What is your opinion on establishing competitions for memorizing the Qur'an and the Prophetic Sunnah?
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The questioner : I also mentioned to you yesterday a matter?
The Shaykh: Yes.
The questioner : I would like to take your opinion on it?
The Shaykh: Go ahead.
The questioner : There are now some of our brothers, students of knowledge who are interested in the Sunnah, calling in the Kingdom. Groups for memorizing the Qur'an have spread among us, and praise be to Allah, they have encompassed the villages and the desert. This has become a tangible phenomenon, to the point that women are now coming out of their homes as memorizers; there are female memorizers.
The Shaykh : What Allah willed.
The questioner : And every year now, within the Kingdom, in the mosques and the Haram, the total is approximately ten thousand to five thousand, without exaggeration, of men and women. Now it has reached close to a thousand, and the names of a number of female memorizers are now being announced, not to mention those who recite half the Qur'an and memorize half the Qur'an. Some of our brothers, students of knowledge, mentioned yesterday that the idea has been raised and discussed withThe Shaykh : 'Abd al-'Aziz, and he agreed to it.The Shaykh : 'Abd al-'Aziz and some of the shaykhs, regarding what is called memorizing the Sunnah and the competition. It is said to be the Charitable Society for Memorizing the Sunnah, and they would start with memorizing al-Bukhari and Muslim, the six books, and other sunan, and so on. What is your opinion of this idea and its sponsorship?
The Shaykh : My opinion is like the first project, which is caring for the memorization of the Qur'an. But I have expressed more than once that this phenomenon is not legitimate.
The questioner : The phenomenon?
The Shaykh : Memorizing the Qur'an.
The questioner: Yes.
The Shaykh : And the reason is not because there is care for memorizing the Qur'an, but because we are raising memorizers of the Qur'an to memorize the Qur'an in exchange for money!
The questioner: Yes.
The Shaykh : So the matter comes back to taking a wage for learning and knowledge, and the rewards I referred to are of this nature. They are intended to encourage the memorization of the Qur'an because they will find a reward. If this memorization were done without this material means of encouragement, it would be among the best things that could be...
The questioner : There is nothing.
The Shaykh : How is it that there is none?
The questioner : We have none.
The Shaykh : Did he not mention that there are rewards?
The Shaykh: Yes.
The questioner : I would like to take your opinion on it?
The Shaykh: Go ahead.
The questioner : There are now some of our brothers, students of knowledge who are interested in the Sunnah, calling in the Kingdom. Groups for memorizing the Qur'an have spread among us, and praise be to Allah, they have encompassed the villages and the desert. This has become a tangible phenomenon, to the point that women are now coming out of their homes as memorizers; there are female memorizers.
The Shaykh : What Allah willed.
The questioner : And every year now, within the Kingdom, in the mosques and the Haram, the total is approximately ten thousand to five thousand, without exaggeration, of men and women. Now it has reached close to a thousand, and the names of a number of female memorizers are now being announced, not to mention those who recite half the Qur'an and memorize half the Qur'an. Some of our brothers, students of knowledge, mentioned yesterday that the idea has been raised and discussed withThe Shaykh : 'Abd al-'Aziz, and he agreed to it.The Shaykh : 'Abd al-'Aziz and some of the shaykhs, regarding what is called memorizing the Sunnah and the competition. It is said to be the Charitable Society for Memorizing the Sunnah, and they would start with memorizing al-Bukhari and Muslim, the six books, and other sunan, and so on. What is your opinion of this idea and its sponsorship?
The Shaykh : My opinion is like the first project, which is caring for the memorization of the Qur'an. But I have expressed more than once that this phenomenon is not legitimate.
The questioner : The phenomenon?
The Shaykh : Memorizing the Qur'an.
The questioner: Yes.
The Shaykh : And the reason is not because there is care for memorizing the Qur'an, but because we are raising memorizers of the Qur'an to memorize the Qur'an in exchange for money!
The questioner: Yes.
The Shaykh : So the matter comes back to taking a wage for learning and knowledge, and the rewards I referred to are of this nature. They are intended to encourage the memorization of the Qur'an because they will find a reward. If this memorization were done without this material means of encouragement, it would be among the best things that could be...
The questioner : There is nothing.
The Shaykh : How is it that there is none?
The questioner : We have none.
The Shaykh : Did he not mention that there are rewards?
Source
www.al-albany.com
The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.