Your first ten minutes with the reader

Begin with the opening surah. It is short, it is recited in every prayer, and its seven verses give you the vocabulary the rest of the book assumes. Open it in the reader, choose a translation you can read comfortably, and keep both languages on screen at once so the Arabic stays visible even while you lean on the translation.

The Quran asks for measured recitation rather than speed, and the etiquette it names before reciting is seeking refuge in God from the accursed Satan. Practically, that means: listen once to the passage, follow the Arabic with your eye, then recite slowly enough that you can hear your own words. Repetition of a single ayah is a classical habit, not a beginner's compromise.

A workable week is five ayat, one reciter, and one bookmark. When a word stops you, search the corpus for it — the unified search matches Arabic script and English alike — and add a note to the bookmark instead of resolving to remember it. Ten minutes a day for a week beats an hour once.