The etiquette of reciting the Qur'an: adab before, during and after

In short: Before reciting, make wudu and choose a clean place with a sincere intention; begin by seeking refuge in Allah from Shaytan; recite with tartil, slowly, clearly and correctly; beautify your voice without showing off; and when others recite, listen and be silent.

Think of the way you would hold a letter from someone you love: carefully, with clean hands, reading every word slowly. The etiquette (adab) of reciting the Qur'an is that same instinct, given shape by the Qur'an and the Sunnah. In short: make a sincere intention, be in wudu to touch the mushaf, seek refuge in Allah from Shaytan before you begin, recite slowly and clearly with tajweed, and stay silent and listen when the Qur'an is being recited. This guide goes through each part, with the Hanafi rulings stated plainly, so you know what is required, what is Sunnah and what is simply good manners.

Why does the etiquette of reciting the Qur'an matter so much?

The Qur'an is not an ordinary book. It is the speech of Allah, revealed to the Prophet ﷺ through Jibril, and preserved word for word. Allah describes it as "a noble Qur'an, in a well-guarded Book" (Surah Al-Waqiah, 56:77-78). The way we handle and recite it is a reflection of how seriously we take the One who spoke it.

Scholars divided the etiquette of recitation into two kinds. The first is outward adab: purity, clean clothes, a clean place, sitting respectfully, reciting correctly. The second is inward adab: sincerity, presence of heart, humility and the wish to act on what you read. Imam al-Nawawi gathered many of these manners in his well-known book al-Tibyan fi Adab Hamalat al-Qur'an, and his summary is still a good starting point: the reciter should feel that he is speaking to Allah and reading His words, and recite as someone who sees Him, or at least knows that Allah sees him.

None of this should frighten a beginner away. The Prophet ﷺ said that the one who is skilled in the Qur'an will be with the noble, righteous scribes, and the one who recites it with difficulty, stumbling over it, will have a double reward (Sahih al-Bukhari 4937; Sahih Muslim 798). Adab is not a wall that keeps learners out. It is the way the door is opened.

Do you need wudu to read or touch the Qur'an?

This is the question people ask most, and the Hanafi answer is clear. Allah says of the Qur'an: "None touch it except the purified" (Surah Al-Waqiah, 56:79). Together with the letter the Prophet ﷺ sent to the people of Yemen, which said that only a pure person should touch the Qur'an, the Hanafi school, like the other three schools, holds that touching the mushaf requires wudu.

• Reciting from memory without wudu. Permitted. A person without wudu may recite the Qur'an from memory, or read it from a mushaf without touching it, though being in wudu is better.
• Touching with a separate cloth. If you have no wudu, you may hold the mushaf with something separate from your body and clothing, such as a clean cloth or a removable cover. The sleeve of the shirt you are wearing does not count.
• After ghusl becomes due. A person in the state of janabah may not recite the Qur'an at all with the intention of recitation, not even part of a verse, until they take a bath.
• During menstruation and post-natal bleeding. In the Hanafi school a woman may not recite the Qur'an or touch the mushaf. She may listen to recitation, make dhikr and read Qur'anic duas with the intention of dua, such as Rabbana atina fid-dunya hasanah. Many Hanafi scholars allow a female teacher in this state to teach word by word, pausing between words, so that lessons can continue.
• Children. Hanafi scholars allow young children to hold the mushaf for learning because of the genuine need, but it is wise to teach them wudu early so that the habit is in place.

What about a phone or tablet? Many contemporary scholars hold that touching the screen of a device showing the Qur'an without wudu is permitted, because the text is not fixed on the device in the way ink is fixed on a page. It is still better and more respectful to be in wudu, and a printed mushaf keeps the full rulings above.

What should you do before you start reciting?

Set your intention

Begin by remembering why you are opening the Qur'an: to please Allah, to be guided, to earn reward and to act on it. Every action is judged by its intention, and recitation is no different. If you are reciting to improve your voice or to pass a test, add the intention of pleasing Allah so that your effort is not wasted.

Prepare your body and place

Brush your teeth or use a miswak, since your mouth is the path of the Qur'an. Wear clean clothes, choose a clean place, and, if you can, sit facing the qiblah with calm and dignity. You may recite sitting, standing, walking or even lying down, as Allah praises those who remember Him "standing, sitting and lying on their sides" (Surah Al-Imran, 3:191), but sitting respectfully is the best way when you have the choice. Recitation is disliked in unclean places such as a bathroom.

