If a person listens to Soorat al-Kahf on Friday, will he have the same reward as the one who reads the soorah?

Q. Does listening to Soorat al-Kahf on Friday bring the same reward as that of the one who reads it?

Praise be to Allah.

The reward that results from reading Soorat al-Kahf on Friday is only mentioned for the one who reads the soorah on that day. The Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) said: “Whoever reads Soorat al-Kahf on Friday, Allah will bestow upon him light between those two Fridays.” Narrated by al-Bayhaqi; classed as saheeh by Shaykh al-Albaani (may Allah have mercy on him) in Saheeh al-Jaami‘. 

It is well-known that the one who listens to a soorah is not regarded as having read it. Based on that, if a person wants the reward that is mentioned in the hadith, then he has to read Soorat al-Kahf, and it is not enough just to listen to it. 

But if a person cannot read Qur’an well, so he listens to it being recited by someone else, seeking the reward that has been mentioned for that, then there is the hope that he will have the same reward as the one who reads it, because of his good intention and doing what he is able to do. 

In the answer to question no. 10700 we have quoted the hadiths that speak of the virtue of reading Soorat al-Kahf. Please refer to this question for more information. 

And Allah knows best.

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