What is the ruling on taking a fee for reciting the Qur'an, and is the reciter rewarded for it?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner : The questioner asks: What is the ruling on taking a fee for reciting the Qur'an, and is the reciter rewarded for it?
The Shaykh : Taking a fee for reciting the Qur'an is forbidden, because the Qur'an is recited as an act of devotion by the reciter, and it is not permissible to take compensation for any act of devotion. Consider if a person said, "I will pray two rak'ahs on the condition that you give me two hundred." Is that permissible or not? It is not permissible, because acts of worship are not performed except as devotion to Allah. For this reason, Imam Ahmad was asked about a man who said to the people of the mosque, "I will not pray tarawih with you unless I receive so much and so much." Note: "I will not pray tarawih with you unless I receive so much and so much." Imam Ahmad said: "We seek refuge in Allah from whoever prays behind this man, whoever prays behind this man". The man is saying, "I will not pray with you except for a fee." The general rule is that for anything that is not performed except as devotion, it is not permissible to take a fee for it. Reciting the Qur'an is not performed except as devotion, so it is not permissible to take a fee for it. And since it is not permissible to take a fee for it, there is no reward in the Hereafter for its recitation. With this, I warn some people who, when one of their relatives dies, bring a reciter to recite for a fee and dedicate the reward of the recitation to the deceased. We say that the deceased does not benefit from this recitation because it is a defective recitation, and spending money on it is forbidden, especially if it comes from the estate of minors and those of unsound mind, in which case it becomes a greater sin. As for a fee for teaching the Qur'an, there is nothing wrong with that, because the teacher performs a work for which he deserves a fee.
The Shaykh : Taking a fee for reciting the Qur'an is forbidden, because the Qur'an is recited as an act of devotion by the reciter, and it is not permissible to take compensation for any act of devotion. Consider if a person said, "I will pray two rak'ahs on the condition that you give me two hundred." Is that permissible or not? It is not permissible, because acts of worship are not performed except as devotion to Allah. For this reason, Imam Ahmad was asked about a man who said to the people of the mosque, "I will not pray tarawih with you unless I receive so much and so much." Note: "I will not pray tarawih with you unless I receive so much and so much." Imam Ahmad said: "We seek refuge in Allah from whoever prays behind this man, whoever prays behind this man". The man is saying, "I will not pray with you except for a fee." The general rule is that for anything that is not performed except as devotion, it is not permissible to take a fee for it. Reciting the Qur'an is not performed except as devotion, so it is not permissible to take a fee for it. And since it is not permissible to take a fee for it, there is no reward in the Hereafter for its recitation. With this, I warn some people who, when one of their relatives dies, bring a reciter to recite for a fee and dedicate the reward of the recitation to the deceased. We say that the deceased does not benefit from this recitation because it is a defective recitation, and spending money on it is forbidden, especially if it comes from the estate of minors and those of unsound mind, in which case it becomes a greater sin. As for a fee for teaching the Qur'an, there is nothing wrong with that, because the teacher performs a work for which he deserves a fee.