and lowers others. In other words, this Quran is taken up by people who recite it and read it: some of them Allah elevates by it in this world and the next, while others He abases by it in this world and the next. Both categories exist.

Whoever lives by the Quran—affirming its reports, carrying out its commands, avoiding its prohibitions, following its guidance, and adorning himself with the character it enjoins, every one of which is praiseworthy—Allah, exalted is He, will raise him through it in this life and the Hereafter. The reason is that this Quran is the root, the source, indeed the entirety, of true knowledge. Allah the Exalted says, “Allah will raise in rank those of you who believe and those who have been given knowledge” ⦗Quran 58:11⦘.

In the Hereafter Allah will, by means of the Quran, elevate people into the Gardens of Bliss. It will be said to the reciter, “Recite, chant, and ascend,” and his ascent in Paradise will continue—if Allah wills—up to the last verse he recites.

As for those whom Allah lowers by it, they are a people who read it and excel in the art of recitation, yet they grow arrogant toward it—Allah’s refuge is sought. They do not believe its reports, nor do they act upon its rulings; they scorn it in practice and deny it in creed. When something from the Quran reaches them—such as the stories of the earlier prophets, verses about the Last Day, and the like—they begin, Allah forbid, to cast doubt