and scholarly disagreements, or uncommon legal questions, or following others’ opinions where there is no need to do so, or rare hadith reports that are neither reliably established nor beneficial, and many mathematical studies unsupported by proof, while neglecting to memorize the Quran, which is more important than all of these. A question of this kind therefore requires a detailed distinction. The purpose of the Quran is to understand its meanings and act upon it. If this is not the aim of the person who memorizes it, he is not among the people of knowledge and religious devotion. Allah, glorified is He, knows best.

He was asked:

Which is better and brings greater reward: repeatedly reciting the Quran or reviewing jurisprudence?

He replied:

All praise is due to Allah. The best speech is the speech of Allah, and the best guidance is the guidance of Muhammad, may Allah bless him and grant him peace. The speech of created beings cannot compare with Allah’s speech, for the superiority of the Quran over all other speech is like Allah’s superiority over His creation.

As for what is better for a particular person, this depends on his needs and what benefits him. If he knows the Quran by heart but needs to learn something else, learning what he needs is better than repeating a recitation that he has no need to repeat. The same applies if he has memorized enough of the Quran and needs knowledge of another kind.