Listening to the whole Quran from beginning to end, in Quran Orb's recording of Maher Al-Muaiqly reciting Hafs an Asim, takes 22 hours and 41 minutes. Spread over a single week that is about 3 hours 14 minutes a day. Spread over 30 days, the pace of one juz a day that many people use to finish a khatm, it drops to about 45 minutes a day. That number belongs to one specific recording, read at a measured, unhurried pace. A mujawwad recording, or any reciter who reads more slowly, will take longer to get through the same 114 surahs.
The total: 22 hours 41 minutes, one surah at a time
The Quran has 114 surahs, and Quran Orb's full-surah recordings of Maher Al-Muaiqly add up to 22 hours and 41 minutes. That time is not spread evenly across the book. Three surahs alone, Al-Baqara, An-Nisaa and Aal-i-Imraan (the second, fourth and third surahs), run about 1 hour 48 minutes, 1 hour 5 minutes and 1 hour respectively, roughly 3 hours 53 minutes together. That is about a sixth of the whole Quran's listening time inside just 3 of its 114 surahs.
At the other end, the shortest surahs are very brief. Al-Ikhlas runs 17 seconds. Al-Kawthar runs 19 seconds. Al-Asr runs 21 seconds. A listener could play all three back to back in under a minute. Most of the 114 surahs sit well below the average: 22 hours 41 minutes divided across 114 surahs works out to about 12 minutes each, but that average is pulled upward by a handful of long surahs near the start of the Quran, while dozens of the shorter surahs near the end run well under two minutes.
How long it takes, at your own pace
There is no single right pace, only the one that fits a schedule. Here is what 22 hours 41 minutes works out to at a few common targets, based on Maher Al-Muaiqly's recitation:
| Finish in | Time a day |
|---|---|
| A week (7 days) | about 3h 14m |
| 10 days | about 2h 16m |
| A month (30 days, one juz a day) | about 45 min |
| Two months (60 days) | about 23 min |
| Three months (90 days) | about 15 min |
The same numbers work the other way too. Twenty minutes a day finishes in about 68 days, roughly ten weeks. An hour a day finishes in about 23 days.
Why it is not rushed: tartil
The pace of a full murattal recording is not an accident of production. It follows a command given in the Quran itself, in Surat Al-Muzzammil:
"and recite the Qur’ān with measured recitation."
Al-Muzzammil 73:4, Saheeh International
Ibn Kathir explains that tartil, reciting slowly and clearly, helps a listener understand and reflect on the meaning of what is being read, rather than let the words pass by unnoticed. A recording built on that pace is, by design, unhurried. It is meant to leave room to follow along.
Why the number changes with the reciter
Every figure in this article describes one recording: Maher Al-Muaiqly, Hafs an Asim, in the murattal style Quran Orb uses for its full-surah player. Two things change the total for a different recording.
The style. Some reciters recorded the Quran twice, once murattal and once mujawwad, for example Abdul Basit Abd us-Samad and Muhammad Siddiq Al-Minshawi. Mujawwad recitation draws phrases out further, repeats them, and lets pauses run longer than murattal does, so the same surah takes noticeably more time. A Mushaf Mu'allim, a teaching recording that pauses after each phrase for the listener to repeat it, takes longer again. This article does not estimate those run times: only Quran Orb's own Al-Muaiqly recordings are timed here.
The reciter. Two reciters reading the same murattal style at their own natural pace will still finish at slightly different times, because pace, pause length and breath control differ from one voice to the next. If you want to hear that difference for yourself, our guide to recitation styles walks through what murattal and mujawwad actually sound like, side by side.
The transmission (riwayah). Most recordings you find, including Al-Muaiqly's, are read in Hafs an Asim, the transmission behind almost every printed mushaf today. Other transmissions exist and are recorded too, among them Warsh an Nafi, used widely across North and West Africa. A different transmission changes a small number of word forms and pronunciations, not the total run time in any predictable direction, so this article does not attach a figure to any recording other than the one Quran Orb uses.
Turning the number into a routine
Once the total stops feeling abstract, the next question is usually how to actually hold to a pace for 30 or 90 days without it falling apart in week two. That is a scheduling problem more than a listening one, and our guide to building a daily listening habit covers the part that usually breaks: picking a target small enough to survive a bad week, and anchoring it to something that already happens every day.
Frequently asked questions
How long does it take to listen to the entire Quran?
About 22 hours and 41 minutes, in Quran Orb's recording of Maher Al-Muaiqly reciting Hafs an Asim at a measured, murattal pace. A different reciter or a mujawwad recording will take longer.
How many hours a day to finish the Quran in a month?
About 45 minutes a day for 30 days, which is also the pace of listening to roughly one juz a day.
What is the longest surah to listen to, and how long is it?
Al-Baqara, the second surah, runs about 1 hour 48 minutes in Maher Al-Muaiqly's recitation, the longest single surah in the Quran.
What is the shortest surah to listen to?
Al-Ikhlas, at 17 seconds, is the shortest full-surah recording in the app.
Does every reciter take the same 22 hours 41 minutes?
No. That figure is specific to one recording, Maher Al-Muaiqly reading Hafs an Asim in murattal style. Reciters who read more slowly, and mujawwad or teaching recordings in particular, take longer to complete the same 114 surahs.
Sources
- Saheeh International, English translation of the Quran
- Tafsir Ibn Kathir