He was also asked about “combining the seven readings”:

Is this a sunnah or an innovation? Were they combined during the lifetime of the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace? Does someone who combines them receive greater reward than someone who recites according to a single transmitted reading?

He answered:

Praise be to Allah. Learning and memorizing the readings is itself an established sunnah, transmitted from one generation to the next. Thus, learning a reading that the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, used, approved their reciting, or permitted them to recite and which they accepted, is a sunnah. Someone who knows and has memorized the readings has an advantage over someone who lacks this knowledge and knows only one reading.

As for combining them in prayer or in recitation, this is a reprehensible innovation. Combining them for memorization and study, however, is a practice that certain groups of Quran reciters adopted through their own scholarly judgment. As for the Companions … (1).