What Should I Do If I Started So Many Quran Khatams and Don’t Finish Them?

Answered by Ustadha Shazia Ahmad

Question

Over the last few years, I have started many Quran khatams in different mushafs, but I keep forgetting exactly where I am in each khatam because I don’t always keep a bookmark. I don’t know where I am for each khatam, and I don’t know how many I even started. Am I sinful?

Is it best to start from the beginning and from now make a note of when I am starting a new Khatam? Is there anything I can do to ask for forgiveness apart from istighfar?

Answer

Thank you for your question. It is not sinful that you haven’t completed your khatams; may Allah reward you for trying and show you how to manage your worship in small steps.

Not Sinful

I recommend you choose only one khatam you have started and follow up from that spot. Finish reading the Quran in a way you can manage, whether a juz in a day, three days, a week, or two weeks or more. Don’t feel pressured, but enjoy your reading and read the meaning simultaneously. More importantly, read the Quran with the veneration and etiquette it deserves, and remember that you are a witness to its miracle.

Read and Enjoy

Also, consider the advice of the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace). Narrated ‘Abdullah bin ‘Amr: “Allah’s Messenger (Allah bless him and give him peace) said to me, ‘Recite the whole Quran in one month’s time.’ I said, ‘But I have power (to do more than that).’ Allah’s Messenger (Allah bless him and give him peace) said, ‘Then finish the recitation of the Quran in seven days, and do not finish it in less than this period.’” [Bukhari]

May Allah give you the best of this world and the next.
[Ustadha] Shazia Ahmad
Checked and Approved by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani

Ustadha Shazia Ahmad lived in Damascus, Syria, for two years, where she studied aqidah, fiqh, tajweed, tafsir, and Arabic. She then attended the University of Texas at Austin and completed her Masters in Arabic. Afterward, she moved to Amman, Jordan, where she studied fiqh, Arabic, and other sciences. She later moved back to Mississauga, Canada, where she lives with her family.