Seek refuge, then say the basmalah

Allah commands: "So when you recite the Qur'an, seek refuge in Allah from Shaytan, the accursed" (Surah An-Nahl, 16:98). So you begin with a'udhu billahi minash-shaytanir-rajim, "I seek refuge in Allah from Shaytan, the accursed." Then, at the start of every surah except Surah At-Tawbah (9), you say Bismillahir-Rahmanir-Rahim. If you start in the middle of a surah, the basmalah is optional, but the ta'awwudh is still said.

How should the Qur'an be recited while you are reading?

Allah tells the Prophet ﷺ: "and recite the Qur'an with measured recitation" (Surah Al-Muzzammil, 73:4). The word used is tartil: slow, clear, measured reading in which each letter is given its right. That is the heart of recitation etiquette.

• Recite with tajweed. Pronounce each letter from its proper point of articulation and apply the rules of noon sakinah, madd, qalqalah and the rest. Our guide to tajweed rules for beginners lays out where to start.
• Do not rush. Speed is not a virtue in itself. The Companions described the Prophet's ﷺ recitation as clear, letter by letter, with the long vowels drawn out.
• Respond to what you read. Hudhayfah reported that when the Prophet ﷺ prayed at night and passed a verse of glorification he glorified Allah, at a verse of asking he asked, and at a verse about seeking protection he sought protection (Sahih Muslim 772). You can do the same in voluntary reading.
• Let the heart be moved. When Ibn Mas'ud recited Surah An-Nisa to the Prophet ﷺ and reached the verse "So how will it be when We bring from every nation a witness" (4:41), the Prophet ﷺ told him to stop, and his eyes were flowing with tears (Sahih al-Bukhari 5050). Weeping, or trying to feel the meaning, is part of the adab.
• Do not interrupt it with idle talk. If you need to speak, finish your verse, speak, and then say the ta'awwudh again before continuing if the break was long.
• Pause when you yawn. Stop until the yawn passes rather than reciting through it, and cover your mouth.

Understanding is part of recitation too. You do not need to be a scholar to begin reflecting: reading even a few lines of a reliable translation after you recite lets the meaning settle in the heart, which is the inward adab the scholars valued most.

Should you recite the Qur'an aloud or quietly, and in a beautiful voice?

The Prophet ﷺ said: "He is not one of us who does not recite the Qur'an in a pleasant voice" (Sahih al-Bukhari 7527). He also said: "Beautify the Qur'an with your voices" (Sunan Abi Dawud 1468). A beautiful voice here means a voice that is sincere, clear and moving, within the rules of tajweed. It does not mean copying music, stretching letters beyond their measure, or performing to impress people.

Aloud or quietly? Both are good. A hadith in Sunan Abi Dawud and Jami' al-Tirmidhi compares the one who recites aloud to one who gives charity openly, and the one who recites quietly to one who gives charity in secret. Scholars reconciled this by saying: recite aloud when it helps your focus and disturbs no one, and recite quietly when you fear showing off, or when others nearby are praying, studying or sleeping. Raising your voice over someone else's salah is not good manners, even with the Qur'an.

In the Hanafi school, recitation means actually pronouncing the letters with the tongue, and the more widely relied view is that the sound should be at least audible to yourself, so a person who recites in a soft whisper is still reciting. Simply looking at the words without moving the tongue is reflection, which is rewarded, but it is not recitation.

What is the etiquette of listening when the Qur'an is recited?

Allah says: "So when the Qur'an is recited, listen to it and be silent, so that you may receive mercy" (Surah Al-A'raf, 7:204). Listening is itself an act of worship. When the Prophet ﷺ asked Ibn Mas'ud to recite to him, he said he loved to hear it from someone else.

In the Hanafi school this verse is the basis for the follower staying silent behind the imam in congregational prayer, whether the imam recites aloud or quietly. Outside salah, when the Qur'an is being recited aloud for people to hear, it is required to listen and not talk over it. If you cannot stop what you are doing, such as in a shop where a recording is playing, then the fault lies with whoever played it in a place where people cannot listen.

That leads to a practical point. Playing recitation as background noise while people chat, cook or argue is not respectful. If you want the Qur'an playing at home, pick a time when people can actually listen, or keep the volume low in a room where someone is attending to it.

