Al-Sulamī, whenever a student completed the Qur’an under his supervision, would seat the graduate before him, place his hand upon the student’s head and say, “My good man, fear Allah! I know no one better than you—so long as you act upon what you have learned.”
Al-Dārimī transmits from Wahb al-Dhimārī who said: “Whoever is granted the Qur’an by Allah, rises with it in the watches of the night and the hours of the day, lives by its commands, and dies upon obedience, Allah will resurrect him on the Day of Judgment among the safarah and the ahkām.” Saʿīd explained: “The safarah are the angels, and the ahkām are the prophets.”
Muslim relates from ʿĀ’ishah that the Messenger of Allah—may blessings and peace be upon him—said: “The proficient reciter of the Qur’an will be with the noble, dutiful scribes, whereas the one who recites it hesitantly, finding it difficult, receives a double reward.”
Tatātuʿ—stammering—means faltering in speech out of inability and hardship. Such a person earns two rewards: one for the recitation itself and one for the effort it costs. The grades attained by the skilled reciter are higher still, for the Qur’an once caused him to stumble, then he advanced until he was likened to the angels. Allah knows best.
Al-Tirmidhī reports from ʿAbd Allāh ibn Masʿūd that the Messenger of Allah—may blessings and peace be upon him—said: “Whoever recites a single letter from the Book of Allah receives one good deed, and each good deed is worth ten like it. I do not say that ‘Alif-Lām-Mīm’ is a single letter; rather Alif is a letter, Lām is a letter, and Mīm is a letter.” Al-Tirmidhī commented, “A ḥadīth that is sound, authentic, and unique through this chain; it has also been transmitted as a mawqūf report.”
Muslim also narrates from ʿUqbah ibn ʿĀmir: The Messenger of Allah—may blessings and peace be upon him—came out to us while we were in the Ṣuffah and said, “Which of you would like to set out each morning to Buṭḥān or to al-ʿAqīq and return with two large, hump-backed she-camels without committing sin or severing kinship?” We replied, “O Messenger of Allah, every one of us would love that.” He said, “Then should not one of you go to the mosque and learn or recite two verses from the Book of Allah, Mighty and Majestic? That is better for him than two she-camels. Three verses are better for him than three, four are better than four, and so on in proportion to their numbers of camels.”
Abū Hurayrah reports that the Messenger of Allah—may blessings and peace be upon him—said: “Whoever relieves a believer of one of the anxieties of this world, Allah will relieve him of an anxiety from the anxieties of the Day of Resurrection; and whoever makes things easy for a person in straitened circumstances, Allah will make things easy for him…"