Is It Obligatory To Learn To Read the Qur’an?

Question: Is the common Muslim required to learn how to read the Quran?
How much of the Quran is a common Muslim required to memorize?

Answer:

Assalamu alaykum,

Thank you for your question. It is obligatory to learn enough of the Qur’an to pray. This would include Surah al-Fatiha and a few surahs to complete prayer of four cycles (rak`ahs). This could be accomplished without learning to read it such imitation of recitation.

However, this is by no means the right attitude towards our Holy Book. Allah has sent this book as guidance to us, so how can derive guidance if we refuse to pick it up? Rather, the Qur’an has a right over us, and we should be avid to be among the people of Qu’ran. The light, peace, tranquility, awe, faith, fear, and joy that one gets from reciting the Qur’an is like no other and it is a miracle in itself. Truly it is worthy of being on one’s lips every moment of the day.

Please see all the links below and make a sincere intention to read, learn, memorize, understand the meanings, and apply them in your life.

https://seekers.flywheelstaging.com/answers/general-counsel/rights-of-the-quran-completing-it-every-fourty-days/
https://seekers.flywheelstaging.com/answers/general-counsel/can-you-tell-us-about-the-virtues-of-a-quran-khatm/
https://seekers.flywheelstaging.com/answers/islamic-belief/memorizing-quran-intercession/

[Ustadha] Shazia Ahmad

Checked and Approved by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani

Ustadha Shazia Ahmad lived in Damascus, Syria for two years where she studied aqidah, fiqh, tajweed, tafseer, and Arabic. She then attended the University of Texas at Austin, where she completed her Masters in Arabic. Afterward, she moved to Amman, Jordan where she studied fiqh, Arabic, and other sciences. She recently moved back to Mississauga, Canada, where she lives with her family.