What Is the Ruling on Reciting the Quran Out of Order in Prayer?
Hanafi Fiqh
Answered by Shaykh Anas al-Musa
Question
What is the ruling on reciting the Quran out of order during prayer?
Answer
In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
All praise is due to Allah, Lord of all worlds. Peace and blessings be upon the Messenger sent as a mercy to the worlds, our Master and Prophet, Muhammad, and his Family and Companions.
Reciting the Quran in the order of the suras, as arranged in the Quran, is considered wajib in prayer according to the Hanafi School. This is based on the practice of the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) who would recite a sura in the second unit of prayer that follows the sura recited in the first unit in the same Quranic sequence.
Therefore, it is disliked (makruh) to reverse the order, such as reciting Surat al-Falaq in the second unit and Surat al-Nas in the first.
Abdullah Ibn Mas‘ud was asked about someone who recites the Quran in reverse order, to which he replied, “This reflects a disordered heart.” Abu Ubayda explained this as reciting one sura, followed by a sura that precedes it in the Quranic arrangement.
Exceptions and Permissible Variations
However, Hanafi jurists made an exception to this dislike of reversal if one finishes the Quran and then recites Surat al-Baqara in the second unit, after having recited Surat al-Nas earlier, in accordance with the Prophet’s (Allah bless him and give him peace) statement, “The best of people is the one who ‘travels’ through the Quran,” meaning the one who continuously begins it anew after completion.
The Hanafi scholars also permitted beginning from any point in a sura in the first unit and reciting from a different point in the same or another sura in the second unit, provided there are at least two intervening verses. However, it is disliked to separate two suras with a short sura within a single unit.
If a person moves from one verse to another within the same unit without necessity, this is also disliked, particularly if multiple verses are skipped without valid reason. If done out of forgetfulness, one should return to follow the proper sequence of the verses. [Ibn ‘Abidin, Radd al-Muhtar]
Imam Shurunbulali stated: “It is disliked to separate two suras recited in two units by another sura in between, as this may imply preference or neglect. Some scholars permit it if the sura is lengthy, as they do not find fault in separating two short suras.
It is also disliked to move to a different verse within the same sura even if verses are skipped in between, and to combine two suras between which there are other suras and this is not disliked in optional (nafl) prayers.” [Shurunbulali, Maraqi al-Falah]
Please also see, “al-Fiqh al-Islami” by Dr. Zuhayli.
And Allah knows best.
May Allah bless the Prophet Muhammad and give him peace, and his Family and Companions.
[Shaykh] Anas al-Musa
Shaykh Anas al-Musa, born in Hama, Syria, in 1974, is an erudite scholar of notable repute. He graduated from the Engineering Institute in Damascus, where he specialized in General Construction, and Al-Azhar University, Faculty of Usul al-Din, where he specialized in Hadith.
He studied under prominent scholars in Damascus, including Shaykh Abdul Rahman al-Shaghouri and Shaykh Adib al-Kallas, among others. Shaykh Anas has memorized the Quran and is proficient in the ten Mutawatir recitations, having studied under Shaykh Bakri al-Tarabishi and Shaykh Mowfaq ‘Ayun. He also graduated from the Iraqi Hadith School.
He has taught numerous Islamic subjects at Shari‘a institutes in Syria and Turkey. Shaykh Anas has served as an Imam and preacher for over 15 years and is a teacher of the Quran in its various readings and narrations.
Currently, he works as a teacher at SeekersGuidance and is responsible for academic guidance there. He has completed his Master’s degree in Hadith and is now pursuing his Ph.D. in the same field. Shaykh Anas al-Musa is married and resides in Istanbul.
