He then said:
The Messenger of Allah (1) —peace and blessings be upon him—said:
“Allah has not granted a servant permission to perform anything better than two rakʿahs he offers in prayer. Goodness continues to shower down upon the servant’s head for as long as he remains in his prayer, and no servants have ever drawn near to Allah with anything like that which came forth from Him.”
Abū al-Naḍr explained: he means the Quran.

Al-Tirmidhī (2) commented: “This ḥadith is gharīb; we know it only through this chain. As for Bakr ibn Khunays (3), Ibn al-Mubārak spoke critically of him and, towards the end of his life, abandoned him.”

This ḥadith has also been transmitted from Zayd ibn Arṭaʾah, from Jubayr ibn Nufayr, from the Prophet—peace and blessings be upon him—in mursal form (4). Isḥāq ibn Manṣūr related it to us; ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Mahdī narrated to us, from Muʿāwiyah, from al-ʿAlāʾ ibn al-Ḥārith, from Zayd ibn Arṭaʾah, from Jubayr ibn Nufayr, who said: The Prophet—peace and blessings be upon him—said, “You will not return to Allah with anything better than that which came forth from Him,” meaning the Quran (5).

Abū al-Qāsim al-Lālakāʾī (6) also reported the earlier narration of ʿAmr ibn Dīnār, citing it through the route of Muḥammad ibn Jarīr al-Ṭabarī, who said: Muḥammad ibn Abī Manṣūr al-Āmulī (8) narrated to us ……………………