The Excellence of the Carriers of the Holy Quran

‘‘The Messenger of Allah has said, ‘People of the Holy Quran are of the highest degree among men, except the prophets and the messengers of Allah, thus, you should not consider them weak in the matters of their rights; with Allah, the Most Majestic, the Almighty, they have a special status.’”

‘‘One who has memorized the Holy Quran and acts upon it will be with the honorable and righteous angels.”

"Recite and ascend," so with each verse he recites, he will ascend a degree. His parents, if they were believers, will also be clothed in two garments, and it will be said to them: "This is for what you taught him of the Quran."'

“If a young believing person reads the Holy Quran, it mixes with his flesh and blood. Allah, the Most Majestic, the Most Holy, will include him among the honorable and virtuous carriers of the message of Allah and on the Day of Judgment the Holy Quran will be his supporter. The Holy Quran will say, ‘O Lord, every worker has received the reward for his deeds except my worker. Provide him the most honorable reward.’ Allah will then dress him with two dresses of paradise and crown him with the crown of honor and then ask the Holy Quran, ‘Did We make you happy?’ The Holy Quran will say, ‘Lord, I wished for him better than this.’ Allah will then give peace in his right hand, eternity in his left hand and will say to him read from the Holy Quran one verse and go one degree higher. Then the Holy Quran is asked again, ‘Did we reward him good and make you happy?’ The Holy Quran will say, ‘Yes, Lord.’ “The Imam said, ‘If one reads the Holy Quran very often and faces difficulties to memorize it due to weaker memory, Allah will give him twice as much reward.’”

“The Messenger of Allah has said, ‘The one expected to be the most humble in private and in public is the carrier of the Holy Quran, the one expected the most to perform prayer and fast in private and in public is the carrier of the Holy Quran. Then he called out loud, “O carrier of the Holy Quran, be humble with the holy Quran, Allah will raise you for it, do not try to raise your reputation with it for the sake of people; Allah for this will cause you to be humiliated. O carrier of the Holy Quran, beautify the Quran for the sake of Allah and Allah will beautify you for it, do not beautify it’s recitation for the people for Allah will cause your reputation to be reduced. Whoever completes the Holy Quran, it is as if he has saved prophet-hood between his two sides, only divine revelation does not come to him. Whoever collects the Holy Quran has gained handsomely, thus, toward one who behaves toward him ignorantly, he does behave as such; with one who behaves toward him with anger, he does not do as such; and with one who behaves toward him irritably, he does not behave as such. With one who behaves with him in this manner he pardons, ignores, forgives, and bears patiently with them out of respect for the Holy Quran. If one who has received the Holy Quran thinks that what others have received is better than what he has received, he has given significance to what Allah is has made worthless and has considered as worthless what Allah has given greatness.’”

“People are of four kinds. I (the narrator) then asked, ‘May Allah keep my soul in service for your cause, who are they?’ The Imam said, ‘A man who has received belief but not the Holy Quran, a man who has received the Holy Quran but not belief, a man who has received both belief and the Holy Quran and a man who has received none of then.’ I (the narrator) then said, ‘May Allah keep my soul in service for your cause, explain it to me.’ The Imam said, ‘The one who has received belief but not the Holy Quran is like a fruit that is sweet but has no aroma, the one who has received the Holy Quran but not belief is like pears that has a sweet fragrance but tastes bitter. The one who has received both the Holy Quran and belief is like citrus that tastes sweet and has a sweet fragrance. The one who has received neither the Holy Quran nor belief is like Hanzal (a bitter tasting fruit of a plant that tastes bitter and smells bitter).”’

“Once I asked Ali ibn al-Husayn (a.s.) ‘What deed is more virtuous?’ He said, ‘Al-Hall al- Murtahal .’ I then asked, ‘What is al-Hall al-MurtahalT The Imam said, ‘It is one who opens the Holy Quran and completes reading, whenever he begins he arrives at the end of the Holy Quran.’ The Imam said that the Messenger of Allah has said, ‘If one who has received the Holy Quran would think that what others have received is better than what he has received, he has considered something very great as insignificant, and something insignificant as very great.’”

“Abu ‘Abd Allah (a.s.) once said to me, ‘If anyone reads the Holy Quran, he is wealthy and there is no poverty thereafter, otherwise, he will never be wealthy.’”

“The Messenger of Allah has said, ‘O community of the readers of the Holy Quran be pious before Allah, the Most Majestic, the Most Holy, in the matters of the responsibility that He has placed upon you toward His book. I will be questioned and you will be questioned. I will be questioned about the preaching of the message and you will be questioned about your responsibility toward the book of Allah and my Sunnah (the laws).”’

“I heard Musa ibn Ja’far (a.s.) asking a man, ‘Do you like to live forever in this world’? The man said, ‘Yes, I do so.’ The Imam asked, ‘Why would you do so?’ The man said, ‘So that I can read {Say, "He is God, the One"}’ The Imam (a.s.) remained calm for a while and after an hour said, ‘O Hafs, if any of our lovers and our Shi’a (followers) do not do good in reading the Quran, in his grave he will receive instruction to read so that Allah will raise him with his proper status; the positions and degrees in paradise are proportionate to the verses of the Quran. One will be told to read and climb. He then reads and climbs up.’ Hafs has said, ‘I never saw anyone more afraid for himself than Musa ibn Ja’far (a.s.) or more hopeful in all people. His reading was full of sadness. When reading the Quran he seemed like addressing (speaking to) a human being.’”

“The Messenger of Allah has said, ‘The carriers of the Holy Quran will be the most knowledgeable people of paradise, the assiduously working people will be the leaders in paradise and the messengers will be the masters of the people of paradise.’”