[Q-ID0811] Is the reward for reading the English translation of the Qur’an the same as reading it in Arabic?

QUESTION:

What do the scholars of the Dīn and muftīs of the Sacred Law state regarding the following issue: Is reading the English translation of the Qur’ān the same amount of reward as reading the Arabic Qur’ān?

Questioner: Siyaad from UK

ANSWER:

بسم اللہ الرحمن الرحیم
الجواب بعون الملک الوھاب اللھم ھدایۃ الحق والصواب

One receives ten virtues for the praying of each letter of the Qur’ān in Arabic, and some are granted even more than this. The reason why we can mention this amount of virtues and the specified reward for reciting the Qur’ān in Arabic is because it has been stated in Hadīth. However, the amount of the specific reward of praying the translation of the Qur’ān has not been stated in Hadīths; hence, we cannot say that the one who is reading just the translation of the Qur’ān receives the same amount of reward as the one who prays the Arabic Qur’ān. However, one can absolutely say that the one who reads just the translation of the Qur’ān definitely receives reward from the Divinely Majestic Court of Allāh. And if one also reads the translation alongside the Arabic as well, then alongside receiving the aforementioned specific reward in Hadīths, one will receive the reward of understanding the Qur’ān as well, the amount for which we cannot mention; only Allāh knows that.^[1]

^[1] [Imām Ghazzālī – upon whom be mercy – has stated in Ihyā al-‘Ulūm, ‘To read one verse of the Qur’ān with understanding is more superior than reading the entire Qur’ān without (understanding).]

واللہ تعالی اعلم ورسولہ اعلم صلی اللہ علیہ وآلہ وسلم
کتبہ ابو الحسن محمد قاسم ضیاء قادری

Answered by Mufti Qasim Zia al-Qadri
Translated by Haider Ali Madani

Read the original Urdu answer here: [Q-ID0811] Is the reward for reading the English translation of the Qur’an the same as reading it in Arabic?