the obligatory action of affirming its contents and affirming Allah’s oneness, then the reward for this is greater than the reward of someone who recites the entire Quran without acting accordingly. For if he lacks faith in the contents of the Quran, he is a hypocrite; and if he fails to perform the deeds obligatory upon him, he is a sinful transgressor. It is well known that even if such a person recited the Quran ten times, his reward would not equal that of a believer who fears Allah. Moreover, this reward is for believing in its contents, whether he recites it or not, whereas the reward mentioned in the hadith is for someone who recites it. Thus, he must have recited it while believing in what it contains.

Furthermore, the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, declared that reciting it was equivalent to one-third of the Quran. He recited it to his Companions and told them that he had recited one-third of the Quran to them. His recitation of it was therefore equivalent to his own recitation of a third. The same applies to the man who kept repeating it. Likewise, when he told them that it was equivalent to one-third of the Quran, he meant a third as recited by them. He did not mean a third in the case of a hypocrite who recites it without believing in the meaning of:

“Say: He is Allah, One.”

Moreover, the interpretation that this refers to someone who recites a third without believing in this surah has no basis in the wording; rather, the wording indicates the opposite. This interpretation and others like it constitute the distortion of words from their proper places for which Allah condemned those among the People of the Book who did so. It is a form of deviation concerning the words of Allah and His Messenger.

Abū Hāmid al-Ghazālī mentioned another explanation besides these three. He said in his book Jawāhir al-Qur’ān wa-Duraruhu (The Jewels and Pearls of the Quran):

“As for his statement, ‘“Say: He is Allah, One”