The Prophet said, "The believer who recites the Quran is like a citron, its taste is sweet and its fragrance is pleasant. The believer who does not recite is like a date, its taste is sweet but it has no fragrance. The wicked person who recites the Quran is like basil, its fragrance is pleasant but its taste is bitter. And the wicked person who does not recite the Quran is like a colocynth, its taste is bitter and it has no fragrance."In Muslim's wording, "the hypocrite" appears in place of "the wicked person."
ى، عن النبي قال: مثل المؤمن الذي يقرأ القرآن كالأترجة، طعمها طيب وريحها طيب، والذي لا يقرأ كالتمرة، طعمها طيب ولا ريح لها، ومثل الفاجر الذي يقرأ القرآن كمثل الريحانة، ريحها طيب وطعمها مر، ومثل الفاجر الذي لا يقرأ القرآن كمثل الحنظلة، طعمها مر ولا ريح لها. وفي لفظ مسلم: مثل المنافق بدل مثل الفاجر.
Bukhari narrated it in the virtues of the Quran (502), and Muslim narrated it in the prayer of travelers (797, 243), both from Hudba, or Haddab, bin Khalid, who said, Hammam narrated to us, who said, Qatada narrated to us, who said, Anas bin Malik narrated to us, from Abu Musa, and he related it as mentioned.Abu Dawud narrated it (4829) from Muslim bin Ibrahim, who said, Aban (that is, the son of Yazid Attar) narrated to us, from Qatada, from Anas, who said, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, "The believer who recites the Quran is like the citron, its smell is pleasant and its taste is pleasant. The believer who does not recite the Quran is like the date, its taste is pleasant but it has no smell. The wicked person who recites the Quran is like the sweet basil, its smell is pleasant but its taste is bitter. The wicked person who does not recite the Quran is like the colocynth, its taste is bitter and it has no smell. A good companion is like the perfume seller, if none of it reaches you, some of its scent still reaches you. A bad companion is like the blacksmith's bellows, if none of its soot reaches you, some of its smoke still reaches you."This hadith is the hadith of Abu Musa Ashari, so perhaps one of the narrators forgot to mention Abu Musa Ashari in the chain. Mizzi said in Tuhfa (1/299), "The hadith of Anas from Abu Musa is the one that is preserved."