Is it permissible to read the Qur'an without a teacher or shaykh?
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The questioner : Is it permissible to read the Qur'an without a teacher, knowing that we have searched in the city where I live and found no one to teach us the rules of the Qur'an or how to memorize it? Please guide us in this matter, may you be rewarded.
The Shaykh : Praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds, and I send prayers and peace upon our Prophet Muhammad, and upon his family and his Companions, and upon those who follow them with excellence until the Day of Judgment:
It is a blessing from Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He) upon this Ummah, and part of His perfect preservation of His noble Book, that He provided the Muslims with these Mushafs in which the Qur'an is written, and in which the Qur'an is printed with complete diacritical marks for the vowels, silent letters, elongations, and so on. This falls under the saying of Allah the Exalted:[Al-Hijr 15:9].
So if a person is able to read the Qur'an from these marked, diacritized manuscripts, even if it is difficult for him, even if he stumbles over it, it is permissible for him to do so, even if he does not have a reader to teach him. It is established from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) that he said:Sahih Muslim 798a.
So, my brother the questioner, read the Qur'an and recite it letter by letter and word by word, with mastery of the vowels and silent letters. This is sufficient and contains great good. And you will have two rewards along with the difficulty, as the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said.
As for reading the Qur'an with the known rules of Tajwid, that is not obligatory. For Tajwid is intended only to beautify the recitation; it is not a strict obligation that a person sins by leaving off. Rather, the strict obligation is to establish the vowels and silent letters and to articulate the letters clearly.
The questioner : May Allah reward you with good.
The Shaykh : Praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds, and I send prayers and peace upon our Prophet Muhammad, and upon his family and his Companions, and upon those who follow them with excellence until the Day of Judgment:
It is a blessing from Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He) upon this Ummah, and part of His perfect preservation of His noble Book, that He provided the Muslims with these Mushafs in which the Qur'an is written, and in which the Qur'an is printed with complete diacritical marks for the vowels, silent letters, elongations, and so on. This falls under the saying of Allah the Exalted:
Indeed, it is We who sent down the Qur'an and indeed, We will be its guardian.
إِنَّا نَحْنُ نَزَّلْنَا الذِّكْرَ وَإِنَّا لَهُ لَحَافِظُونَSo if a person is able to read the Qur'an from these marked, diacritized manuscripts, even if it is difficult for him, even if he stumbles over it, it is permissible for him to do so, even if he does not have a reader to teach him. It is established from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) that he said:
One who is proficient in the Qur'an is associated with the noble, upright, recording angels; and he who falters in it, and finds it difficult for him, will have two rewards.
الماهر بالقرآن مع السفرة الكرام البررة والذي يقرأ القرآن ويتتعتع فيه وهو عليه شاق له أجرانSo, my brother the questioner, read the Qur'an and recite it letter by letter and word by word, with mastery of the vowels and silent letters. This is sufficient and contains great good. And you will have two rewards along with the difficulty, as the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said.
As for reading the Qur'an with the known rules of Tajwid, that is not obligatory. For Tajwid is intended only to beautify the recitation; it is not a strict obligation that a person sins by leaving off. Rather, the strict obligation is to establish the vowels and silent letters and to articulate the letters clearly.
The questioner : May Allah reward you with good.