by Sohail Ashraf

Created on: July 13, 2009   Last Updated: July 18, 2009

Listen to me when I am talking to you! More often than not, similar commands strike our ears, when some parent is annoyed at his child or a boss with his employee or a teacher with his student. Our ordinary souls, being very humble and feeble creations are not willing to tolerate disregard to our words. We take it as disrespect. Most certainly, we are greatly disrespectful when not paying attention to words of God when Quran is recited. So we must pay attention when He talks to us, through Quran. Allah Almighty commands respect for the Holly Quran in these words And when the Quran is recited, give ear to it and pay heed, that ye may obtain mercy. (Al-A`raf: 204).

Quran is not an ordinary book, so there are certain etiquettes of reciting it. However, the necessity and importance of these etiquettes must not prevent us from referring to the word of God, under any circumstances. In short, we should not miss the point, that this is a book of guidance and therefore meant for reading very often. It deserves our highest respect but not at the cost of its evasion from the life of a Muslim being the most important reference book. Some of the important points are highlighted in succeeding paragraphs.

Cleanliness

It is preferred to perform ablutions before the recitation of the Holly Quran. Our clothes and the place where we want to recite should be clean (Paak) as per Sharia requirements. Apart from the physical cleanliness around us we must also approach Quran with a clean state of mind, devoting our thoughts and feelings to love and submission to the word of God.

Posture

We should adopt the most humble posture when handling Quran. It should not reflect from any of our action that we are handling any ordinary piece of scripture. We must be respectfully sitting, preferably facing towards Qibla, exhibiting humility in our posture, as if we should present ourselves to the Lord of all heavens and earths. It is preferable to sit straight and not to lean on any support while reciting.

Beginning in the Name of Allah

When ever we start our recitation, we must start it by reciting Awoozobillah and Bismillah.

Soft Voice

We must be soft in our voice, when reciting Quran. It should not look like we are in a hurry to complete the text as soon as possible. The recitation should not be loud if others are not willing to listen to it or they are also reciting so that they do not get disturbed. As Allah says in Quran, Those to whom We gave the Book,

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