Many Christians find it annoying for skeptics to criticize the Bible when he or she has never taken the time to read the Scriptures. However, many of us have ministered to Muslims without ever having read their holy book. I’ve started and restarted the translated Qur’an a couple of times now without making much progress on my own. This year, I invite you to do it with me. At the end of this article, you’ll find a PDF with two reading schedules, guiding you to finish the Qur’an by the end of the year.
Overview
Muslims believe the Qur’an to be the word of God which was revealed in pieces to Muhammad through the angel Gabriel over the period of 23 years. For this reason, the Qur’an reads much differently than the Bible. While the Bible is primarily a story and reads as such, the Qur’an is primarily a collection of sayings.
The Qur’an is organized similarly to the letters of the New Testament, from longest to shortest. However, a chronological order of the Surahs has been established. This chronological order helps give context for the reader and makes abrogated verses much more clear. The PDF contains both a standard & chronological surah ordering. Both reading plans will take you through an average of about 345 verses per week (about 1 hour per week) to complete the Qur’an by Christmas or the end of the year.
As Christians, we find that knowledge of the original language makes our Scripture all the more beautiful. The same is true for Muslims and the Qur’an. Muslims say its beauty is lost in translation.
Some Muslims will discredit a Christian for reading the Qur’an in English (not the real Quran). Even if a Christian knows Arabic and reads it in Arabic, he or she can still be discredited because they are not a native Arabic speaker.
However, many Muslims have not read the Qur’an, and many Muslims in the West do not know Arabic. These Muslims tend to have more respect for those who have taken the time to read their holy book before critiquing it or their prophet.
Below you’ll find some Qur’an Translations that have been recommended to me by Muslim friends.
Recommended Qur’an Translations
- The Qur’an translation by M.A.S. Abdel Haleem
- The Clear Qur’an translation by Dr. Mustafa Khattab
- Online Qur’an @ quran.com
- Holy Qur’an app
