Qurra reported, I was sitting with the Prophet ﷺ when I heard him say, "Learn Surat al-Baqarah, for taking hold of it is a blessing, abandoning it is a regret, and the magicians cannot overcome it."He then fell silent for a while, then said, "Learn Surat al-Baqarah and Al Imran, for they are the two luminous ones. They will shade their companion on the Day of Resurrection as if they were two clouds, or two canopies, or two flocks of birds in ranks.The Quran will meet its companion on the Day of Resurrection, when his grave is split open, in the form of a pale man. It will say to him, 'Do you know me?' He will reply, 'I do not know you.' It will say, 'I am your companion the Quran, the one who made you thirsty in the heat of midday and kept you awake through your nights. Every merchant stands behind his trade, and today you stand behind every trade.'Sovereignty will then be placed in his right hand and eternity in his left, the crown of dignity will be set upon his head, and his parents will be clothed in two garments whose value the people of this world could not match. They will ask, 'For what have we been clothed with these?' It will be said, 'Because your child took hold of the Quran.'Then he will be told, 'Recite and ascend through the levels of Paradise and its chambers,' and he will keep ascending as long as he recites, whether quickly or with measured recitation."
كنت جالسا عند النبي ﷺ فسمعته يقول: تعلموا سورة البقرة؛ فإن أخذها بركة، وتركها حسرة، ولا يستطيعها البطلة. قال: ثم سكت ساعة، ثم قال: تعلموا سورة البقرة وآل عمران؛ فإنهما الزهراوان يظلان صاحبهما يوم القيامة كأنهما غمامتان، أو غيايتان، أو فرقان من طير صواف، وإن القرآن يلقى صاحبه يوم القيامة حين ينشق عنه قبره كالرجل الشاحب فيقول له: هل تعرفني؟ فيقول: ما أعرفك فيقول: أنا صاحبك القرآن الذي أظمأتك في الهواجر، وأسهرت ليلك، وإن كل تاجر من وراء تجارته، وإنك اليوم من وراء كل تجارة، فيعطى الملك بيمينه، والخلد بشماله، ويوضع على رأسه تاج الوقار، ويكسى والداه حلتين لا يقوم لهما أهل الدنيا، فيقولان: بم كسينا هذا؟ فيقال: بأخذ ولدكما القرآن. ثم يقال له: اقرأ واصعد في درج الجنة وغرفها، فهو في صعود ما دام يقرأ، هذا كان، أو ترتيلا.
Ibn Majah (3781), Ahmad (22950, with this wording), Bazzar in Kashf Astar (2302), Darimi (3435), and Hakim (1/560, 566) all narrated it through the hadith of Bashir bin Muhajir, who said, "Abdullah bin Burayda told me, from his father," and he mentioned it. Ibn Majah's wording is very abridged. Its chain is hasan because of Bashir bin Muhajir, concerning whom there is disagreement, though his hadith is hasan when he does not contradict others and does not bring anything objectionable. Ibn Hajar also graded it hasan in Matalib (3478). Hakim said, "Sahih according to the standard of Muslim." As for Aqeeli, he mentioned this hadith in his entry on Bashir bin Muhajir and said, "No hadith on this subject from the Prophet ﷺ is sahih, their chains being roughly similar."As for what was narrated from Muaz bin Anas Juhani, that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, "Whoever recites the Quran and acts upon what is in it, his parents will be crowned on the Day of Resurrection with a crown whose light is better than the light of the sun in the houses of this world, if it were among you. So what do you think of the one who himself acted upon it?" This is not sahih in its chain. It was narrated by Abu Dawud (1453), Ahmad (15645), and Hakim (1/567), all through routes from Zabban bin Fayd, from Sahl bin Muaz bin Anas Juhani, from his father, and he mentioned it. Hakim said, "Sahih in chain," but Dhahabi corrected him, saying, "Zabban is not strong." He is right, for Zabban bin Fayd was declared daif by Ahmad, Ibn Main, and others. Ibn Hibban said, "His hadith is very objectionable. He transmits from Sahl bin Muaz a body of material that appears fabricated. It cannot be relied upon."Likewise, what was narrated from Abu Hurairah, attributing it to the Prophet ﷺ, that he said, "There is no man who teaches his child the Quran in this world but that his father will be crowned on the Day of Resurrection with a crown in Paradise, by which the people of Paradise will recognize him, on account of his having taught his child the Quran in this world," is not sahih. It was narrated by Tabarani in Al-Awsat (3471, in Majma Bahrayn), from Ahmad bin Yahya bin Khalid bin Hayan, who said, Musa bin Nasih told us, Jabir bin Sulaym Zurqi told us, from Abbad bin Abu Salih, from his father, from Abu Hurairah, and he mentioned it. Abbad bin Abu Salih is Abdullah bin Abu Salih Samman, whose hadith is weak. As for Ahmad bin Yahya bin Khalid and Musa bin Nasih, I have found no criticism or endorsement of either of them, though Ibn Hibban mentioned Musa among his reliable narrators.Likewise, what was narrated from Ibn Abbas is not sahih. He said, "While he was sitting with the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, Ali bin Abu Talib came to him and said, 'May my father and mother be sacrificed for you, O Messenger of Allah, this Quran keeps slipping from my chest, and I cannot manage to retain it.' The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said to him, 'O Abul-Hasan, shall I not teach you words by which Allah will benefit you, benefit whomever you teach them, and fix what you have learned firmly in your chest?' He said, 'Yes indeed, O Messenger