Examining the Belief in the Merits of Reciting the Qur’an, Without Understanding the Surface Meaning

According to the doctrines of the Qur’an, hadiths, and linguistic rules, reading the words of the Qur’an should be at least accompanied by understanding the surface meaning; however, belief in the permissibility or reward of reading the words of the Qur’an without understanding the surface meaning is one of the common beliefs of non-Arab Muslims. The difficulty of learning the Arabic language for the general public, together with the interest in continuous reading of the Qur’an in accordance with the emphasis on the Qur’an and hadiths, has prepared the ground for the formation of this belief. Of course, encouraging non-Arabic speakers to read only the words with the aim of creating a direct relationship with the Qur’an at the beginning of learning to read it, seems reasonable; however, it does not mean that it is permissible to continue it throughout one’s life. Using a descriptive-analytical method, this article for the first time seeks to examine and criticize the formation backgrounds and evidences of believing in the permissibility or reward of reading the words of the Qur’an without understanding its surface meaning in the lower layers of Islamic culture. The results of this research show that these backgrounds are usually rooted in residues of the incomplete and vague debates such as impressions of hadiths, inimitability of the Qur’an, untranslatability of the Qur’an, requirements of connection to the Qur’an, lexical debates and similar debates among the general public, which has been cited as a justification for not comprehending the surface meaning of the verses.