Answer
Wa `alaykum as-Salamu wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh.
In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.
All praise and thanks are due to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon His Messenger.
In this fatwa:
The Quran was revealed in Arabic, and its translation cannot replace the original. While translations help understand the meaning, they do not carry the same reward as reading in Arabic.
In responding to your question, Sheikh Ahmad Kutty, a senior lecturer and an Islamic scholar at the Islamic Institute of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, states:
The Quran Was Revealed in Arabic – Why It Matters
The Quran, the Word of Allah, was revealed in Arabic. It is inimitable; as such, no translation can ever be a substitute for it.
Does Reading a Translation of the Quran Hold the Same Reward?
So the rewards of reading the Quran cannot be extended to reading a translation; any translation is only a human rendering of the meanings of the Qur’an as its author has understood it.
Why Learning to Read the Quran in Arabic Is Encouraged
Therefore, I would urge you to learn to read the Quran in Arabic. Once you mobilize the will and are willing to take the steps by trusting Allah, you will succeed. Until then, you can always listen to the recitation of the Quran recorded by the famous reciters.
Alternative Ways to Engage with the Quran Before Learning Arabic
Here is a site which has published so many of them; you can access the recitation of the famous reciters here:
You can even learn if you practice reading after him as he teaches the children in Al-Mushaf Al-Mu’allim.
Having said this, I would also urge you to read any of the standard translations of the Quran such as those of Yusuf Ali, Muhammad Asad, Picktall, etc. But you must never stop at reading the translation, for it can never replace the Quran.
Allah Almighty knows best.
Editor’s note: This fatwa is from Ask the Scholar’s archive and was originally published at an earlier date.