Alhamdulillaah, Praise be to Allah and may He have Mercy and Blessing on His
Messanger Muhammad (PBUH) his family and his Companions. Talking about the
Qur'an may seem to be obvious to many Muslims but memorizing it may also be seen
as an important factor. Implementing it in our life therefore should draw our
attention to the highest.
Whoever memorizes Qur’aan and acts upon it, Allaah will reward him and honour
him greatly for that, so that he will rise in status in Paradise to a level
commensurate with what he memorized of the Book of Allaah.
Al-Tirmidhi (2914) and Abu Dawood (1464) narrated from ‘Abd-Allaah ibn ‘Amr that
the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “It will be said
to the companion of the Qur’aan: Recite and rise in status, recite as you used
to recite in the world, for your status will be at the last verse that you
recite.” This hadeeth was classed as saheeh by al-Albaani in al-Silsilah
al-Saheehah, 5/218, no. 2240, after which he said:
Note that what is meant by the “companion of the Qur’aan” is the one who
memorizes it by heart, as the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon
him) said, “The one who knows more Qur’aan should lead the people in prayer,”
meaning the one who has memorized the most. The differentiation in status
in Paradise will depend on how much was memorized in this world, not how much
one will recite on that day as some people imagine. This clearly points to the
virtue of the hafiz who has memorized the Qur’aan, but that is subject to the
condition that he memorizes it for the sake of Allaah, not for worldly purposes
or financial gain. Otherwise the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon
him) said: “Most of the hypocrites of my ummah are among those who have
memorized Qur’aan.”
Concerning the virtue of the hafiz who memorizes the Qur’aan, al-Bukhaari (4937)
narrated from ‘Aa’ishah that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon
him) said: “The likeness of the one who reads Qur’aan and memorizes it is that
he is with the righteous honourable scribes. The likeness of the one who reads
it and tries hard to memorize it even though it is difficult for him, he will
have two rewards.”
For the hafiz who has memorized the Qur’aan, praying qiyaam al-layl is easy. And
the Qur’aan will intercede for him on the Day of Resurrection, because the
Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “Fasting and the
Qur’aan will intercede for a person on the Day of Resurrection. Fasting will
say, ‘O Lord, I deprived him of food and desires during the day, so let me
intercede for him.’ The Qur’aan will say, ‘O Lord I deprived him of his sleep at
night, so let me intercede for him.’ Then they will both intercede for him.”
Narrated by Ahmad, al-Tabaraani and al-Haakim; classed as saheeh by al-Albaani
in Saheeh al-Jaami’, no. 3882
And Allaah knows best.
It should be noted here that there is a weak (da’eef) hadeeth that is quoted
concerning the virtue of memorizing Qur’aan. This hadeeth says, “The bearer of
the Qur’aan, if he regards what it permits as halaal and what it forbids as
haraam, he will intercede for ten of his family members on the Day of
Resurrection, all of whom deserved to enter Hell.” This was narrated by
al-Bayhaqi in Shu’ab al-Eemaan (The Branches of Faith) from Jaabir; it was
classed as da’eef by al-Albaani in Da’eef al-Jaami’
إن من حفظ القرآن وعمل بما فيه ، أثابه الله على ذلك ثوابا عظيما ، وأكرمه إكراما
بالغا ، حتى إنه ليرتقي في درجات الجنة على قدر ما يقرأ ويرتل من كتاب الله .
فقد روى الترمذي (2914) وأبو داود (1464) عن عبد الله بن عمرو عن النبي صلى الله
عليه وسلم قال :" يقال لصاحب القرآن اقرأ وارتق ورتل كما كنت ترتل في الدنيا فإن
منزلتك عند آخر آية تقرأ بها " والحديث صححه الألباني في السلسلة الصحيحة (5/281)
برقم 2240 ، وقال بعده :
( واعلم أن المراد بقوله : " صاحب القرآن " حافظه عن ظهر قلب على حد قوله صلى الله
عليه وسلم : يؤم القوم أقرؤهم لكتاب الله . . أي أحفظهم ، فالتفاضل في درجات الجنة
إنما هو على حسب الحفظ في الدنيا ، وليس على حسب قراءته يومئذ واستكثاره منها كما
توهم بعضهم ، ففيه فضيلة ظاهرة لحافظ القرآن ، لكن بشرط أن يكون حفظه لوجه الله
تبارك وتعالى ، وليس للدنيا والدرهم والدينار ، وإلا فقد قال صلى الله عليه وسلم :
أكثر منافقي أمتي قراؤها ) انتهى .
وجاء في فضل حافظ القرآن : ما رواه البخاري (4937) عن عائشة عن النبي صلى الله عليه
وسلم قال "مثل الذي يقرأ القرآن وهو حافظ له مع السفرة الكرام البررة ومثل الذي
يقرأ وهو يتعاهده وهو عليه شديد فله أجران ".
وحافظ القرآن يسهل عليه أن يقوم الليل به ، فيشفع فيه القرآن يوم القيامة ؛ لقول
النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم " الصيام والقرآن يشفعان للعبد يوم القيامة يقول الصيام
أي رب إني منعته الطعام والشهوات بالنهار فشفعني فيه يقول القرآن رب منعته النوم
بالليل فشفعني فيه فيشفعان " رواه أحمد والطبراني والحاكم ، وصححه الألباني في صحيح
الجامع برقم : 3882
والله أعلم .
ينبه هنا على حديث ضعيف ورد في فضل حفظ القرآن وهو : ( لحامل القرآن إذا عمل به
فأحل حلاله وحرم حرامه يشفع في عشرة من أهل بيته يوم القيامة كلهم قد وجبت له النار
) رواه البيهقي في الشعب عن جابر ، وضعفه الألباني في ضعيف الجامع