Ibn ʿUmar remained with Sūrat al-Baqarah for eight years, learning it in full.

Abu Bakr Aḥmad ibn ʿAlī ibn Thābit, the ḥāfiẓ, relates in his book entitled (1) “The Names of Those Who Transmitted from Mālik” that Mirdās ibn Muḥammad Abū Bilāl al-Ashʿarī said: “Mālik narrated to us, from Nāfiʿ, from Ibn ʿUmar, who said: ʿUmar learned Sūrat al-Baqarah in twelve years, and when he completed it he slaughtered a camel in gratitude to Allah.”

Abu Bakr al-Anbārī also reported: “Muḥammad ibn Shahrayār told me, Ḥusayn ibn al-Aswad told us, ʿUbaydullāh ibn Mūsā told us, from Ziyād ibn Abī Muslim Abū ʿAmr, from Ziyād ibn Mikhrāq, who said that ʿAbdullāh ibn Masʿūd said: ‘It was hard for us to memorize the very words of the Qur’an, yet easy to act upon them; whereas those who come after us will find memorizing the Qur’an easy but acting upon it difficult.’ ”

Ibrāhīm ibn Mūsā narrated to us, Yūsuf ibn Mūsā narrated to us, al-Faḍl ibn Dukayn narrated to us, Ismāʿīl ibn Ibrāhīm ibn al-Muhājir narrated to us, from his father, from Mujāhid, from Ibn ʿUmar, who said: “Among the foremost Companions of the Messenger of Allah—peace and blessings be upon him—at the beginning of this community, none of them memorized more than a sūrah or so, yet they were granted the ability to act upon the Qur’an. Toward the end of this community people will recite the Qur’an—among them children and the blind—yet they will not be granted the ability to act upon it.”

Ḥasan ibn ʿAbd al-Wahhāb Abū Muḥammad ibn Abī al-ʿAnbar told me: Abū Bakr ibn Ḥammād the reciter told us. He said: “I heard Khalaf ibn Hishām al-Bazzār say, ‘I think the Qur’an is but a loan placed in our hands. We have been informed that ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb memorized Sūrat al-Baqarah in a little over ten years, and when he had finished it he slaughtered a camel in thanks to Allah; yet in our own day a mere boy can sit before me and recite a third of the Qur’an without dropping a single letter. For that reason I suspect the Qur’an is only on loan to us.’ ”

The scholars of ḥadīth have said: A seeker of ḥadīth should not limit himself to merely hearing ḥadīth and writing them down without grasping and understanding them, for in that case he would exhaust himself without gaining any real share. Rather, he should memorize ḥadīth gradually, little by little, over nights and days. Among the masters of ḥadīth from whom this advice has been transmitted are Shuʿbah, Ibn ʿUlayyah, and Maʿmar.

Maʿmar said: “I heard al-Zuhrī say, ‘Whoever seeks knowledge all at once will lose it all at once; knowledge is obtained one ḥadīth at a time—or perhaps two.’ And Allah knows best.”

Muʿādh ibn Jabal said: “Learn whatever you wish to learn, but Allah will not reward you for it until you act upon it.”

And Ibn ʿAbd al-Barr said: “The Prophet—peace and blessings be upon him—related …”