of Allah, teach me.' He said, 'When the night of Friday comes, if you are able to rise in the last third of the night, do so, for it is a witnessed hour in which supplication is answered. It is the time referred to in the saying of my brother Yaqub to his sons, "He said, I shall ask forgiveness for you from my Lord" [Yusuf 12:98] until the night of Friday came. If you are not able to do that, then rise in its middle, and if you cannot do that, then rise at its beginning. Pray four rakats, reciting in the first rakah the Opening of the Book and Surah Yasin, in the second rakah the Opening of the Book and Alam Tanzeel (the Sajdah chapter), in the third rakah the Opening of the Book and Ha-Meem Dukhan, and in the fourth rakah the Opening of the Book and Tabarak from the Mufassal section. When you finish the tashahhud, praise Allah and extol Him beautifully, invoke blessings upon me and upon all the prophets, and ask forgiveness generously for your brothers who preceded you in faith, and ask forgiveness for the believing men and women. Then say at the very end, "O Allah, have mercy on me by making me abandon sins forever, for as long as You keep me alive, and have mercy on me by sparing me from concerning myself with what does not concern me, and grant me sound judgment in whatever pleases You regarding me. O Allah, Originator of the heavens and the earth, Possessor of majesty and honor and might that cannot be overcome, I ask You, O Allah, O Most Merciful, by Your majesty and the light of Your Face, to make my heart hold fast to the memorization of Your Book just as You have taught me, and grant me to recite it in the manner that pleases You regarding me. O Allah, Originator of the heavens and the earth, Possessor of majesty and honor and might that cannot be overcome, I ask You, O Allah, O Most Merciful, by Your majesty and the light of Your Face, to illuminate my sight with Your Book, to loosen my tongue with it, to relieve my heart through it, to open my chest with it, and to occupy my body with it, for none can help me toward the truth but You, and none can grant it except You, and there is no power and no strength except with Allah, the Most High, the Most Great." O Abul-Hasan, do this for three Fridays, or five, or seven, and it will be answered, Allah willing. By the One who sent me with the truth, it has never failed a believer.'"Abdullah bin Abbas said, "By Allah, Ali did not stay away more than five or seven days before he came to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ in that same gathering and said, 'O Messenger of Allah, before this I could not learn four verses or so without their slipping away from me when I recited them to myself. But today I learn forty verses or so, and when I recite them to myself, they stand before my eyes as firmly as if they were the Book of Allah itself. And I used to hear a hadith, and if I wanted to repeat it, it would slip away from me, but today I hear hadiths, and when I narrate them, I do not miss a single word of them.'" At that, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said to him, "A believer, by the Lord of the Kaaba, O Abul-Hasan."It was narrated by Tirmidhi (3570) and Hakim (1/316–317, with this wording), and by Ibn Jareer in his Tafsir (3/348) in abridged form, all through routes from Abu Ayub Sulayman bin Abdul-Rahman Dimashqi, who said, Walid bin Muslim told us, Ibn Jurayj told us, from Ata bin Abu Rabah and Ikrima the freedman of Ibn Abbas, from Ibn Abbas, who said, and he mentioned it. Hakim said, "Sahih according to the standard of the two sheikhs." Dhahabi corrected him, saying, "This is a munkar, anomalous hadith. I fear it may be fabricated. Its excellent chain has, by Allah, perplexed me... Walid bin Muslim explicitly stated, saying, 'Ibn Jurayj told us,' so Sulayman certainly narrated it from him, and Sulayman is reliable."I say, Walid bin Muslim practices the type of tadlis known as tadlis al-taswiya, and some scholars require that he make this explicit at every level of the chain, though the majority are satisfied with his making it explicit regarding his own direct teacher. So according to the view of some scholars, he may have omitted the name of Ibn Jurayj's own teacher. Moreover, Ibn Jurayj was also a mudallis, and he did not state explicitly that he heard directly from his two teachers, Ata and Ikrima. This concerns the chain. As for the content, it contains clear objectionable elements. Dhahabi said, in his entry on Walid bin Muslim in Al-Mizan (4/247), "I say, among the most objectionable things he has brought is the hadith about the memorization of the Quran."It was also narrated from Ibn Abbas that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, "The man who has nothing of the Quran within him is like a ruined house." This was narrated by Tirmidhi (2913), Ahmad (1947), and Hakim (1/554), all through the route of Jareer bin Abdul-Hameed, from Qabus bin Abu Dhubyan, from his father, from Ibn Abbas, and he mentioned it. Tirmidhi said, "This is a hasan sahih hadith." Hakim said, "This is a hadith sahih in chain." Dhahabi corrected him, saying, "Qabus is weak." Ibn Hibban said, "Qabus had poor memory, and he transmits from his father material that has no basis." This is indeed among what he narrates from his father.