Asaalaamu alaykum, Shaykh. I am on the path of memorising the Quran. Since I started this path, I have been having doubts whether I memorise Quran to impress others with the way that I recite (Tilaawah). I am very afraid of that, so I sometimes change my Tilaawah to another one that does not cause me such thoughts, but I do not like it that much. I have the thought that I recite like this so that when I become an imam, I can recite well. However, I do not know; I keep my memorisation secret and so on. So I do not know. How can I renew my intention through this path ? How do I know if I recite Quran like this to impress or just because I like it regardless of whether they like it or not? What do you recommend me with, Scholar? Can you give any advice? Should I form the intention to never become an imam in order to be safe? What if I think that I was doing it for the sake of Allaah and I find out on the day of Judgment that this was not true? Please, Scholar, advise me, please!

All perfect praise be to Allah, The Lord of the worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allah and that Muhammad is His slave and Messenger.

You did well by treading the path of memorizing the Quran; this is indeed one of the great acts of worship by which one gets closer to Allah and attains the highest degrees of Paradise. Satan is the enemy of man, and he does his utmost to mislead him and tries to divert him from the path of goodness, as Allah says in His Book (what means): {[Satan] said: Because You have put me in error, I will surely sit in wait for them on Your straight path. Then I will come to them from before them and from behind them and on their right and on their left, and You will not find most of them grateful [to You].} [Quran 7:16-17]

So you should take heed of this. We believe that the devil has cast such thoughts into your heart in order to prevent you from goodness, so you should seek refuge in Allah from him and continue on your path.

If you have a sincere intention from the start and the accursed Satan whispers to you with those whisperings, then do not pay any attention to them and repel them, and you will not be harmed, Allah willing. Ibn ‘Abbaas, may Allah be pleased with him, narrated that a man came to the Prophet and said, “O, Messenger of Allah! I have thoughts of such nature that I would rather fall from the sky than speak about them.” Thereupon, the Prophet said, “Allah is Most Great, Allah is Most Great, Allah is Most Great. Praise be to Allah, Who has reduced the plots of the devil to evil whispering.” [Ahmad and Abu Daawood]

You should not abandon your good pursuit because Satan whispers to you that you want to memorize the Quran in order to impress people with the manner in which you are reciting.

Al-'Izz ibn Abdus-Salaam said:

“Satan (the devil) calls people to abandon good deeds; if a person overcomes him and intends the act of obedience, which comes in priority over other acts, then the devil whispers to him that he is showing off in order to spoil it for him, and if the person does not obey the devil, he [the devil] whispers to him that he is showing off and that abandoning an act of obedience for showing off is better than performing it while showing off, hence the person abandons the good deed out of fear of falling into showing off because Satan whispered to him that abandoning a deed out of fear of showing off is sincerity, while the devil is a liar in his whisperings, because it is not sincerity to abandon a deed out of fear of showing off…”

There is nothing wrong for you to recite in any type of recitation that you like. There is nothing wrong in beautifying one’s voice in order to influence people's hearts as long as the person is sincere.

The Prophet passed by Abu Moosa Al-Ash`ari, may Allah be pleased with him, while he was reciting the Quran at night, and he had a very beautiful voice. He stopped and listened to his recitation and said, “He has been given one of the wind instruments (nice voices) of the family of Daawood (David).” In the morning, Abu Moosa was informed of that, and he said, “O Messenger of Allah, if I had known that you were listening, I would have beautified my recitation even more for you.” [An-Nasaa’i in As-Sunan Al-Kubra]

Ibn ‘Uthaymeen said, “This hadeeth is evidence that it is permissible for a man to beautify his voice so that people listen to him because the Prophet did not object to Abu Moosa when he said that.”

Also, leading people in prayer is one of the acts of worship by which one gets closer to Allah, so you should not abandon this because of those whisperings.

If you start an action while seeking the pleasure of Allah, then you are sincere in doing it. Even if we assume that a Muslim started an action with the intention of showing off, it is possible for him to rectify this intention and accustom himself to sincerity.

Ibn Muflih said in Al-Aadaab Ash-Shar’iyyah, “Yazeed ibn Haaroon said, 'We sought knowledge for the sake of other than Allah, but ultimately this knowledge brought us back to Allah.' Abdur-Razzaaq related that Ma’amar said, 'It was said that a man seeks knowledge for the sake of other than Allah, but ultimately the knowledge turns him back to Allah (i.e. this knowledge leads him to rectify his intention for the Sake of Allah).'”

Allah knows best.