Reward for reading the Qur’aan in translation

 

Asalamu-Alaikum,

This is in regards to Question 2237 'Reading Soorat
Yaa-Seen in congregation on Friday nights'. Actually I am referring to the hadeeth
you mentioned where The Prophet (peace be upon him) said: “Whoever reads
one letter of the Book of Allaah will have one hasanah (reward) for doing so,
and every hasanah will be multiplied by 10. I do not say that ‘Alif, laam,
meem’ is one letter, but ‘Alif’ is a letter, ‘laam’ is
a letter and ‘meem’ is a letter.’”

I was wonderring if this hadith was also true if one is reading the Qur'an in
a different language (i.e. English Translation) in order to actually understand
what he is reading?

Thank You, Allahu-Akbar

Praise be to Allaah.

We ask Allaah to reward you for your keenness. In response to your
question, the reward mentioned in this hadeeth is only for the one who reads the
Qur’aan 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 translation of the meanings
in order to understand the meaning and benefit from what the aayaat are saying, then he
will be rewarded for doing this, and his reward is with Allaah, because the Muslim will be
rewarded for reading tafseer (explanation and commentary), and a translation is tafseer.
But there is no indication that the person who reads a translation will earn the reward
mentioned in the hadeeth. The bounty of Allaah is immense. And Allaah knows best.