Some scholars have maintained that, when a person is unable to recite the Quran in Arabic, he may read it in another language; a few have even permitted that without restriction. The vast majority, however, hold that reciting it in any tongue other than Arabic is impermissible, even though they concur that translating it for the sake of understanding is allowed—just as one may interpret it and clarify its meanings, for such interpretation is not itself the Quran being recited, and the same applies to translation.

The Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—said: “May Allah illumine the face of one who hears a hadith from us and conveys it to someone who has not heard it; for it may be that a carrier of jurisprudential knowledge is not himself a jurist, and it may be that he carries that knowledge to someone who is more learned than he is.”