117 - The excellence of the Qur’an and the merit of learning and teaching it

1. The Prophet (peace be upon him) tells us that the best of people who gain the highest grade with God is any person who dedicates himself to learning the recitation, memorization and implementation of the Qur’an. He, thus, learns the meanings and rulings of the Qur’an, then starts to teach it to people. He earns the rank of learners as he learns it, and then gains the rank of scholars through teaching the Qur’an.

It is a condition that learning and teaching should be combined with implementing what one has learned. It is stated that Jesus (peace be upon him) said: ‘Whoever learns, implements and teaches is honoured in the Highest kingdom’.  [1]

2. The tābiꜤīn followed the Prophet’s companions in memorizing the Qur’an and learning its rulings and meanings, then teaching it to people. Abu ꜤAbd al-Raḥmān al-Sulamī, who narrates this hadith from ꜤUthmān, belonged to the tābiꜤīn generation which succeeded the Prophet’s companions. He continued to teach the Qur’an from the time when ꜤUthmān was the caliph to the time when al-Ḥajjāj was governor of Iraq. This was a period close to forty years. 

Abu ꜤAbd al-Raḥmān al-Sulamī’s name was ꜤAbdullāh ibn Ḥabīb ibn RabīꜤah. He belonged to Madinah, then to Kufah. His father was a companion of the Prophet and he was born during the Prophet’s lifetime. Abu ꜤAmr al-Dānī said that he learnt the Qur’an, reciting it to his teachers who were ꜤUthmān ibn ꜤAffān, ꜤAlī ibn Abi Ṭālib, Zayd ibn Thābit, Ubay ibn KaꜤb and ꜤAbdullāh ibn MasꜤūd. His students included ꜤĀṣim ibn Abi al-Najūd who taught Ḥafṣ. Today, most of the Muslim world follows the method of recitation of ‘Ḥafṣ from ꜤĀṣim’. Abu ꜤAbd al-Raḥmān al-Sulamī died in Year 74 AH, 694 CE.

3. Al-Sulamī said: ‘This is what has placed me in this position of mine’. He meant that the reason that made him continue to teach the Qur’an for this long period is what this hadith says. He was eager to be included among those the Prophet describes as ‘the best of you’.

1. It is important to reflect on this hadith and make a sustained effort to learn the Qur’an and its message, proper and accurate recitation, the meanings of its vocabulary and verses, and then to spread such knowledge to others. The person who is too lazy to be one of the best of people is nothing short of being a loser. 

2. People compete to possess what is best: one loves to have the best house, another the best car, a third the best clothes, and some others compete for the best position. The Prophet (peace be upon him), however, tells us that the best of people are those who learn and teach the Qur’an. Let your evaluation of yourself and others be by the standard stated by God’s Messenger (peace be upon him), who only spoke as was revealed to him.

3. Whoever wants the best in this life should focus on the Qur’an; and whoever wants the best in the life to come should focus on the Qur’an; and whoever wants the best in both should focus on the Qur’an.

4. Scholarship is perfected by implementation and teaching. An educator should do his best to teach his students, begrudging them nothing. A student should teach his friends what he has been taught by his teacher. 

5. A scholar who teaches does not achieve the status of ‘best of people’ unless he implements what he has learnt.

He should implement the values the Qur’an teaches, so that he will become a role model for others, motivating them to learn the Qur’an. ꜤAbdullāh ibn MasꜤūd said: ‘A person who has learnt the Qur’an by heart should be known by his [wakeful] night while other people are asleep; by his [fasting] days while people eat; by his sadness while others are in mirth; by his weeping while others are laughing; by being silent while people are gossiping; by his humility while other people move proudly. Having learnt the Qur’an by heart, a person should be tearful, sorrowful, wise, forbearing, knowledgeable and saying little. He should not be overbearing, unmindful, quarrelsome, shouting or hard in treating others’. [2]

6. When you meet a person who has learnt, implemented and taught the Qur’an, be friendly with him, love him and treat him with kindness, even though he may be a poor old person who is rarely treated with respect. He may be one of the best of mankind, according to the Prophet’s definition. This is particularly applicable, if he has taught you some of the Qur’an. To such a teacher you owe a duty. 

7. We should say to Qur’anic teachers that they should persevere in what they do. They should continue to spend long hours in a mosque, an institute or on social media. No such person should ever think that he no longer needs to do such teaching. Abu ꜤAbd al-Raḥmān al-Sulamī continued to do so for forty years, pursuing the grade God grants to teachers of the Qur’an. 

8. A person who does not teach the Qur’an directly should try to teach it in some other way, such as encouraging this by writing articles and giving speeches to encourage this. Other ways include publishing books and computer programmes, establishing Qur’anic circles, renumerating both teachers and students at such circles, publishing podcasts, etc.