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Introduction

All praise belongs to Allah!

I am immensely pleased to announce the publication of my booklet on the Faḍāʾil al-Qurʾān in which I have attempted to gather, translate and comment on the reliable reports having to do with the Qur’an from the Shīʿa Hadith corpus.

It is my hope that this work will be of benefit to us all in strengthening our relation with the Qur’an after understanding the status of the Qur’an from the words of our Imams, especially in the face of accusations by some that we as a school have ignored it.

Preface

What can one say about the Qur’an? It is only right that we deficient ones limit ourselves to quoting descriptions from God, His Prophet who was the primary recipient of the Qur’an, and the Imams of the Ahl al-Bayt who were the ‘counterparts’ of the Qur’an, and that is what this booklet hopes to do.

I can proffer some words, however, about what our relation with the Qur’an should be. I speak justifiably of ‘relationship’ because the Qur’an is not exactly inanimate is ‘it’? There are many reports which attribute physicality to it in the next world as we shall see.

We are told, for instance, that one of the three that will complain to Allah on the Day of Judgment will be

عِدَّةٌ مِنْ أَصْحَابِنَا، عَنْ سَهْلِ بْنِ زِيَادٍ، عَنِ ابْنِ فَضَّالٍ، عَمَّنْ ذَكَرَهُ: عَنْ أَبِي عَبْدِ اللَّهِ عليه السلام، قَالَ: ثَلَاثَةٌ يَشْكُونَ‏ إِلَى اللَّهِ عَزَّ وَجَلَ‏: مَسْجِدٌ خَرَابٌ لَا يُصَلِّي فِيهِ أَهْلُهُ، وَعَالِمٌ بَيْنَ جُهَّالٍ، وَمُصْحَفٌ مُعَلَّقٌ‏ قَدْ وَقَعَ عَلَيْهِ الْغُبَارُ لَايُقْرَأُ فِيهِ

A suspended (or in a variant: closed) copy of the Qur’an, upon which dust has gathered and which is not read from.^[1]

Isn’t this more characteristic of a spurned associate than a physical object?

Better, then, to court the Qur’an like no other and enjoy its constant companionship.

This is, after all, what the Prophet {s} instructed the Commander of the Faithful {a} in his final will and testament to him:

مُحَمَّدُ بْنُ يَحْيى‏، عَنْ أَحْمَدَ بْنِ مُحَمَّدِ بْنِ عِيسى‏، عَنْ عَلِيِّ بْنِ النُّعْمَانِ، عَنْ مُعَاوِيَةَ بْنِ عَمَّارٍ، قَالَ: سَمِعْتُ أَبَا عَبْدِ اللَّهِ عليه السلام يَقُولُ: كَانَ فِي وَصِيَّةِ النَّبِيِّ صلى الله عليه وآله لِعَلِيٍّ عليه السلام أَنْ قَالَ: يَا عَلِيُّ، أُوصِيكَ فِي نَفْسِكَ بِخِصَالٍ احْفَظْهَا عَنِّي، ثُمَّ قَالَ: اللَّهُمَّ أَعِنْهُ: أَمَّا الْأُولى‏ فَالصِّدْقُ، وَلَا تَخْرُجَنَ‏ (يخرجنّ) مِنْ فِيكَ كَذِبَةٌ أَبَداً … وَعَلَيْكَ بِتِلَاوَةِ الْقُرْآنِ عَلى‏ كُلِّ حَالٍ

O ʿAlī, I will unto you certain traits, preserve them from me.

Then the Prophet supplicated for ʿAlī saying ‘O Allah assist him (to fulfill this)’ before continuing:

As for the first it is truthfulness, no lie should ever emit forth from your mouth … and upon you is to recite the Qur’an under all circumstances …[

Nothing would be more shameful than for someone to exit this world without finding intimacy in the Qur’an.

Imam al-Ṣādiq {a} said:

عَلِيُّ بْنُ إِبْرَاهِيمَ، عَنْ أَبِيهِ، عَنْ أَحْمَدَ بْنِ مُحَمَّدٍ، عَنْ سُلَيْمٍ الْفَرَّاءِ، عَنْ رَجُلٍ: عَنْ أَبِي عَبْدِ اللَّهِ عليه السلام، قَالَ: يَنْبَغِي لِلْمُؤْمِنِ أَنْ لَايَمُوتَ حَتّى‏ يَتَعَلَّمَ الْقُرْآنَ، أَوْ يَكُونَ فِي تَعْلِيمِهِ‏ (تعلّمه)

It is incumbent on a believer not to die without having learnt the Qur’an or being in the process of learning it¹

For when all is said and done, and when the final analysis is written, nothing will remain of this temporal world which is fleeting away except the eternal deeds done sincerely for His sake.

Imam al-Bāqir {a} tells a story:

عَنْهُ‏ (أحمد بن محمّد بن عيسى)، عَنِ الْحُسَيْنِ (بن سعيد)، عَنِ النَّضْرِ (بن سويد)، عَنِ الْقَاسِمِ بْنِ سُلَيْمَانَ، عَنْ أَبِي مَرْيَمَ الْأَنْصَارِيِّ، عَنْ جَابِرٍ: عَنْ أَبِي جَعْفَرٍ عليه السلام، قَالَ: سَمِعْتُهُ يَقُولُ: وَقَعَ مُصْحَفٌ فِي الْبَحْرِ، فَوَجَدُوهُ وَقَدْ ذَهَبَ مَا فِيهِ إِلَّا هذِهِ الْآيَةَ: أَلا إِلَى اللَّهِ تَصِيرُ الْأُمُورُ

A Musḥaf (Copy of the Qur’an) fell into the sea, then they found it and all that was in it had gone (become effaced) except this verse “Look! To Allah do all matters return!” (42:53)²

1. al-Kāfī: Vol. 4, Pg. 613, Hadith No. 3/3500. All the Rijāl in the chain are Thiqa except that Sulaym al-Farrāʾ does not give us the name of his source who narrates it from the Imam.
2. al-Kāfī: Vol. 4, Pg. 668, Hadith No. 19/3587. All the All the Rijāl in the chain are Thiqa except that al-Qāsim b. Sulaymān is Majḥūl and the status of Jābir b. Yazīd al-Juʿfī is controversial.