Question
What is the verdict of the Learned Scholars of the Sacred Shar’īah regarding the following issue; if someone in the first rak’ah after Surah Fātiha recites Ayat al-Kursī and in the second rak’ah recites any other Surah, is this permissible? Questioner: Zaid from Birmingham
Answer
بسم اللہ الرحمن الرحیم
الجواب بعون الملک الوھاب اللھم ھدایۃ الحق والصواب
It is permissible to recite Āyah al-Kursī in the first rak’ah and any other Sūrah in the second rak’ah but in this case, it is necessary for the person to recite any Sūrah in the second rak’ah, which in accordance to the sequence of the Noble Qur’ān comes after Āyah al-Kursī. This is because deliberately reciting the Noble Qur’ān backwards (i.e. against its sequence) is Makhrūh Tahrīmī (prohibitively disliked) and forbidden such as if recites a Sūrah in the first rak’ah and then in the second rak’ah recites a Sūrah which precedes the recited in the first.
Just as it is mentioned in Bahār-e-Sharī’at that to recite the Qur’ān in a reversed manner, whereby recites in the second rak’ah (a Sūrah) which is before the, which recited in the first rak’ah, is Makrūh Tahrīmī. For example, in the first rak’ah recited Sūrah al-Kāfirūn and in the second rak’ah recited Sūrah al-Fīl.
[Bahār-e-Sharī’at, vol 1, part 3, pg 549]
An intense warning of punishment has come for the who does this. Sayyidunā ‘Abdullāh ibn Mas’ūd (may Allāh be pleased with him) mentions, “Does the who recites the Qur’ān backwards not fear that Allāh will invert his heart!”
واللہ تعالی اعلم ورسولہ اعلم صلی اللہ علیہ وآلہ وسلم
کتبہ ابو الحسن محمد قاسم ضیاء قادری
Answered by Mufti Qasim Zia al-Qadri
Translated by Mohamed Raza Qadri
Read the original Urdu answer here – [Q-ID0279] Can I recite Ayah tul Kursi in the 1st rak’ah and then any other surah in the 2nd?
Also see:
[Q-ID0225] Can I skip Surahs between Rakahs of Prayer?
Published by the Dar-ul-Ifta of Akhuwat-e-Islami as Q-ID0279. Read it on Akhuwat-e-Islami