Listening to the Adhkar Does Not Substitute for Reciting Them

29-3-2022 | IslamWeb

Question:

I don’t know how to speak much arabic, but I want to receive the reward of reciting morning and evening adhkar. Can I listen to a recording of them to receive the rewards if I understand what is being said?

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Answer:

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.

Listening to the reported morning and evening Adhkar (i.e., plural of Dhikr: expressions of remembrance of Allah) does not substitute for reciting them because reciting Dhikr is a verbal act of worship in which the doer is required to recite and read the Dhikr (to earn the designated rewards). The Prophet, sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, said: “Whoever recites it in the morning and the evening…” [Muslim] He, sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, also said: “If he had said in the evening …” [Muslim] He, sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, said as well: “Say it in the morning and evening and when you go to bed …” [At-Tirmidhi and others] It was also reported that he, sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, used to say in the morning … and in the evening…” [At-Tirmidhi and others]

However, whoever cannot read them because he cannot speak Arabic, there is nothing wrong with listening to the Adhkar and repeating after the reciter to avail himself of the merits of reciting them and should not settle for listening to them. Whenever he learns to recite the Adhkar by his own self, he should do so instead of repeating after others reciting them.

Allah knows best.