into three categories:

1. Verbal recitation.
2. Recitation of the meaning.
3. Recitation through practice.

Verbal recitation is familiar: one person reads, then another, and so on. It, in turn, takes two forms:

1. The reciter reads a page or two, after which the rest follow, repeating exactly what he has read. This method is most common in instructional settings.

2. The first reciter reads a page or two, then the second recites a different page or two, and so forth.

Someone might say, “In this second method some participants miss out on the reward, because each one recites passages the others do not.” The reply is that no one loses anything—for the listener is counted like the reciter and receives his reward. The proof is Allah’s statement in Surah Yunus about Moses, peace be upon him, when he prayed against Pharaoh’s people: “Our Lord, obliterate their wealth and harden their hearts so that they will not believe until they see the painful punishment” (10:88). It was Moses who voiced the supplication, as the beginning of the verse shows: “And Moses said, ‘Our Lord, indeed You have given Pharaoh and his chiefs splendor and wealth in the life of this world that they may lead people astray from Your path. Our Lord, obliterate their wealth and harden their hearts so that they will not believe until they see the punishment…’”