The point of this chapter is that, if the recommended division of the Quran into portions allows for its completion in between one week and one month—although a range of three to forty days has also been reported—the Companions divided it into portions consisting of complete surahs, rather than subdividing individual surahs. Thus, Aws ibn Hudhayfah related:

“We came to the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, as part of the delegation of Thaqīf. The Ahlāf stayed with al-Mughīrah ibn Shuʿbah, while the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, lodged Banū Mālik in a tent belonging to him. Every night after the night prayer, he would come and speak to us, standing for so long that he would shift his weight from one foot to the other. He spoke mostly of what he had suffered at the hands of his own people, Quraysh. He would then say:

“‘Things were not the same: in Mecca we were weak and humiliated, but after we went to Medina, the fortunes of war alternated between us and them: sometimes we prevailed over them, and sometimes they prevailed over us.’

“One night, he came later than his usual time. We said, ‘You have kept us waiting tonight.’ He replied, ‘My allotted portion of the Quran demanded my attention, and I did not wish to come until I had completed it.’”

Aws said: “I asked the Companions of the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, ‘How do you divide the Quran into portions?’ They replied, ‘Three, five, seven, nine, eleven, thirteen, and the Mufassal as a single portion.’”

This was narrated by Abū Dāwūd, whose wording is given here, as well as by Ahmad and Ibn Mājah. In one version narrated by Imam Ahmad, they said:

“We divide it into portions of three surahs, five surahs, seven surahs, nine surahs, eleven, thirteen, and the Mufassal portion, from (Qāf) to the end.”

It was also narrated by al-Tabarānī