What should you do at a sajdah verse, and how do you finish?

There are verses in the Qur'an where prostration is due. In the Hanafi school there are 14 places, and the sajdah tilawah is wajib on the one who recites the verse and on the one who hears it. You make wudu if needed, face the qiblah, say Allahu akbar, go into one sujud, say Subhana Rabbiyal-A'la at least three times, then rise saying Allahu akbar. There is no tashahhud and no salam. Our page on sajdah tilawah lists every place.

When you finish a session, close the mushaf gently and put it back in a high, clean place. Many people say Sadaqallahul-'Azim, "Allah the Mighty has spoken the truth," at the end. The words are true, and saying them is permitted, but there is no authentic report that the Prophet ﷺ made it a fixed practice, so it should not be treated as a Sunnah or as something required. Making dua after recitation, however, is a good time for dua, especially after completing the whole Qur'an.

How long should a sitting be? The Prophet ﷺ advised 'Abdullah ibn 'Amr not to complete the Qur'an too quickly, and a narration in Sunan Abi Dawud and Jami' al-Tirmidhi says that whoever completes it in less than three days has not understood it. Quality and consistency matter more than speed.

How should you look after the mushaf and dispose of old copies?

Respect for the Qur'an extends to the physical copy. Scholars mention these manners:

• Keep it high and clean. Do not place it on the floor or where people sit or step, and do not put other books or objects on top of it.
• Do not take it into the toilet. If you carry a phone with a Qur'an app, that is fine as long as the Qur'an is not open on the screen.
• Do not stretch your feet towards it where it can be avoided, and do not turn your back on it in a careless way.
• Kissing it. Kissing the mushaf out of love is permitted. It is reported that the Companion 'Ikrimah ibn Abi Jahl would hold the mushaf to his face out of love for it, and Hanafi scholars allow kissing it.
• Torn or worn-out copies. The preferred Hanafi practice is to wrap them in a clean cloth and bury them in a clean place where people do not walk. Some scholars, mainly outside the Hanafi school, also allowed burning with care, following what 'Uthman did when he unified the copies, but Hanafi texts recommend burial rather than burning.

The same respect applies to pages with verses on them, such as school sheets or printed duas. Do not throw them in the bin with ordinary rubbish. Keep a small box at home for such pages and deal with them together.

How can you make the etiquette of recitation part of your daily routine?

Adab sticks when it becomes routine. Here is a simple pattern that covers almost everything above:

• Fix a time and place. After Fajr or after 'Isha works for most people. Keep your mushaf on a clean shelf near your prayer mat.
• Make wudu first. Most people recite straight after salah, so they are already in wudu.
• Ta'awwudh, basmalah, then recite slowly. Even five verses with tartil are better than a page rushed.
• Read one translation of what you recited. Even a few lines of meaning will change how you recite tomorrow.
• End with a short dua. Ask Allah to make the Qur'an a light in your heart and to help you act on it.

Teach the same steps to children. They learn adab by watching: if they see you make wudu, sit calmly and kiss the mushaf before putting it away, they will copy you long before they understand why. If you are a parent building a hifz routine for a child, our daily hifz timetable fits these manners into each session, and our article on the status of the hafiz explains why the adab of the people of the Qur'an has always been taken so seriously.

The best way to learn correct recitation, along with its manners, is with a qualified teacher who listens to you and corrects you. Our Basic Tajweed course does exactly that. For a printable reminder for children, the free manners in the masjid sheet in our Library is a good companion to this guide.

Sources

1. The Qur'an, Surah Al-Waqiah (56), verses 77-79.
2. The Qur'an, Surah An-Nahl (16), verse 98; Surah Al-Muzzammil (73), verse 4; Surah Al-A'raf (7), verse 204.
3. Sahih al-Bukhari, hadith 4937, and Sahih Muslim, hadith 798: the skilled reciter and the one who struggles.
4. Sahih Muslim, hadith 772: the Prophet ﷺ responding to verses in his night prayer.
5. Sahih al-Bukhari, hadith 7527: reciting the Qur'an in a pleasant voice; Sahih al-Bukhari, hadith 5050: Ibn Mas'ud reciting Surah An-Nisa.
6. Imam al-Nawawi, al-Tibyan fi Adab Hamalat al-Qur'an.