There is no blind following in the religion. Allah has made resources available Alhamdulillah so do your research as well – Go through authentic books of Ahadith and tafasir on your own as well. We all are human beings and are bound to make mistakes. I am providing the resources that I believe are the most beneficial (as they benefitted me a lot when I set out on this journey). May Allah forgive our shortcomings and make us follow His Only straight path that leads to nowhere but Jannah. 

Following is the list of mandatory things that you are to go through each week (the necessity level is in descending order):

1: Quran with the translation

Pick up any Qur’an with a translation in the language, you are most comfortable with. Studying with the group will give you a sense of direction as running alone can sometimes be hard and needs a lot of self-motivation we usually lack. You can start a whatsApp group with several like-minded sisters (or brothers – if a man is reading this).

Resources:

1. A)http://tanzil.net/#1:1
2. B)https://reader.quranacademy.io/(with transliteration as well)
3. C)https://legacy.quran.com/
4. D) https://www.quranize.com  (my favorite go-to website)

2: Word to word translation of the Qur’an

Word to word translation will help you a lot in understanding the Qur’an with time. After Surah Baqarah alone, you will be familiar with 75% of the Qur’anic words. Eventually, you’ll be able to understand Qur’an just by listening to its recitation in shaa Allaah.

English:

1. A)comshow the literal translation of each and every word as you hover your cursor over them. For static writing, their word by word section could be explored. Advanced learners can go through its grammar part as well.
2. B)Word for word meaningof the Qur’an (divided into three volumes).
3. C) Arabic Dictionary of root words(English translation)
4. D) Recite Quraneven recites the word you click on along with the display of its meaning.
5. E)Word to word translation of each juz of the Qur’an
6. F)Quran Word for Word Translation
7. G)Each Juzz/Para(1-30) by Alhuda international (available in hard copy as well as online).

A hard copy can easily be found at Alhuda’s institute or Dar ul Balagh (in Pakistan) – and I recommend hard copy, for a book online has no comparison to the one in hand.

3: Tafseer (Explanation)

I will in shaa Allah be doing the following (2007) Tafseer. It’s very easy and comprehensible. And the only Tafseer out there that I found such detailed and still free*. But you can choose yours from the following:

English:

1. A)Talim al-Quran
2. B)Tafseer and word analysis  (by Nauman Ali Khan) 

This will probably make you fall in love with the linguistics of Qur’an though I wish it was cover to cover, but since it’s not so it won’t be your basic choice of study as you will be lost after Surah Baqarah then. Also check MUSLIMCENTRAL (juz amma tafseer) – which you can download as an app as well for ease. I did this tafseer during Hajj and I still have that tiny little notebook I took the notes on. It has helped me immensely in teaching my children tafseer as well.

1. C)Tafseer ibn katheer– I haven’t found an audio version of this yet, but you can read it online or buy it from your local Islamic bookstore. 
2. D)Saheeh International
3. E)Maarif ul Quran
4. F)Fidhilalil Quran
5. G)Tafheem ul Quran

APPS:

1. QuranHive (Android/ iOS)
2. QuranforAll (Android/ iOS)
3. Quranize – (Android/ iOS)
   

Urdu:

1. A)Taleem ul Quran 2007 (by Dr. Farhat Hashmi)

If you download Alhuda’s app on your Android/iOS then it will be quite useful.
On app: go to app > Quran > Tafseer > Taleem ul Quran > TQ 2007 Dr. Farhat > para 1 > lessons
 –

1. B)Taleem ul Quran 2013 (by  Idrees Zubair)
2. C)Nur ul Quran(Dawrah e Quran) or Tarteel Ul Quran (short description of each Juz of the Quran).
3. D) https://www.quranize.com

The benefit of audio files is that you can listen to them while traveling, cooking, cleaning etc. and yet learn a lot.

4: Tajweed practice:

Since we’ll be doing only a handful of verses each week, it would be a good practice to fix your tajweed (Qur’an recitation). For anyone who is not familiar with Arabic, it’s hard to catch up on the accent sometimes, but know that just like any other language, practice will make it perfect in shaa Allah.

Resources:

1. A)comnot only translates the word by word Qur’an, but also recites each word separately if you click on the word.
2. B)http://www.tajweedinenglish.com/
3. C) Qari Hudhaifyis very good to follow to correct your Tajweed – recitation with the text. (The website http://quranicaudio.com/ hosts multiple reciters around the world. You can choose whichever suits you best).
4. D)Very slow word by word recitation (by Qari Ibrahim) 
5. E)Long spaces between recitation of each verse for you to follow along (by Asma Huda)

You can see the color coded Qur’an beside listening to the audio for your ease.

5: Notes

Keep a diary with you to make your notes or write your reflections – things that you learned, lessons that you cherish, verses that you loved, rules you want to apply in your life, your practical checklists etc. This diary will be YOU so scribble it with whoever you want to become.
Ayeina will be my personal diary and I will share my part of reflections under “Quranic reflections” every week in shaa Allaah. Anyone who will want to share theirs as well, they can post them in the comments section below so everyone can see and benefit in shaa Allaah.