All praise be to Allah, and may His peace and blessings be upon the Messenger of Allah.
Reading the Glorious Quran and listening to its recitation with reflection are both considered among the best acts of worship. Ibn Mas`ud (May Allah be pleased with him) reported: The Messenger of Allah (PBUH) said: "Whoever recites a letter from the Book of Alla will be credited with a good deed, and a good deed gets a ten-fold reward. I do not say that Alif-Lam-Mim is one letter, but Alif is a letter, Lam is a letter and Mim is a letter.” {At-Tirmidhi}.
Also, 'Abdullah bin Masoud narrated: "The Prophet (PBUH) said to me: (Recite to me). So I said: O Messenger of Allah, I recite to you, and it (the Quran) was sent down to you?! He said: (Yes). So I recited Surah al-Nisaa until I came to this ayah: (How (will it be) then, when We bring from each nation a witness and We bring you (O Muhammad) as a witness against these people.) Whereupon he (the Prophet) said: (That's enough for now). Then I turned to him, and there were tears in his eyes." (Related by Bukhari)
In differentiating acts of worship, there is no recourse but to depend upon evidence, for if no evidence is found which prefers one act of worship to another, then we must be silent about the matter, and direct every worshiper of Allah to what Allah opens to him by it, for whoever finds his enthusiasm in recitation occupies himself with it most, and whoever finds his enthusiasm in listening and paying attention to what he hears occupies himself with that most. If we believed that reading (quira'a) was preferable; recitation (tilawah) includes listening to reading itself, and includes more than that, and that is reading while moving the tongue in pronouncing the words of Allah, and looking at the mus'haf , and for these reasons reading is preferable.
Whatever the case may be, the Muslim should vary his efforts between reading and listening while paying attention, and abide by what his heart believes to be closer to humble submissiveness ,reflection and understanding of the verses of the Quran. And Allah knows best.
