Praise be to Allah.
Virtues of Surat Al-Mulk
Concerning the virtue of Surat Al-Mulk , it was narrated by At-Tirmidhi (2891) that the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) said: “There is a Surah of the Quran, thirty verses long, which will intercede for a man until he is forgiven. It is the Surah [which begins with the words] ‘Tabaarak alladhi bi yadihi’l-mulk… (Blessed is He in whose hand is dominion…).’” (Classed as sound by Shaykh Al-Albani (may Allah have mercy on him) in Sahih Sunan At-Tirmidhi)
At-Tirmidhi also narrated from Jabir (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) would not go to sleep until he had recited “Alif, Lam, Mim. [This is] the revelation of the Book” [Surat As-Sajdah ] and “Tabarak alladhi bi yadihi’l-mulk… (Blessed is He in whose hand is dominion…)” [Surat Al-Mulk] (Classed as authentic by Shaykh Al-Albani (may Allah have mercy on him))
An-Nasa’i (10479) narrated that Ibn Mas`ud (may Allah be pleased with him) said: “Whoever recites ‘Tabarak alladhi bi yadihi’l-mulk… (Blessed is He in whose hand is dominion…)’ [Surat Al-Mulk] every night, Allah will protect him [mana‘ahu] thereby from the punishment of the grave. At the time of the Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him), we used to call it Al-maani‘ah (the protector). It is a Surah in the Book of Allah which, whoever recites it every night, he will have done a great deal and done well.” (Classed as sound by Shaykh Al-Albani (may Allah have mercy on him) in Sahih At-Targhib wat-Tarhib.)
The point – as is the apparent meaning of the Hadiths – is that the virtue mentioned is only attained by the one who recites that Surah.
Will you be rewarded for listening to Surat Al-Mulk before sleeping?
With regard to simply listening, without reading, the one who does that is not regarded as reciting or reading Surat Al-Mulk , even though listening to it is a prescribed act of worship and is something that is required. But he will not necessarily attain the same reward and virtue as the one who reads it. We do not know of any evidence to suggest any basis for regarding the acts as equal.
Based on that, whoever wants to attain the virtue mentioned in the Hadiths has to read the Surah; it is not sufficient simply to listen to it.
If he cannot read it, then he can repeat after the reciter, especially since it is easy to listen via various means. There are recorded recitations that allow the listener to repeat after the reciter. If he is able to do that, then that is better, in sha Allah, and by doing that he will actually have read or recited it, and perhaps he will attain a greater reward for his patience in putting up with the hardship involved in that.
Whoever is not able to do any of that, or it is too difficult for him, so he only listens to what he is able to, then we hope that he will not be deprived of the reward of one who reads or recites, or the virtues narrated about reciting such Surahs, if he does what he is able to.
For more details, please refer to the following answers: 72591 , 75894 , 90186 , and 2241
And Allah knows best.
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