Reading the Qur’an in Lent and Ramadan

As Christian and Muslim holy seasons coincide, reflections from spending time with Muslims’ scripture. [First post in a new series]

“Surely in this are signs for those who reflect” —Qur’an 30:21

In the dark of my infant daughter’s room, the two of us nestled in her rocking chair, I switch on my Kindle. I read about Abraham and Moses, Zechariah and John the Baptist, Mary and Jesus. I read vivid passages about the lush gardens of paradise and the fiery torment of hell. I read words of comfort, of challenge, of mystery.

These are the words of the Qur’an, the book that Muslims believe is God’s message to Muhammad—and to all of us.

A few months back, at the beginning of Advent, the Christian season preceding Christmas, I decided to read the Qur’an front to back. As a student and scholar of Islam, I’ve engaged the Qur’an for many years—poring over its chapters and verses, studying its interpretation, learning about its significance for Muslims, examining the intricate calligraphy of its illuminated manuscripts, and appreciating the different styles of its recitation. But I haven’t read it straight through.

The word ‘Qur’an’ in Arabic means “recitation.” The Qur’an is first and foremost something recited or read aloud. According to Muslims, this is how the Qur’an was first experienced. Muhammad received revelatory messages from God, and then gave voice to them in the Arabic language to his community in western Arabia in the early 600s. Though the verses were eventually written down and compiled, they were first something spoken and heard out loud.

Muslims don’t typically read the Qur’an front to back—it’s not a chronological narrative and its verses are not organized in the book in the order that Muhammad received them. Most often, Muslims encounter with the Qur’an as part of their salah prayer, when they recite passages as part of a ritual that engages the body, mind, and heart. The salah prayer always involves the opening chapter (the Fatiha) of the Qur’an but Muslims can choose whatever passage they like for another portion of the prayer. Muslims encounter the Qur’an in other ways, too: in inscriptions on buildings, in invocations before meals and meetings, and in memorized quotations that come to them in the ordinary moments of life.

The opening lines of the Opening Chapter, Surat al-Fatiha, which read, “In the Name of God, the All Merciful, the Ever Merciful, Praise be to God, Sustainer and Cherisher of the Universe”

That being said, when the Islamic holy month of Ramadan comes around, many Muslims do endeavor to read or recite the Qur’an in its entirety, front to back. The thirty-day period of Ramadan is often described as being about fasting, a time when Muslims abstain for food, drink, other physical pleasures, and sinful habits. But there are other important elements, too, including increasing one’s commitment to neighbor through almsgiving and charity, and deepening one’s prayer life and connection to the divine by connecting with God’s word. The month of Ramadan is important for Muslims because it is the anniversary of when, in 610 C.E., the Prophet Muhammad is believed to have received the first verses of the Qur’an while meditating in a remote, mountainous place outside of Mecca.

This makes Ramadan very theologically and spiritually significant for Muslims. Ramadan is the time when God’s Word was made manifest in the world, when it “entered human time to shape history,” as scholar Mahmoud Ayoub put it. In a sense, this is the time when heaven descends to earth, when the divine Word enters the human experience. (There are differences of opinion among Muslims about whether the Qur’an is of the divine essence, or is something created by God—I won’t go into that nuance here.) As a Catholic scholar of Islam, I see parallels between the significance of Ramadan for Muslims and the importance of Christmas for Christians—when we mark when Jesus Christ, who for us is the Word of God, entered human history.

It is this similarity that prompted me to begin reading the Qur’an in Advent of 2024. I decided to do it as a spiritual practice leading up to Christmas during the few hours a day that I spend nursing my infant daughter. I hoped to complete my reading of the Qur’an during those four weeks leading up to Christmas, but was slower going than I intended. Sometimes I would doze off, or—worse—get caught up in my phone, perusing Amazon for clothes for me and my kids.

The fact that my reading was so gradual and intermittent meant that Christmas came and went, and Ramadan (which began at the beginning of March) arrived while I was still reading. Ultimately I was glad for this, since this is the time when Muslims seek to spend time with the Qur’an every night, splitting up the text into thirty equal parts and reciting it in Arabic—the language in which it was revealed—or reading it in translation. This year, Ramadan conveniently coincides in large part with the Christian season of Lent, our own season of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. So my reading of the Qur’an is now one of my main spiritual practices in this time leading up to our commemoration of Christ’s Passion and subsequent resurrection on Easter.

The version of the Qur’an I’m reading is a new English translation by M.A.R. Habib and Bruce Lawrence, The Qur’an: A Verse Translation. They call it a verse translation because they render the Qur’an in short, often rhythmic lines that try to reflect the original Arabic sound. This almost lyrical translation of the Qur’an makes it very readable and the experience meditative, much more so than when I’ve read prose translations in the past. This format also makes it great for reading on a Kindle or other reading device, though the hardback version of the book is beautifully done, with an intricate yellow and blue sunburst design on the jacket.

In the coming weeks, I plan to share some of my takeaways and reflections from reading the Qur’an, as a Catholic Christian, during these holy seasons. This is the inaugural post in the coming series. In the meantime, I hope that readers will, in the comments, share your own reflections from reading the Qur’an, and the insights you glean from it.