ʿAbd Allāh ibn Masʿūd said:
“The reciter of the Qur’an ought to be recognized by his nights when people are asleep, and by his days when they are awake; by his tears while others laugh, by his silence when others plunge into idle talk, by his humility while others strut, and by his sorrow when others rejoice.”

ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAmr said:
“It does not befit the bearer of the Qur’an to join those who engage in frivolous chatter, nor to display the ignorance of the ignorant. Rather, for the sake of the Qur’an he carries in his breast, he should pardon and overlook, for within him is the Speech of Allah the Exalted.

He must school himself to avoid every doubtful path, limit his laughter and idle words—whether in Qur’an gatherings or elsewhere—and cultivate forbearance and dignity. He should humble himself to the poor, shun pride and self-admiration, distance himself from the world and its devotees if he fears temptation, abandon argument and contentious debate, and train himself in gentleness and courtesy.

He ought to be someone from whose evil people are safe, whose good is hoped for, and from whose harm others are protected. He should lend no ear to a tale-bearer, and keep the company of those who aid him in goodness, guide him to truthfulness and noble character, adorn rather than disgrace him.

He must learn the rulings of the Qur’an, grasp Allah’s intent and what He has made obligatory, benefit from what he recites and act upon what he reads. How can he act upon words whose meaning he does not understand? How unbecoming that he be asked about the jurisprudence of what he recites yet remain ignorant of it! Such a person is like a donkey laden with books.

He should also know which passages are Meccan and which are Medinan, so that he can distinguish between what Allah addressed to His servants at the dawn of Islam and what He urged upon them later; between what He first made obligatory and the additional obligations imposed subsequently. In most of the Qur’an the Medinan verses abrogate the Meccan, and it is impossible for the Meccan to abrogate the Medinan, for what is abrogated necessarily precedes in revelation the passage that abrogates it.

Completeness further requires that he know Arabic grammar and the rare vocabulary, for such knowledge facilitates his understanding of what he recites and removes any doubt concerning the verses he reads.

Abū Jaʿfar al-Ṭabarī said: “I heard al-Jarmī say, ‘For thirty years I have been issuing legal verdicts to the people in matters of jurisprudence on the basis of Sībawayh’s book.’”

Muḥammad ibn Yazīd commented: “Abū ʿUmar al-Jarmī had been a scholar of ḥadīth; when he mastered Sībawayh’s book he attained deep understanding of ḥadīth, for that book is studied to acquire analytical reasoning and interpretation—and likewise with the sound, transmitted Sunan of the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him …”