Do You Get Reward for Reading the Quran in Translation?

Question: 2589

This is in regards to Question 'Reading Surat Ya-Sin in congregation on Friday nights '. Actually I am referring to the hadith you mentioned where the Prophet (peace be upon him) said: Whoever reads one letter of the Book of Allah will have one hasanah (reward) for doing so, and every hasanah will be multiplied by 10. I do not say that Alif, lam, mim is one letter, but Alif is a letter, lam is a letter and mim is a letter.

I was wondering if this hadith was also true if one is reading the Quran in a different language (i.e. English translation) in order to actually understand what he is reading

Thank You, Allahu-Akbar

Summary of answer

There is no evidence that the person who reads the Quran translation will earn the reward of reading it in Arabic. But, if a person reads a Quran translation in order to understand the meaning and benefit from what the verses are saying, then he will be rewarded for doing this, and his reward is with Allah.

Answer

Praise be to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon the Messenger of Allah and his family.

We ask Allah to reward you for your keenness. In response to your question, the reward mentioned in this hadith is only for the one who reads the Quran as it is in Arabic, not for the one who reads the interpretation of the meanings in any other language.

However, if a person reads a Quran translation in order to understand the meanings and benefit from what the ayat are saying, then he will be rewarded for doing this, and his reward is with Allah. This is because the Muslim will be rewarded for reading tafsir (explanation and commentary), and a translation is tafsir.

But there is no indication that the person who reads the Quran translation will earn the reward mentioned in the hadith. The bounty of Allah is immense.

And Allah knows best.

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Source:

Sheikh Muhammed Salih Al-Munajjid