and recited: {Qul huwa Allahu Ahad (Say: He is Allah—One)}, then withdrew inside.

Some of us said to one another, “The Messenger of Allah—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—said, ‘I will recite to you one third of the Qur’an’ (1); I am convinced that this is news that has just come to him from heaven.”

The Prophet of Allah—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—then came out again and said, “I told you I would recite one third of the Qur’an to you. Indeed, it is equivalent to one third of the Qur’an.” (2)

Al-Tirmidhi remarked: This ḥadīth is sound, authentic, and, through this particular chain, unique.

What makes it clear that his statement “is equivalent (taʿdil)” includes its very letters is the report recorded by al-Bukhārī in his Ṣaḥīḥ, from Abū Saʿīd al-Khudrī, from Qatādah ibn al-Nuʿmān: A man in the time of the Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—used to stand during the pre-dawn hours and recite {Qul huwa Allahu Ahad (Say: He is Allah—One)}, adding nothing to it. When morning came he went to the Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—and mentioned this, as though he considered it too little. The Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—said, “By Him in whose hand is my soul, it is indeed equivalent to one third of the Qur’an.” (3)

This report is also from Abū Saʿīd; al-Bukhārī narrated it (4) through another chain from Abū Saʿīd himself, and it was likewise transmitted by Abū Dāwūd (5) and al-Nasāʾī (6).