To Read the Qur’an from Cover to Cover

To Read the Qur’an from Cover to Cover

Hatim means to read the Qur’an from beginning to end. Every year our Holy Prophet (pbuh) used to read all the verses that came down to him to that day to Angel Jibril on each Ramadan night. Angel Jibril used to read the verses back to him. In this way our Prophet (pbuh) and the Angel that brought the message via divine inspiration read the Qur’an to each other by reciprocating the verses. When the Prophet (pbuh) read, the Angel listened. When the Angel read, the Prophet (pbuh) listened. Th is is known as mukabala or ‘reciprocal reading.’ Th is practice has lead to the tradition of ‘reciprocal reading’ amongst Muslims, as well as being an important factor in our Holy Book remaining unchanged to this day. Th is is one of the reasons why we give great importance to reading the Qur’an from cover to cover during the fasting month of Ramadan. In rememberance of this important event between our Prophet (pbuh) and Angel Jibril, we also read the Qur’an from cover to cover while fasting during the month of Ramadan.