Reading Plans

Almost nobody stops reading because the text was too difficult. People stop because every session begins with a decision about where to read. A decision made daily eventually gets made badly.

A plan removes that. You open the page, you read what today says, you close it. The whole design is to protect a small daily habit from your own deliberation.

Pick one plan. Not three. Finish it, then pick another.

Every plan below gives you the passage for the day and one question to carry with it. Read the passage first and the question second; the question is meant to send you back into the text, not to replace it.

THE 30-DAY OVERVIEW

The whole book in a month. The days are sized by reading time, not by verse count, which is why the early days cover a few dozen verses and the last days cover twenty suras. Roughly twenty minutes.

Day 1 · Sura 1 and [2:1-39] — Which of the three kinds of people described at the start of sura 2 would an honest observer put me in?

Day 2 · [2:40-152] — What has been given to me that I have treated the way this passage says earlier communities treated what they were given?

Day 3 · [2:153-286] — This is the densest block of law in the book. Which single instruction in it am I not keeping?

Day 4 · [3:1-120] — What do I do with the verses I do not understand, and is that what this passage says to do with them?

Day 5 · [3:121-200] — Where in my life am I being asked to be steadfast, and am I?

Day 6 · [4:1-104] — Which of the people named in this passage — orphans, women, relatives, the poor — have I been unfair to and not noticed?

Day 7 · [4:105-176] — Have I ever been fair in public and unfair in private about the same thing?

Day 8 · [5:1-50] — What have I promised and not kept?

Day 9 · [5:51-120] — What does this passage say about Jesus that I was taught differently?

Day 10 · [6:1-110] — Sura 6 argues monotheism from first principles. Which of its arguments would I struggle to answer if it were turned on me?

Day 11 · [6:111-165] — [6:145] lists what is prohibited. What else have I been avoiding, and who told me to?

Day 12 · Sura 7 — The same story, told seven times with different messengers. What is the constant?

Day 13 · Suras 8 and 9 — Sura 9 is the one chapter with no opening Basmalah. Read it knowing that, and see Appendix 24.

Day 14 · Suras 10 and 11 — [11:114] is here, and it is one of the four places the prayer times come from. Did I notice it in passing?

Day 15 · Sura 12, whole, in one sitting — The only sustained narrative in the book. Where in it does Joseph stop being a victim of the story and start being a participant in it?

Day 16 · Suras 13, 14 and 15 — [14:7] is the promise about gratitude. What would a week look like if I believed it literally?

Day 17 · Suras 16 and 17 — Sura 16 is called The Bee. Why does a book about God spend this long on livestock, fruit and honey? And [17:22-39] is a list of commandments — how many of them could I have named before reading it?

Day 18 · Suras 18, 19 and 20 — Three accounts of people entirely alone with God: the youths in the cave, Mary, and Moses at the fire. What does each of them do first?

Day 19 · Suras 21, 22 and 23 — [23:1-11] describes the successful believer in eleven verses. Which item on the list is missing from me?

Day 20 · Suras 24, 25 and 26 — [25:63-77] describes the worshippers of the Most Gracious. Would anyone who watched me this week have recognised me in it?

Day 21 · Suras 27, 28 and 29 — [29:2-3] says the test is the point, and not an interruption to it. Does that change what this year has been?

Day 22 · Suras 30 to 33 — [33:35] addresses men and women in identical terms ten times over. What have I been taught that this verse contradicts?

Day 23 · Suras 34 to 39 — Sura 39 ends the section and contains [39:53]. Read the last twenty verses slowly.

Day 24 · Suras 40 to 46 — The seven H.M. suras, read as the set they are. Something changes in the tone here. What?

Day 25 · Suras 47 to 51 — [51:56] states what I exist for in nine words. How much of yesterday went on it?

Day 26 · Suras 52 to 57 — Sura 55 repeats one question thirty-one times. Why does repetition work on a person when argument does not?

Day 27 · Suras 58 to 66 — [59:22-24] names God more times in three verses than most chapters manage. Read it out loud.

Day 28 · Suras 67 to 77 — The verses are shortening now and the subject is narrowing. What is it narrowing to?

Day 29 · Suras 78 to 92 — These are the suras most people half know. Read them as though you had never heard them.

Day 30 · Suras 93 to 114 — You have now read the whole thing. What did you expect to find that was not there, and what was there that you did not expect?

THE NEW BELIEVER'S STARTING GUIDE

Six weeks, fifteen minutes a day, and deliberately not in book order. Foundations first, the harder material once there is context for it.

