Question:

Is there any proof regarding reciting the Qur’an in Salah in any specific order? For example, can one recite Surah an-Naba in the first rakah and various verses from Surah al-Baqarah in the second rakah?

Answer:

Shaikh Bin Baz rahimahullah was asked:

Question:

Is it a must to recite the surahs in order during the prayer or is it not obligatory?

Answer:

The Sunnah is follow the order which the Companions ordered in the mushaf. This is better. Whoever recites out of order, then there is no harm. If he recites Ala Imraan, then Surah Baqarah, then there is no harm. However what is better is to follow the order of the Companions, may Allah be pleased with them, when they compiled the Quran in the time of Uthmaan. So if he recites Baqarah, he recites Ala Imraan after it or something after it. And if he recites a surah and does not recite what is after it, like Zilzaal or al-‘Adiyaat and the like. (But) what is better is to follow the order of the mushaf.

However, if he recited out of order and recited from the end of the Quran, then recited from the beginning of the Quran, then there is no harm. It has come from Umar, may Allah be pleased with him, that he recited surah Nahl in the first rakah and surah Yusuf in the second rakah and it is before it. The Prophet sallahu alayhi wa salam recited in some nights surah Baqarah, then Surah Nisaa and then Ala Imraan.

[Reference removed since it no longer exists]

Translated by

Faisal Ibn Abdul Qaadir Ibn Hassan
Abu Sulaymaan