Is it permissible for a man to lead the people in the tarawih prayer while reading the Qur'an from the mushaf?

The questioner : Is it permissible for a man to lead the people in the tarawih prayer while reading from the mushaf?

The Shaykh : This is a matter in which the scholars have differed since ancient times. Some of them permitted it, and some of them disliked it. I align myself with those who disliked it for two reasons:
The first reason: And before that, so that I do not miss giving advice to this brother to make things easier for him, when he entered the gathering, he greeted every one of those present, "Peace be upon you, peace be upon you, peace be upon you, peace be upon you." When you go, it tires you out while you are saying "Peace be upon you." May Allah make it easy for you; because when you say "Peace be upon you," it includes everyone; therefore, this makes the soul at ease, if Allah wills. We say for two reasons:
The first reason is that it was not the practice of the Salaf, the righteous Salaf. They did not lead the people in the tarawih prayer while holding the mushafs in their hands. This is very natural. Why? Look at how the results differ, because their imams were not like our imams. Their imams were scholars; they were preservers of the Book of Allah (Mighty and Majestic). Today, most of our imams are uneducated, no offense intended, uneducated; because imamate has become a job like any other job of the state. It is supposed that the imam memorizes a large portion, if not the entire Qur'an from beginning to end, so that he memorizes a large portion of the words of Allah (Mighty and Majestic) to lead the people and not get bored of reciting it; because the nature of a person is boredom, even if he is listening to the words of Allah, he gets bored. But when the imam varies it, every few days he hears a new verse? Especially if he focuses his mind on what the imam is reciting, the benefit becomes double. So the first matter is because the righteous Salaf did not lead the people while holding the mushafs in their hands.
And the second reason: They implied that if we open the door to permitting imams to lead the people from the mushaf, we divert the imams from caring about memorizing the Qur'an, knowing that memorizing the Qur'an is not an easy matter. The Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) pointed to this matter by saying: . You, O Arabs, know this statement that the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) said: it slips away from the chests of men more than camels slip from their ropes. So the Qur'an slips from the chest of the memorizer unless he continues to maintain it through memorization. People today seek ease, and when you tell people to read from the mushaf, you have made it easy for them, and this is not among the objectives of the Shari'ah. The objectives are that you encourage them to care for the Qur'an, as he (peace and blessings be upon him) said: . What is the meaning of ? The scholars explained it in two ways: The first way: "Tagnaw bihi" means "be enriched by it," meaning that you seek by it the reward of this world rather than the Hereafter, as some reciters do today, unfortunately, where they are invited on the occasion of deaths and funerals. The famous reciter or the famous qari is invited, and they agree with him on a specified wage in order for him to recite, for example, Surat Yasin for the soul of the deceased, and according to the length of the recitation, the length of the wage is determined; because it has become a trade. This is what the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) pointed to turning away from, by his saying: , meaning be enriched by the recitation of the Qur'an from obtaining the reward of this world. The second meaning: And it is a very reasonable and sound meaning , meaning as he (peace and blessings be upon him) said in another hadith: , , and more explicit than that is his saying (peace and blessings be upon him): , and another hadith: So singing with the Qur'an is very desirable, but the intention with this singing in the second meaning is not that we read the Qur'an according to musical scales and Western laws. This is something that we should elevate the Qur'an above, because it is the word of Allah (Mighty and Majestic). Rather, the Qur'an should be recited as he (peace and blessings be upon him) said: , or as he (peace and blessings be upon him) said: . This is the best of people in recitation, when you hear him reciting the Qur'an, you think that he fears Allah. As for this melodic singing, this rising and falling and that intonation that some reciters follow, Allah, may Allah increase you in such, O Allah, send blessings upon the Prophet, from the shouting and screaming, this is not of the etiquette in reciting the Noble Qur'an at all. Rather, it is obligatory for the listeners to pay attention to what is recited to them from the Book of Allah and to reflect upon it. As for this shouting and screaming, it diverts them from paying attention to what is recited to them from the words of Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He). The point...