Week 1 — Who God is. Sura 1, then [112:1-4], [2:255], [59:22-24], [57:1-6], [24:35], [6:59], [7:180]. Question for the week: what picture of God did I arrive with, and which of these passages contradicts it?

Week 2 — What the Quran says about itself. [2:1-5], [6:19], [6:38], [6:114-115], [15:9], [17:9], [4:82], [39:23], [55:1-2]. Question: if this book is what it claims to be, what does that make everything else I have been told?

Week 3 — What is actually asked of a person. [2:177], [17:22-39], [31:12-19], [25:63-77], [23:1-11], [49:10-13]. Question: which single item across these lists is furthest from my life right now?

Week 4 — The four practices. Prayer: [20:14], [11:114], [17:78], [2:238], [24:58], [29:45]. Charity: [2:110], [2:261], [9:60]. Fasting: [2:183-187]. Pilgrimage: [3:97], [22:26-29]. Question: which one am I going to start this week — not eventually, this week?

Week 5 — Where it ends. [21:35], [3:185], [39:68-70], [36:51-54], [99:1-8], [101:1-11], [82:1-19]. Question: what would I change about this month if I genuinely believed the timeline in these passages?

Week 6 — The messengers and the scriptures before this one. Sura 12 whole, then sura 19, then [21:48-93], [2:62], [5:44-48], [5:69], [3:84], [33:40]. Question: what did I believe about the relationship between these religions, and what does the text actually say?

VERSES ABOUT PATIENCE — FOURTEEN DAYS

Day 1 · [2:155-157] — The test is announced before it arrives. Does knowing that change anything about the one I am in?

Day 2 · [2:153] — Patience is paired with the prayer here, and not left on its own. What do I actually reach for first?

Day 3 · [2:286] — What have I been treating as impossible that is only hard?

Day 4 · [3:200] — Steadfast, persevering, united. Which of the three is weakest in me?

Day 5 · [16:96] — What am I holding on to that will run out?

Day 6 · [16:127] — Patience is attainable only with God's help, says the verse. Have I asked, in those words?

Day 7 · [39:10] — Who do I know who is being steadfast without anyone noticing?

Day 8 · [31:17] — Advocate, forbid, endure. Which of the three do I avoid because it costs me socially?

Day 9 · [42:43] — Who am I withholding forgiveness from, and what is it costing me to keep holding it?

Day 10 · [70:5] — What would a gracious patience look like today, as opposed to a resentful one?

Day 11 · [94:5-6] — Said twice in two verses. What is the pain in my life, stated plainly?

Day 12 · [103:1-3] — Who is holding me steady, and who am I holding?

Day 13 · [12:18] and [12:83] — Jacob says the same thing twice, years apart. What does quiet patience actually look like in a house?

Day 14 · [21:83-84] — Job's whole prayer is one sentence long and contains no request. Could I pray like that?

VERSES ABOUT GRATITUDE — NINE DAYS

Day 1 · [14:7] — Three specific things from today. Not categories. Things.

Day 2 · [2:152] — Remembrance and thanks in the same verse. Which of the two do I do less?

Day 3 · [16:18] — Try to count. Notice where you stop.

Day 4 · [16:53] — When something goes wrong I complain to Him immediately. When did I last thank Him with the same speed?

Day 5 · [7:10] — Established on earth and provided for, and rarely appreciative. Is that a fair description of my week?

Day 6 · [31:12] — Gratitude is for your own good, says the verse. In what way?

Day 7 · [34:13] — Work, to show your appreciation. What would grateful work look like tomorrow?

Day 8 · [27:40] — Solomon's first response to a gift is to check his own motive. What was my first response to the last good thing that happened?

Day 9 · [76:3] — Two paths, and the verse says I am on one of them. Which?

VERSES ABOUT GOD'S MERCY — ONE SITTING

Read all twelve in order, once, without stopping: [39:53], [6:12], [6:54], [7:156], [40:7], [21:107], [17:110], [55:1-4], [4:110], [42:25], [25:70-71], [12:87].

Then one question, written down: what have I been carrying on the assumption that it is past forgiving, and which of these twelve passages addresses it directly?

VERSES FOR DIFFICULT TIMES — OPEN ANYWHERE

Sixteen passages, no order and no argument: [2:153], [2:155-157], [2:186], [2:286], [93:1-11], [94:1-8], [3:139-141], [12:87], [21:83-84], [65:2-3], [13:28], [39:53], [40:60], [29:2-3], [16:127], [42:43].

