Answered by Ustadh Tabraze Azam
Question: Assalam aleikum, Is it ok to start a Quran khatm with the intention of benefitting someone who is ill, facing a major problem, or for some other purpose? Also, does it count as a Quran khatm if different people read different portions?
Answer: Wa alaikum assalam wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh,
I pray that you are well, insha’Allah.
Yes, this is permitted, and the method you have mentioned is fine.
A person may designate the reward of any voluntary good deed to another person, whether the recipient is alive or deceased. [Ibn `Abidin, Radd al-Muhtar]
Please see this excellent article by Shaykh Faraz Khan: Donating Reward to the Dead: A Detailed Answer
Supplication after Completing a Recital of the Qur’an
The Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) is reported to have said, “Whosoever prays an obligatory prayer, has an accepted supplication. And whosoever completes a reading of the Quran, has an accepted supplication.” [Tabarani, al-Mu`jam al-Kabir]
Its chain of transmission is weak, though the meaning is sound as established by numerous other narrations, the practice of the early Muslims, and as understood from the words of some of the greatest scholars of the ummah including Imam Nawawi.
Darimi authentically relates that Mujahid, an Imam in the Qur’anic sciences amongst the Followers (Tabi’een) of the Companions, once sent for someone, and when they arrived, he told them, “I only called you because we wanted to complete a reading of the Qur’an, and it has reached us that the supplication is accepted after a completed reading of the Quran.” Then he said, “So supplicate, all of you, with [many] supplications.” [Darimi, al-Sunan]
Moreover, Nawawi relates in his Adhkar that it is authentically established that the early Muslims would gather at the completion of the recital of the Qur’an saying, ‘mercy is descending.’
Please also see: Are Supplications that Have Been Made After the Entire Qur’an Has Been Recited Considered Accepted by Allah? and: Dua to Make After Khatm of Quran When Intention for Khatm Can’t be Fulfilled
And Allah alone gives success.
Wassalam,
Tabraze Azam