How to read the entire Quran in Ramadan كيف تختم القرآن في رمضان؟
Translation..
White: Hey, you know if God allows I will read the entire Quran in Ramadan..
Black: Really?? How??
White: Can you believe it? Six minutes after each prayer will enable you to finish reading the Quran..
Black: Only six minutes??
Black thinking: ((6 minutes= 4 pages X 5 prayers= one chapter.. one chapter X 30 days..))
You finish the entire Quran..
"Your completion with 6 minutes after your prayer"
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Muslims urged to read the Quran as Ramadan begins
Islam's holy month of Ramadan starts today, and for Muslims like Ahmed Noor, that means spending lots of time with the good book - the Quran.
The faith strongly encourages Muslims to read the Quran, Islam's scripture, cover to cover during Ramadan. Fasting during daylight, higher piety and charity also are expected.
Like the Bible for Christians, there is no other book for Muslims as meaningful as the Quran. According to Islam, the text contains the divine revelations received by Prophet Muhammad via the angel Gabriel.
The revelations began during the month of Ramadan, which is why the text is read during the annual holiday.
"Our moral code and ethical code is really the Quran, so how do I apply it if I don't know it?" said Noor, who lives in Hampton.
Just as scripture in other religions uplifts believers, the Quran inspires Muslims in good times and comforts them in bad.
For Noor, the bad included the year he went home to Egypt after getting his doctorate in Illinois. He wanted to return to America; Egyptian officials wouldn't let him go.
Noor took strength from a Quranic passage: "seek help with patient Perseverance and Prayer: for God is with those who patiently persevere."
"I kept with that verse - I would not give up. I'd definitely leave and do everything I could to make that happen," Noor said. He ultimately was allowed to return to the United States and is now an aerospace engineering professor at Old Dominion University.
His wife, Egyptian-born Zizi, found solace from the Quran when her parents died.
" 'From God we came and unto him we'll return,' " she recited. The verse reminded her that "when something happens, you know there is a plan, and we try to remember we're just a little bit in a bigger thing."
Hank Karzun, a retired engineer who is Palestinian, has his favorite verses on a wall plaque in his Virginia Beach home.
"There's one God, no one is like him, and no one is equal to him. Just three verses," he said. "To me, that's the essence of my religion."
Aziz ur Rahman Khawaja, a chemist and president of the Muslim Community of Tidewater, delights in the lines that open each sura, or chapter of the Quran: "In the name of God, who is most gracious and merciful."
"That appeals to me. It reflects his mercies," Khawaja said. "Because man is a sinner and man makes mistakes all the time, God is telling the human being, 'I'm the most gracious. Don't shy away from me.' "
Reading from the Quran at any time is an act of worship for Muslims, but doing so during Ramadan is said to generate extra rewards from God.
Yet reading the entire Quran, which has more than 100 chapters and 6,000 verses, can be a longish project. Some editions break the text into 30 sections, one for each day of Ramadan.
To make the exercise easier, Mustafa Canan, a physics doctoral student ODU, said he and his wife sometimes collaborate, with each reading half the Quran.
An alternative is to round up friends, each of whom agrees to read one-30 th of the Quran in Ramadan, Canan said.
In Hampton, another option is planned at the Mosque and Islamic Center of Hampton Roads. Prayers and recitations of the Quran will be performed there each night during Ramadan.
The Quran is said to be best understood in its original Arabic. Even for people not fluent in that language, hearing the Arabic text recited brings virtue or pleasure.
"Quran has a musical part," said Canan, who can read Arabic script but is not fluent. Aloud, the Quran sounds something like sung prayer, rising and falling. "I like to read the Quran loudly in Arabic when I'm alone, or running in the morning," he said.
But reading the Quran in translation is acceptable, especially given that believers are asked to ponder the verses, not merely read them.
"For example, you might be sleepy and just reading the words, just bouncing them off your head. You shouldn't read under those circumstances," said Imam Vernon M. Fareed of Masjid William Salaam in Norfolk. "Put it down and come back to it."
Fareed, who converted to Islam from Christianity years ago, said he's been reading the Quran during Ramadan for three decades.
"Every year, I come across something that's like it's the first time," he said. "You never absorb all that is in the Quran."
Steven G. Vegh, (757) 446-2417, steven.vegh@pilotonline.com
Hajiku 1435H / 2014, Insya-Allah
10 years ago
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