There is no daily question for this plan, deliberately. A person in the middle of something does not need homework. If you want one, it is this: what do I need today, and is it in here?

VERSES FOR NEW BEGINNINGS — FIFTEEN DAYS

Day 1 · [65:2-3] — Where am I looking for the way out, and have I looked where the verse says to?

Day 2 · [13:11] — What is the change I have to make before anything else changes?

Day 3 · [8:53] — What blessing have I already been given that I am about to mishandle?

Day 4 · [94:5-8] — What is the thing I am moving away from, written honestly?

Day 5 · [2:186] — What have I stopped asking for because I assumed the answer was no?

Day 6 · [11:3] — Forgiveness first, then the new thing. What needs settling before I start?

Day 7 · [71:10-12] — Noah's list of what follows forgiveness is surprisingly material. What do I make of that?

Day 8 · [18:23-24] — Say it for a week before every plan you state out loud. What changes?

Day 9 · [20:25-28] — Moses asks for a cooled temper, an easier task and a clearer tongue. What are my three?

Day 10 · [28:24] — A prayer said in one line, out loud, by a man with nothing. Say it in your own words.

Day 11 · [17:80] — An honourable entrance and an honourable exit. Which am I in the middle of?

Day 12 · [40:60] — Implore Me and I will respond. When did I last ask for something specific?

Day 13 · [2:216] — What have I wanted badly that I am now glad I did not get?

Day 14 · [93:4-5] — Whatever comes next is better than what came before. Do I believe that today?

Day 15 · [3:159] — Consult, decide, then trust. Which of the three do I skip?

THE ROOT PATH — TWENTY-ONE DAYS

Read one page of the GOD section each week alongside this.

Day 1 · Sura 1. Day 2 · [112:1-4]. Day 3 · [2:255]. Day 4 · [59:22-24]. Day 5 · [57:1-6]. Day 6 · [6:59]. Day 7 · [24:35]. Question for week one: which of these names for God is the one I least associate with Him?

Day 8 · [31:27]. Day 9 · [39:67]. Day 10 · [55:1-13]. Day 11 · [67:1-5]. Day 12 · [50:16]. Day 13 · [2:117] and [36:82]. Day 14 · [3:190-191]. Question for week two: has God become an idea to me, instead of someone I am answerable to, and what in this week's reading pushes back hardest against that?

Day 15 · [2:163]. Day 16 · [7:180] and [17:110]. Day 17 · [16:36] and [21:25]. Day 18 · [39:3]. Day 19 · [39:45]. Day 20 · [12:106]. Day 21 · [13:28] and [2:152]. Question for week three: [12:106] says most believers manage to commit idolatry without meaning to. What would mine look like if I had it?

THE PRACTICES PATH — FOUR WEEKS

One duty a week, in the order the Growth Cycle follows. Read the verses first and the how-to page second.

Week 1 — Prayer. [20:14], [11:114], [17:78], [2:238], [24:58], [4:103], [62:9], [29:45], [107:4-6], and sura 1 read as the thing you actually say. Question: can I now say where each of the five times comes from, without looking it up?

Week 2 — Charity. [2:43], [2:110], [2:215], [2:261], [2:267], [2:271], [2:274], [9:60], [63:10], [104:1-3]. Question: [9:60] lists who it goes to. Do I know anyone on that list personally?

Week 3 — Fasting. [2:183], [2:184], [2:185], [2:186], [2:187], then [19:26], [33:35], [49:12], [3:134], [25:43]. Question: the whole law is five verses. Which of the rules I was taught is not in them?

Week 4 — Pilgrimage. [3:96], [3:97], [22:26], [22:27], [22:28], [22:29], [2:125], [2:127-128], [2:158], [2:196-197]. Question: [3:97] says when you can afford it. Am I telling myself something about that which is not true?

RAMADAN 30 VERSES

Published in full on the Fasting page, one verse and one question for each day of the month, so that it sits beside the rest of the Ramadan material, and not kept in two places. Week one asks what you are doing this for. Week two introduces you to the person hunger produces. Week three turns you outward toward the people the fast is meant to make you kinder to. The last nine days are about carrying it out of the month, because a Ramadan that ends cleanly on the last night has not changed anything.

A note on the questions. They are written to be answered in one or two sentences, at night, badly. If a question produces nothing on a given day, write “nothing today” and move on. That is a real answer and it is worth having a record of.