Question
Do the marked ends
of the ajza’ (30 parts) necessarily mean that it is a good place
to stop the reading (or to start the reading after it) because it is
the end of a subject and the beginning of another and is not linked in
grammar?
Answer
The Qur’an was divided
into 30 approximately equal parts by scholars.
This was done to divide it by measure, not by meaning.
Each juz’ is 20 pages of the Medinah copy of the Qur’an, and the
divisions are not made according to subject and grammar manner.
There are many places where a juz’ (
), which is the Arabic word for
“part”, ends in the middle of a subject, and the first aayah of the
following juz’ is linked grammatically and in meaning to the last aayah of
the previous juz’. An example
is the end of juz’ number 4, which ends at aayah 23 of surah An-Nissa’,
and the beginning of juz’ 5 which begins with aayah 24 of the same surah.
Aayah 24 is linked grammatically and in meaning to the first words of
aayah 23,
, which the
translation of the meaning can be as: “Forbidden to you [in marriage]”.
The first words of aayah 24, the beginning of the next juz’ are:
, and
the translation of the explanation of the meaning can be: “and all of the
married women”. When we look
back and try to understand what the reference to the married women is, we see
that it is referring to the first words of the previous aayah,
, or as explained,
“forbidden to you [in marriage]. Aayah 24 of surah an-Nissa’ is not understood without first
reading aayah 23, then continuing on to aayah 24 of the same surah.
For that reason, it is not appropriate to stop on the end of aayah 23,
close the Qur’an, then pick it up later and start with aayah 24 of surah An-Nissa’.
We should not finish our recitation necessarily on the end of a juz’,
but instead on the end of a subject. Some
Muslims in their eagerness to recite a juz’ or two a day, only look at the
juz’ markers and not at the meaning. Insha’
Allah, they will learn to look at the meaning too, so they do not stop in the
middle of a subject or grammatical phrase, then start the next day or later
that day with the completion of that grammatical phrase and or subject,
disconnecting the two.
And
Allah knows best.
