My question is regarding the order in which the quran should be
recited in a prayer, either outloud orquietely.
Should the wroshipper recite the surahs or ayahs in the order that
they are presented in the quran. For example, is it permissible to
recite surahAl-Nas in the first rakah followed by surah Al-Kawthar in
the second rakah, or ayah 50-60 in surah al Baqara (for example),
followed by ayah 10-20 in the second rakah.
please clarify this and explain why so.
Praise be to Allaah.
Reading later parts of the Qur'aan before earlier parts is called
Tankees (inversion). There are different types of Tankees:
Tankees al-Huroof (inversion of letters)
Tankees al-Kalimaat (inversion of words)
Tankees al-Aayat (inversion of verses)
Tankees al-Suwar (inversion of Soorahs)
Tankees al-Huroof (inversion of letters) means putting a later letter
before a previous letter in one word, for example, instead of "Rabb"
one reads "Barr"
Undoubtedly this is haraam, and invalidates a person's prayer, because
itchanges the Qur'aan from the way in which it was spoken by Allaah,
and usually alters the meaningin a drastic manner.
(Al-Sharh al-Mumti' by Ibn 'Uthaymeen, 3/110)
Tankees al-Kalimaat (inversion of words) means putting a later word
before a previous word, for example, insteadof "Qul huwa Allaahu
ahad", one reads "Ahad Allaah huwa qul"!
This also is undoubtedly haraam, because it changes the Qur'aan from
the way in which it was spoken by Allaah.
(Al-Sharh al-Mumti', 3/110)
Tankees al-Aayat (inversion of verses) means reciting a later aayah
before a previous aayah, for example, reciting "min sharr il-waswaas
il-khannaas" before "ilaah il-naas"!
Concerning this, al-Qaadi 'Ayyaad (may Allaah have mercy on him) said:
There is no dispute concerning the order of the aayahs in each
soorah.This is something which is Tawqeefi, i.e., based on revelation
[and is not open to ijtihaad], and the order is that which now appears
in the Mus-haf, and this is how the ummah transmitted it from the
Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him).
(Sharh al-Nawawi, 6/62. This was also the view of Ibn al-'Arabi, as
stated in al-Fath, 2/257).
Shaykh Ibn 'Uthaymeen said:
Tankees al-aayaat (inverting verses) is also haraam according to the
most correct view, because the order of the aayahs is tawqeefi
(something which is basedon revelation [and not open to ijtihaad]).
The meaning of "tawqeefi" is that it was dictated by theorder of the
Messenger (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him).
(al-Sharh al-Mumti', 3/110).
Tankees al-Suwar (inversion of Soorahs) means, reciting later soorahs
before earlier ones, for example, recitingAal 'Imraan before
al-Baqarah.
The ruling on this:
Those scholars who say that the order of soorahs is not tawqeefi do
not see anything wrong with this.
Those who think that it is tawqeefi or that the consensus of the
Sahaabahon the order of soorahs is evidence, do not think that it is
permissible.
The correct view:
Is that the order of soorahs is not tawqeefi; it is the result of
ijtihaad on the part of some of the Sahaabah.
There was no ijmaa' (consensus) among the Sahaabah on the order of
soorahs; the order in the Mus-haf of 'Abd-Allaah ibn Mas'ood – for
example – isdifferent from that in the Mushafs of others.
In the Sunnah there is evidence that supports theview that it is permissible:
(A) Hudhayfah said: I prayed with the Prophet (peace and blessings of
Allaah be upon him) one night, and he started to recite al-Baqarah. I
thought, he will do rukoo' when he reaches one hundred aayaat, but he
kept going. I thought, he will complete it in one rak'ah, but he kept
going. Ithought, he will do rukoo' now, but he started to recite
al-Nisaa', and he recited all of it, then he started to recite Aal
'Imraan and recited all of it… (Narrated by Muslim, 772).
The evidence in this hadeeth is that he recited al-Nisaa' then Aal 'Imraan.
Al-Nawawi said:
Al-Qaadi 'Ayyaad said: this contains evidence for those who say that
the order of soorahs is the result of ijtihaad on the part of the
Muslims when they wrote down the Mus-haf. The Prophet (peace and
blessings of Allaah be upon him) did not dictate the order of soorahs;
he entrusted this task to his ummah after his death. This is the view
of Maalik and the majority of the scholars, and was the view favoured
by al-Qaadi Abu Bakr al-Baaqillaani. Ibn al-Baaqillaani said: it is
themore correct of the two views, although both are possible.
He said: what we say is that the order of soorahs is not binding when
writing, praying, studying, teaching or learning......
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