Chapter: A selection of the Qur’an’s virtues, the urging to engage with it, and the merit of the one who seeks, recites, listens to, and acts upon it

Know that this subject is vast and far-reaching; the scholars have authored many works about it. We shall cite only a few points that indicate the Qur’an’s superiority and what Allah has prepared for its people—provided they pursue it sincerely for His sake and live by it.

First and foremost, the believer must keep firmly in mind that the Qur’an is the Speech of the Lord of all worlds, uncreated, the Speech of the One to whom nothing is comparable, an attribute of the One who has neither peer nor equal. It issues from the light of His very Essence—glorified and exalted is He. As for the recitation, it consists of the voices and melodies of the reciters; these are their own acquired deeds. They are commanded to recite: at times it is obligatory within particular acts of worship, and at many other times recommended. They are forbidden to recite while in a state of major ritual impurity, rewarded for performing it, and liable for leaving it. The Muslims who adhere to the truth are unanimously agreed on this; the transmitted reports speak plainly of it, and the widely circulated traditions confirm it. Reward and punishment pertain only to what lies within the servants’ own deeds, as will be explained.

Had He—glorified be He—not placed within His servants’ hearts a strength for bearing the Qur’an, so that they might ponder it, take heed, and remember what it contains of obedience and worship, they would never have been able to carry it. Exalted is His Majesty, and His word is true:

“Had We sent down this Qur’an upon a mountain, you would have seen it humbled, split asunder out of awe of Allah” (Q 59:21).

Where, then, is the strength of hearts compared with the strength of mountains! Yet Allah, exalted is He, has granted His servants such power to bear it as He wills, out of grace and mercy.

As for the reports transmitted on this topic, the first is what al-Tirmidhī recorded from Abū Saʿīd, who said that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ declared:

“The Lord, Blessed and Exalted, says: ‘Whoever is kept busy by the Qur’an and My remembrance from asking Me, I shall give him more than I give to those who ask.’

And: ‘The superiority of Allah’s Speech over all other speech is like the superiority of Allah over His creation.’”

Al-Tirmidhī said: This ḥadith is ḥasan, gharīb.

Abū Muḥammad al-Dārmī of Samarqand narrated in his Musnad from ʿAbd Allāh who said:

“The Seven Long Surahs are like the Torah, the Hundreds are like the Gospel, the Mathānī are like the Psalms, and the rest of the Qur’an is an added excellence.”

He also transmitted from al-Ḥārith… (and the account continues).