The Excellent Qualities of the Qur'an

‘Uthman Narrated from:

The best among you is he who learns and teaches the Qur’ān.” Bukhārī transmitted it.

'Uqbah bin 'Amir Narrated from:

When we were in the Suffa (A kind of verandah at the mosque in Medina where certain poor people lived) God’s messenger came out and asked, “Which of you would like to go out every morning to Buthān or al-‘Aqīq (Two wādis not far from Medina where camels were sold) and bring two large-humped she-camels without being guilty of sin or severing ties of relationship?” We replied, “Messenger of God, we would all like that.”He said, “Does not one of you go out in the morning to the mosque and teach or recite two verses of God’s Book? That is better for him than two she- camels, and three verses are better for him than three she-camels, and four verses are better for him than four she-camels, and so on than their numbers in camels.”Muslim transmitted it.

Abū Huraira Narrated from:

Would one of you like, when he returns to his family, to find there three large, fat pregnant she-camels? When we replied that we would, he said, “Three verses which one of you recites in his prayer are better for him than three large, fat, pregnant she-camels.” Muslim transmitted it.

A'isha Narrated from:

One who is skilled in the Qur’ān is associated with the noble, upright recording angels; and he who falters when reciting the Qur’ān and finds it difficult for him will have a double reward.” (Bukhārī and Muslim.)

Ibn 'Umar Narrated from:

Envy is justified only regarding two types: a man who, having been given [knowledge of] the Qur’ān by God, stands reciting it during the night and during the day; and a man who having been given property by God, spends on others from it during the night and during the day.” (Bukhārī and Muslim.)

Abū Mūsa al-Ash'ari Narrated from:

A believer who recites the Qur’ān is like a citron whose fragrance is sweet and whose taste is sweet, a believer who does not recite the Qur’ān is like a date which has no fragrance but has a sweet state, a hypocrite who does not recite the Qur’ān is like the colocynth which has no fragrance and has a better taste, and the hypocrite who recites the Qur’ān is like basil whose fragrance is sweet but whose taste is bitter.” A version has, “A believer who recites the Qur’ān and acts according to it is like a citron, and a believer who does not recite the Qur’ān but acts according to it is like a date.” (Bukhārī and Muslim.)

‘Umar b. al Khattāb reported God’s messenger as saying, “By this Book God exalts some peoples and lowers others.” Muslim trans­mitted it.

Usaid bin Hudair Narrated from:

One night when he was reciting sūra al-Baqara (Qur’ān, 2) with his mare tied beside him it moved round in a circle, so he stopped reciting and it stopped moving. He resumed his recitation and it went round in a circle, so he stopped reciting and it stopped moving. Once more he recited and the mare moved round in a circle, so he left off reciting, for his son Yahyā was near it and he was afraid it might injure him.When he had moved him back he raised his head to the sky and saw something like a canopy with what seemed to be lamps in it, and when he told the Prophet of it in the morning, he said, “You should have kept on reciting, Ibn Hudair, you should have kept on reciting, Ibn Hudair.” He replied, “I was afraid, messenger of God, that it might trample on Yahyā who was near it, so I went to him, and when I raised my head to the sky and saw something like a canopy with what seemed to be lamps in it, I went out but could not see them.”He asked whether he knew what that was, and when he replied that he did not, he said, “Those were the angels who had drawn near to listen to your voice, and if you had continued reciting the people would have looked at them in the morning and they would not have concealed themselves from them.”(Bukhārī and Muslim, the wording being Bukhārī’s). Muslim has, “They went up into the air” instead of “I went out.”

Al-Bara Narrated from:

When a man was reciting sūra al-Kahf (Qur’ān, 18) with a horse tied with two ropes at his side a cloud overshadowed him, and as it began to come nearer and nearer his horse began to take fright. He went and mentioned that to the Prophet in the morning and he said, “That was the Shechina* which came down by reason of the Qur’ān.” *The word in Arabic is as-sakīna which may be translated calmness; but here it has the article which indicates something more precise. It may therefore here refer to the Jewish idea of the Shechina which indicates a divine visitation, (Bukhārī and Muslim.)

Abū Sa'īd b. al-Mu‘allā Narrated from:

When I was praying in the mosque the Prophet called me and I did not answer him, but I went to him afterwards and explained that I had been praying, whereupon he asked me whether God had not said, “Respond to God and to the messenger when He calls you,” (Qur’ān, 8:24) adding, “Let me teach you the greatest sūra in the Qur’ān before you leave the mosque.”He then took me by the hand, and when we were about to go out I reminded him of saying he would teach me the greatest sūra in the Qur’ān. He said, “It is, ‘Praise be to God, the Lord of the universe’, (Qur'ān, 1) which is the seven oft-repeated verses and the mighty Qur’ān’ (Qur’ān, 15:87) which has been brought to me.”Bukhārī transmitted it.