= Al-‘Alim said: “O Abu al-Munzir, do you know which verse of the Book of Allah is the greatest?” He replied, “I say: ‘Allahu lā ilāha illā huwa al-ḥayy al-qayyūm’ (Allah—there is no deity except Him, the Ever-Living, the Sustainer).” He then struck my chest and said, “May knowledge honor you, Abu al-Munzir.” See: Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim, Book of the Travellers’ Prayer and Its Shortening, vol. 1, p. 556 – chapter on the virtue of Sūrat al-Kahf and Ayatul-Kursi. Ibn ‘Abbās (may Allah be pleased with him) says that the most exalted verse in the Qurʾān is Ayatul-Kursi. Some scholars explain this by noting that it mentions the name of Allah—exalted is He—both implicitly and explicitly eighteen times. See: al-Jāmi‘ li-Aḥkām al-Qur’ān by al-Qurṭubī, vol. 2, p. 271. (1) Muslim records in his Ṣaḥīḥ, on the authority of Abū al-Dardā’ from the Prophet (peace be upon him), that he said: “Is any of you unable to recite one-third of the Qur’ān in a single night?” They asked, “How can one recite one-third of the Qur’ān?” He replied, “Recite ‘Qul huwa Allāhu aḥad’ (Say, ‘He is Allah, the One’): it is equivalent to one-third of the Qur’ān.” See: Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim 1/556, Book of the Travellers’ Prayer and Its Shortening – chapter on the virtue of reciting ‘Qul huwa Allāhu aḥad.’ Al-Bukhārī also transmits a similar report from Abū Sa‘īd al-Khudrī (may Allah be pleased with him). See: Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 6/105, Book of the Virtues of the Qur’ān – chapter on the virtue of ‘Qul huwa Allāhu aḥad.’ Al-Qurṭubī (may Allah have mercy on him) comments: “This verse affirms tawḥīd (monotheism) and the highest attributes [of Allah]… and it is equal to one-third of the Qur’ān.” See: Tafsīr al-Qurṭubī 2/270. Shaykh al-Islām (may Allah have mercy on him) composed a treatise entitled “The Response to People of Knowledge and Faith that ‘Qul huwa Allāhu aḥad’ Is Equivalent to One-Third of the Qur’ān.” See: Majmū‘ Fatāwā al-Shaykh, vol. 5, pp. 17–206. It has also been published separately. I have learned that Brother Sulaymān al-Ghufayṣ—of the Department of ‘Aqīdah at the Faculty of Uṣūl al-Dīn—edited this work. (2) In the S and T manuscripts: “inda.” (3) al-Bukhārī records in his Ṣaḥīḥ from Abū Sa‘īd ibn al-Ma‘allā, who said: “I used to pray in…”