and their distress weighed heavily upon him; so how could he possibly hide from them that which contains their guidance, leave them floundering in error, veil from them the truth and the right path, fail to direct them to it or point it out, and never utter a single word about it, whether small or great?!
No Muslim could hold such a belief. Furthermore, even if concealing it were somehow allowable, how could it be allowable for him to come forward and openly declare that this is the Quran—by reciting the very verses that affirm it, and by saying: “Indeed, this Quran has been revealed to me so that I may warn you thereby and whomever it reaches” 1; and, “And the Messenger will say, ‘My Lord, my people have abandoned this Quran’ ” 2, and other verses like them? How could he also say: “Whoever recites the Quran and pronounces it correctly will receive ten good deeds for every letter” 3, and say: “Recite…"
(1) Sura al-An‘âm, verse 19.
(2) Sura al-Furqân, verse 30.
(3) The author records this hadith in Ḥikāyat al-Munāẓara (p. 38) and in al-Burhān, classifying it as authentic there. In Lum‘at al-I‘tiqād (p. 18) he likewise states “authentic,” although I have not found it in this precise wording. Its substance is, however, cited by Ibn ‘Addī in al-Kāmil (vol. 7, p. 41) via Abū ‘Isma‘ā Nūḥ ibn Abī Maryam from Zayd al-‘Ammī, from Sa‘īd ibn al-Musayyib, from ‘Umar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb, who reported that the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said:
“Whoever recites the Qur’ān and parses it (yu’arribuhu), receives forty hasanāt (good deeds) for every letter; whoever parses it partially and errs in some places, receives twenty hasanāt for every letter; and whoever does not parse it at all, receives ten hasanāt for every letter.”
This hadith is also transmitted by:
• Abū’l-Faḍl al-Rāzī in Faḍā’il al-Qur’ān (p. 143, no. 111)
• al-Bayhaqī in Shu‘ab al-Īmān (5/241, no. 2097)
• al-Khaṭīb al-Baghdādī in al-Muttafaq wa’l-Muftaḥaq (3/1865, no. 1454)
• al-Shuj‘rī in al-Amālī (1/119)
• Ibn Shayhīn in al-Targhīb wa’l-Tarhīb fī Faḍā’il al-A‘māl (p. 219, no. 202), though without its final clause.
However, this narration is very weak due to the severe unreliability of Nūḥ ibn Abī Maryam, whom Ibn ‘Uyayna, Ibn al-Mubārak, and others have accused of fabricating hadith (see Tahdhīb al-Kamāl 30/56; Tahdhīb al-Tahdhīb 10/486). Zayd al-‘Ammī is likewise deemed weak by Ibn Ma‘īn, Abū Zur‘a, and Abū Ḥātim (see al-Jarḥ wa’l-Ta‘dīl 1/560; Mīzān al-I‘tīdāl 2/102).