Question

As per my knowledge one needs to pray surah from quran in specific order in salat ( top to down ) and if he/she wants to skip a surah in another rakat then 2 surah should be skipped and not one .

Why is it that we have to do it from top to down ? We do have Quran in this format but this is not the sequence they were revealed .

Answer

As-salāmu ‘Alaykum Wa-rahmatullāhi Wa-barakātuh.

In the Name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.

The Ayaat in the Qur’an are placed according to the guidance of Rasulullah salallahu alayhi wasallam, and there is no Ikhtalaf on it. [i] Similarly, majority of the scholars mention that for the most part of the Qur’an, the surahs were also arranged according to the guidance of Rasulullah salallahu alayhi wasallam. While some scholars contend that the whole of Qur’an was arranged in that sequence under the auspicious guidance. Then there are other scholars who say that whether the sequence of Surah was guided by Rasulullah salallahu alayhi wasallam or from the Ijtihad of Sahabah, after the compilation of Uthmani Qur’an, there is Ijma’ on this sequence. So reciting contrary to this sequence is makrooh.[ii]

That being said, the dislike of reading contrary to the sequence of Qur’an is for not fulfilling a compulsory (wujub) action of recitation (Qira’a). This karahiyah (dislike) is not borne from leaving out a compulsory action (wujub) of salah. This means that even outside salah, it is makruh to recite the Qur’an contrary to its sequence. [iii]

The second aspect is about skipping only one surah. This is disliked because it shows preference of one surah over the other which renders the recitation makruh. However, if the seperation is long enough, like two small surahs or long ayaat, then it will not be makruh. [iv]

And Allah Ta’ala Knows Best

Mufti Faisal bin Abdul Hameed,
Montréal, Canada

[i]

البرهان فى تناسب سور القرآن (ص: 182)
أولا أن ترتيب الآيات في سورها وقع بتوقيف – صلى الله عليه وسلم – وأمره من غير خلاف في هذا بين المسلمين، وإنما اختلف في ترتيب السور على ما هي عليه

[ii]

المرجع السابق

[iii]

الدر المختار وحاشية ابن عابدين (رد المحتار) (1/ 457)
قالوا يجب الترتيب في سور القرآن، فلو قرأ منكوسا أثم لكن لا يلزمه سجود السهو لأن ذلك من واجبات القراءة لا من واجبات الصلاة كما ذكره في البحر في باب السهو

[iv]

حاشية الطحطاوي على مراقي الفلاح شرح نور الإيضاح (ص: 352)
“و” يكره “فصله بسورة بين سورتين قرأهما في ركعتين” لما فيه من شبهة التفضيل والهجر وقال بعضهم لا يكره إذا كانت السورة طويلة كما لو كان بينهما سورتان قصيرتان