994 – ʿĀʾishah (may Allah be pleased with her) reported that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said, “Whoever recites the Qur’an fluently will be with the noble, dutiful scribes, and whoever recites it while faltering and finding it difficult shall receive a double reward.” Agreed upon.

[Commentary]
The author—may Allah have mercy on him—cited in his book Riyad al-Salihin, in the chapter on the virtue of reciting the Qur’an, the report from ʿUthmān ibn ʿAffān (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said, “The best of you are those who learn the Qur’an and teach it.” This address is directed to the entire ummah. Hence, the best of people are those who unite these two qualities: they learn the Qur’an and they teach it. Learning it from others and then passing it on to others includes both the verbal aspect and the aspect of meaning. Thus, whoever memorises the Qur’an and proceeds to teach people its recitation and help them commit it to memory falls under the heading of “teaching,” and whoever studies the Qur’an in this manner is counted among the “learners.”

From this we understand the virtue of the study circles that exist today—praise be to Allah—in many lands and in the mosques, where children learn the words of Allah. Whoever contributes to these circles in any way earns a reward; whoever enrolls his children in them earns a reward; and whoever volunteers to teach in them earns a reward. All of them are encompassed by his ﷺ statement, “The best of you are those who learn the Qur’an and teach it.”