Reward for Struggling to Read the Quran: Why It Is Doubled

The reward for struggling to read the Qur'an is double. The Prophet ﷺ said that the one who recites it while stumbling, finding it hard, has two rewards: one for the recitation and one for the effort. The fluent reciter is with the noble angel-scribes. The hadith is reported by both al-Bukhari and Muslim.

If you read slowly, lose your place, or dread being heard, this hadith is about you. Below you will find its exact wording in every major collection, what each key Arabic word means, why the reward is two, whether the struggling reader outranks the fluent one, who the hadith covers, and a practical way to keep going until reading becomes easier.

What does the hadith about struggling with the Qur'an say?

The hadith about struggling with the Qur'an was narrated by 'Aishah (may Allah be pleased with her), the wife of the Prophet ﷺ. In Sahih Muslim it sits in a chapter titled "the virtue of the one who is skilled in reciting Qur'an and the one who falters in reciting", and its wording there is:

Al-Bukhari records the same hadith in his chapter on the tafsir of Surah 'Abasa, with wording that stresses persistence. The struggling reader there is the one who keeps returning to the Qur'an even though it is hard for him:

The hadith also appears in the Sunan collections with the same chain of narrators, through Qatadah, Zurarah ibn Awfa and Sa'd ibn Hisham from 'Aishah. The differences are single words for "hard", which all point to the same meaning.

What do the key words of the hadith mean?

The key words of the two-rewards hadith are short, and each one carries part of its meaning. Knowing them makes the promise much more precise.

Why does the one who struggles get two rewards?

The one who struggles to read the Qur'an gets two rewards because two good things are happening at once: the recitation itself, and the hardship he bears to keep reciting. The commentators on this hadith explain it simply: one reward for the reading, and another for the difficulty and hesitation the reader pushes through.

Notice what the hadith does not say. It does not say the stumbling reader gets half a reward because the reading was imperfect, or that his reading does not count until he is fluent. The hadith shows that the reward is not measured only by how polished the reading sounds. The hours a beginner spends sounding out a single line are seen and counted, which is exactly why Bukhari's wording describes him as someone who keeps returning to the Qur'an although it is hard for him.

This fits a principle Allah states in the Qur'an: He asks of each person only what is within their capacity.

Does the struggling reader get more reward than the fluent reciter?

The struggling reader does not get more reward than the fluent reciter; the scholars explain that the proficient reciter is higher. The classical commentators on Sahih Muslim addressed this directly. They explain that the hadith does not mean the one who stumbles has more reward than the one who is skilled. Rather, the skilled reciter is better and has more reward, because he is with the scribe angels and has many rewards, a rank the hadith does not mention for anyone else.

They also ask how someone who has not given the Book of Allah the same care, memorising it, perfecting it, reciting it often and understanding it until he became skilled, could be equal to the one who did. Shaykh Ibn Baz explained that the skilled reciter is with the noble scribes when he recites the Qur'an in word and in action, not only with his tongue: he reads it well and he lives by it.

Who does the two-rewards hadith apply to?

The two-rewards hadith applies to anyone who recites the Qur'an and finds it hard, while keeping at it. That includes adults learning the letters for the first time, reverts reading their first surahs, children sounding out the qaida, older people whose tongues have grown heavy, and people who read well but are struggling to memorise, since al-Bukhari's wording speaks of someone working to learn it by heart. If you are any of these, the hadith is describing your effort.

What if you cannot pronounce some letters, however hard you try?

Some learners, especially those whose first language lacks sounds like ث or ذ, find certain letters stubborn after years of trying. IslamQA's answer on reading the Qur'an with an accent says such learners must try hard to learn the correct pronunciation, but if they are unable to master it they are excused, and they should keep striving to improve. That is the same picture as the hadith: sincere effort is never wasted, and it never stops.

Struggling is not the same as not trying

The hadith describes someone who keeps returning to the Qur'an although it is hard. It does not describe someone who could easily learn but never bothers. The same IslamQA answer quotes Ibn al-Jazari, in al-Nashr, saying that a reader who is able to pronounce correctly but deliberately does not, out of pride or by refusing a teacher's correction, is falling short. The reward is attached to the struggle, so the way to stay inside the hadith is to keep learning.

How do you keep going when reading the Qur'an is hard?

Keeping going when reading the Qur'an is hard comes down to small, regular reading with someone who corrects you. These steps are the ones that make the difference for most struggling readers.

If the hardest part for you is a handful of sounds, our guide to the most common tajweed mistakes and how to fix them is a good next step. If you are starting from the letters, our guide for adult beginners learning the Qur'an online sets out the stages in order.

Where does the struggle lead?

The struggle to read the Qur'an leads, with time and correction, to fluency: the rank of the skilled reciter who is with the noble angel-scribes. Most fluent reciters you admire once stumbled over the same letters, and the reader who keeps going is moving, line by line, towards the rank of al-māhir. Our article on the status of the hafiz in this life and the next shows how much honour lies at the end of that road, and ten rewards for every letter explains how each word you read is counted along the way.

You do not have to walk it alone. A patient teacher who hears you every week is the fastest way from stumbling to skilled, and you can find a Qur'an teacher who is used to working with readers at your level. For more of the authentic narrations on recitation, see what authentic hadith promise the reciter.