is not one of us. This indicates that a person should adorn his voice when reciting the Qur’an and see in it sufficiency, dispensing with anything else.

As for the third hadith, narrated by ʿAbd Allāh ibn Masʿūd (may Allah be pleased with him), the Prophet ﷺ asked him to recite the Qur’an to him. Ibn Masʿūd said, “Shall I recite it to you when it was revealed to you?” The Prophet ﷺ replied, “I love to hear it from someone other than myself.” The listener, after all, is often better able to ponder the Qur’an than the one who is reciting, for the reciter is occupied with avoiding mistakes, whereas the listener reflects and contemplates. Hence the saying, “The reciter is the milker and the listener is the drinker”—meaning that the reciter draws the milk from the she-camel or ewe, while the listener drinks it and thus reaps the benefit.

In short, the Prophet ﷺ requested Ibn Masʿūd to read to him. When Ibn Masʿūd asked, “Shall I recite the Qur’an to you when it was revealed to you?” he answered, “I love to hear it from others.” So Ibn Masʿūd began Sūrat al-Nisā’. When he reached the verse, “How, then, will it be when We bring from every nation a witness and bring you as a witness against these?” (4:41),—that is, What will the situation be like on that Day?—the Prophet ﷺ said, “Enough for now.” Ibn Masʿūd continues, “I turned and saw that his eyes were streaming with tears.” The Prophet ﷺ wept at the thought that he would be brought on the Day of Resurrection as a witness against his community. On that Day a witness will be brought from every nation: the prophets will testify, and the scholars will testify as well, for scholars are the intermediaries between the messengers and creation—they are the ones who convey the messengers’ law to the people, and so they, too, will bear witness.