.  Make sure nothing of the Divine Verse is mistakenly changed during recitation.  If a person continues with those mistakes after knowing about them, that would lead to a serious violation on their part which must be corrected immediately by immediate reference to the Noble Quran.  For that reason, if you have not memorized a Verse thoroughly or if you tend to forget parts of it, don’t recite it until you have verified its precise Wordings by checking it with the Noble Quran and then memorizing it properly without mistakes.
 
Secondly, it is also very important is that we must make a note of all Surahs and their Ayat numbers we memorize, so we can always have recourse to those Verses in the Noble Quran. 


I hope this was helpful, Insh'Allah.

[N. Truth Seeker]

   .......

VERY IMPORTANT
What is really important is that we must recite the Verses memorized correctly, exactly as given in the Quran.  By that, I don’t mean that the words of the Ayat must be recited with the perfect Arabic pronunciation.  What I mean is that nothing is to be changed or omitted or added in that Ayat regardless of the quality of one’s pronunciation.  Make sure nothing of the Divine Verse is mistakenly changed during recitation.  If a person continues with those mistakes after knowing about them, that would lead to a serious violation on their part which must be corrected immediately by immediate reference to the Noble Quran.  For that reason, if you have not memorized a Verse thoroughly or if you tend to forget parts of it, don’t recite it until you have verified its precise Wordings by checking it with the Noble Quran and then memorizing it properly without mistakes.
 
Secondly, it is also very important is that we must make a note of all Surahs and their Ayat numbers we memorize, so we can always have recourse to those Verses in the Noble Quran. 

.....  

Walaykom AsSalaam.  Yes this is the real important point.   Make sure you memorization is correct with close references to that original Ayat in the Quran, and make a note of Surah title and Ayat number.  That is all you need.

This topic was also brought up some months ago at our virtual fortnightly discussion sessions by a sister who insisted that you may randomly pick Verses of your choice from a lengthy Surah for memorization, but while reciting them you should recite in order.  I asked her why?   As long as we have the Surah title and Ayat number, it can easily be traced in the Noble Quran.  If we recite our selected memorized Ayats during salah or  dhikr while relaxing, that is not for the purpose of compiling those Ayats in a new order.  No one even conceives of that.   Our recitations are for cleansing our book of record, comforting our souls and supplicating to Allah with the Words He sent to us.  It goes without saying that the compilation and arrangement of Surahs and Verses in the Quran done by the 3rd and 4th righteous Caliphs is the first and final arrangement.  That does not change at all regardless of the order in which a reader of the Quran may memorize their selected Verses. 

Moreover, we know officially that the compilation of Quranic Surahs  is not in the order of Revelation and there is nothing wrong with that.  During compilation, on the instructions of Omar and Osman, the lengthy Surahs are placed before and gradually as the Quran proceeds, the shorter ones come later and the shortest Surahs at the very end.  But the contents of each Ayat of each Surah is 100% original and unchanged.  Alhumdulilah.  This is the real important factor. 

Similarly, all Verses in every Surah were not revealed at the same time in continuation.  E.g. In regard to Surah Al-Alaq which was the first of the Quran that started the Divine Revelation, has 19 Verses in total.  The first 5 Verses were revealed consecutively at the Cave of Hira which make up the first Verses revealed.  The rest of the Verses were revealed later.    Another example, Verse 5:3 of Surah Al-Maidah is one of the final Revelations of the Noble Quran.  Surah Al-Maidah has a total of 120 Verses and the other 119 Verses were revealed earlier, before V.5:3.   One of the Surahs about which everyone is of the opinion that all its Verses were revealed at the same time is Surah Yusuf (12th Chapter) of the Noble Quran.   And only Allah knows the precise details.

Hence, the only and real very important point to be followed is the accuracy of the contents of the Verses we memorize, not the order of arrangement during compilation.   

[Zainab_M]

Walaikum As-Salaam.    I've also heard a lot of our jurists insisting that Quranic Verses must be recited in the order number of Ayats.  Some even insist that Surahs must be recited in order of compilation.  As rightly mentioned, we select Verses for recitation for the benefit of our souls and for comforting our hearts.  What bearing does that have on the official order in which the Ayats are compiled?   Our mainstream folks just love to make matters difficult for everyone. 

As highlighted, the only very relevant thing is to learn our recitations accurately exactly as stated in the Noble Quran. 

Subhan'Allah.

Many thanks for the articulate elucidation Sis Heba and Br. TS.

[Ruhi_Rose]

Big, big thanks my dear all.  Very logical points.  I've memorized quite a few Ayats, about 50, in addition to the short Surahs for salah.  And of course I often recite Verses from the 50 Ayats for salah as well.  I memorized the Ayats exactly as Sister Heba described, during my daily reading sessions of the Quran.  I memorized each of those Verses in the order in which I selected them during my reading sessions.  Most of these 50 Ayats are from different Surahs, but few are also from the same Surah which I did not memorize in order of the Ayat numbers because I chose them for memorization at very different times of my reading.  Thus, in such a scenario, the sequence of your memorization sits in your mind, and during recitation it helps to confirm to you that you have recited all the Verses you memorized.  Now if I try to re-arrange my memorization sequence, it will take a while to get that picture clear, and in the process of recitation may mistakenly miss out a few of those 50 Verses I learned.   

That friend of my husband is quite a Hadithist, keeps babbling all sorts of forged Hadiths without realizing how rude it sounds to falsely attribute them to the beloved Prophet.  The guy said that not reciting Verses of a Surah in order of their Ayat numbers can be "a serious issue."   Neither my husband nor I agreed but we didn't say anything as he is quite illogically argumentative.  Later my husband said that the most "serious issue" for him is to jabber away all those phony hadiths without any qualms presuming that Allah Almighty is not aware of those falsehoods being spread.  And when it comes to something as genuine and beneficial as reciting Verses of the Noble Quran, they create these unnecessary hurdles. 

[Zainab_M]

I absolutely understand you Sister Ruhi.

[N. Truth Seeker]

Right Sister Ruhi.