Reading the Qur'an
Fatwa No: 83258

Question

What is better (with regards to the reward from Allah) to read the Qur'an by myself or to listen to someone else read it?

Answer

Praise be to Allah, the Lord of the Worlds; and blessings and peace be upon our Prophet Muhammad and upon all his Family and Companions.
Know, dear brother, that the Muslim is required to read the Qur'an and to listen to it. The Prophet read the Qur'an and listened to it being read by others as narrated in the sound Hadith. The Prophet once asked Abdullah Ibn Masoud to read some Qur'an for him. In another occasion the Prophet listened to Abu Musa Al Ashar; while he was reading some Qur'an. So, reading the Qur'an or listening to it are both good and required from the Muslim. In some circumstances reading is better while in other circumstances listening becomes better. But, the Muslim should read the Qur'an more often as this is what the Prophet used to do and reading occupies the tongue, the heart and the eye. Imam Ahmad reported in his Musnad that Abu Huraira narrated from the Prophet that he said: "Whoever listens to an Ayah (verse) of the Qur'an, he gets for that a double Hasna (reward) but whoever reads it, it will be a light for him on The Day of Resurrection.
Allag knows best.

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