The Ruling on Taking a Fee for Reciting the Qur'an, Teaching It, and Ruqyah
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner:
Honorable Shaykh, he says: If one takes a Qur'an memorizer to recite for you and gives him his right for his recitation, is that included in this hadith from Ibn 'Abbas?
The Shaykh:
Most of the time, except for...
The questioner:
He says: If you take a Qur'an memorizer to recite for you and give him his right for his recitation. That is, in response to a request.
The Shaykh:
It is not permissible to hire someone for the recitation of the Qur'an. However, hiring someone to teach the Qur'an, to instruct it, or to explain it is permissible. As for taking a fee merely for the recitation, recitation is an act of worship, and no fee is taken for it.
The questioner:
And taking a fee for ruqyah (healing by Qur'anic recitation).
The Shaykh:
Likewise, taking a fee for ruqyah is permissible, provided there is no prior agreement or condition. If he is given something, he takes it, whether it is little or much, but he does not stipulate a price. Thus, taking a fee for ruqyah is what the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) approved. Similarly, taking a salary or assistance for teaching so that he can devote himself to it is permissible according to the majority of scholars, and this is the correct position, because if this were not the case, no one would be able to devote themselves to teaching the Qur'an. As for taking a fee for recitation, this is not permissible, because recitation is an action and an act of worship, so no fee is taken in exchange for it.
The presenter:
May Allah reward you.
Honorable Shaykh, he says: If one takes a Qur'an memorizer to recite for you and gives him his right for his recitation, is that included in this hadith from Ibn 'Abbas?
The Shaykh:
Most of the time, except for...
The questioner:
He says: If you take a Qur'an memorizer to recite for you and give him his right for his recitation. That is, in response to a request.
The Shaykh:
It is not permissible to hire someone for the recitation of the Qur'an. However, hiring someone to teach the Qur'an, to instruct it, or to explain it is permissible. As for taking a fee merely for the recitation, recitation is an act of worship, and no fee is taken for it.
The questioner:
And taking a fee for ruqyah (healing by Qur'anic recitation).
The Shaykh:
Likewise, taking a fee for ruqyah is permissible, provided there is no prior agreement or condition. If he is given something, he takes it, whether it is little or much, but he does not stipulate a price. Thus, taking a fee for ruqyah is what the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) approved. Similarly, taking a salary or assistance for teaching so that he can devote himself to it is permissible according to the majority of scholars, and this is the correct position, because if this were not the case, no one would be able to devote themselves to teaching the Qur'an. As for taking a fee for recitation, this is not permissible, because recitation is an action and an act of worship, so no fee is taken in exchange for it.
The presenter:
May Allah reward you.
Source
شرح نونية ابن القيم [59] — alfawzan.live (1:15:11)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.