He reported God’s messenger as saying, “God has not listened to anything as He does to a prophet with a good voice reciting the Qur’ān aloud.” (Bukhārī and Muslim.)

Abdallāh b. Mas'ūd said: When God’s Messenger was on the pulpit he asked him to recite to him and he replied, “Shall I recite to you when it was sent down to you?” He said that he liked to hear it from someone else, so ‘Abdallāh recited Sūrat an-Nisa’ up to this verse, “How then shall it be when We bring from every people a witness and bring you against them as witness?”(Al-Qur’ān, 4:1-41) Then on being told that that was enough for the present, he turned round to him and saw the tears falling from his eyes. (Bukhārī and Muslim.)

Anas reported God’s messenger as saying to Ubayy b. Kā'b, “God has commanded me to recite the Qur’ān to you.” He asked, “Did God mention me to you by name?” and when he was told that He had, he said, “Have I been mentioned in the presence of the Lord of the uni­verse?” On being told that he had, tears fell from his eyes. In a version he said God had commanded him to recite to him “Those who disbelieve were not …” (Qur’ān, 98). He asked if He had mentioned him by name, and when he was told that He had, he wept. (Bukhārī and Muslim.)

Ibn ‘Umar said that God’s-messenger forbade taking the Qur’ān into enemy territory. A version by Muslim has, “Do not take the Qur’ān with you when travelling, for I cannot guarantee that the enemy will not get it.” (Bukhārī and Muslim.)

Abū Sa'īd al-Khudrī said: I sat with a company of the poor*members of the Emigrants who were sitting close together because of lack of clothing while a reader was reciting to us. God’s messenger came along and stood beside us, and when he did so the reader stopped and gave him a salutation. He asked what we were doing, and when we told him we were listening to God’s Book he said, “Praise be to God who has put among my people those with whom I have been ordered to keep myself.”(Qur’ān,18:28) He then sat down among us so as to be like one of us, and when he had made a sign with his hand they sat in a circle with their faces turned towards him, and he said, “Rejoice, you group of poor Emigrants, in the announcement that you will have perfect light on the day of resurrection. You will enter paradise half a day before the rich, and that is five hundred years.” *Lit. 'Weak'. This is said to refer to the people who lived in the Suffa Abū Dāwūd transmitted it.

‘Abīda al-Mulaikī who was a Companion reported God’s messenger as saying, "Do not make the Qur’ān a pillow,* but recite it as it deserves to be recited during the night and the day. Recite it aloud, chant it and consider its contents, perhaps you may prosper; but do not seek to get reward for it in this world, for it provides rewards.”(i.e., in the next world) *A figure of speech warning against laziness or neglect. Baihaqi trans­mitted it in Shu'ab' al-īmān.

‘Umar b. al-Khattab said: I heard Hishām b. Hakīm b. Hizām reciting sūra al-Furqān (Qur’ān, 25) in a different manner from my way of reciting it, and God’s messenger had taught me to recite it. I nearly spoke sharply to him, but I delayed till he had finished, and then catching his cloak at the neck I brought him to God’s messenger and said, “Messen­ger of God, I heard this man reciting sūra al-Furqān in a manner different from that in which you taught me to recite it.” He told me to let him go and told him to recite. When he recited it in the manner in which I had heard him recite it God's messenger said, “Thus was it sent down.” He then told me to recite it and when I had done so he said, “Thus was it sent down. The Qur’ān was sent down in seven modes of reading, so recite according to what comes most easily.” (Bukhārī and Muslim, the wording being Muslim’s.)

Ibn ‘Abbās reported God’s messenger as saying, “Gabriel taught me to recite in one mode, and when I replied to him and kept asking him to give me more he did so till he reached seven modes." Ibn Shihāb said he had heard that those seven modes are essentially one, not differing about what is permitted and what is prohibited. (Bukhārī and Muslim.)

‘Alqama said: When we were in Hims Ibn Mas’ūd recited sūra Yūsuf (Quran, 12) and a man declared that it was not sent down like that. To this ‘Abdallāh replied, “I swear by God that I recited it in the time of God’s messenger and he told me I had done it well.” While speaking to him he noticed the smell of wine on him, so he said, “Do you drink wine and declare the Book false?” and then gave him the prescribed beating. (Bukhārī and Muslim.)

Zaid b. Thābit said: Abū Bakr sent for me after the slaughter of those who fought at al-Yamāma and ‘Umar b. al-Khattāb was with him. Abū Bakr told me that ‘Umar had come to him and drawn attention to the extensive slaughter among Qur’ān readers at the battle of al- Yamāma, saying he was afraid that if readers continued to be killed in large numbers at other battles a large amount of the Qur’ān would be lost, and that he therefore thought he should give command that the Qur’ān be collected. He had asked. ‘Umar how he could do a thing which God’s messenger had not done, and ‘Umar, swearing by God that this was best, had kept at him till God made him inclined to do that, and he came to hold ‘Umar’s opinion about the matter. Zaid told how Abū Bakr said to him, “You are an intelligent young man whom we do not suspect and you have been writing down the revelation which came to God’s messenger, so search for the Qur’ān and collect it,” adding: I swear by God that if they had imposed on me the transportation of a mountain it would not have been a heavier load for me than the collecting of the Qur’ān which he ordered me to undertake. I asked how they could do a thing which God’s messenger had not done and Abū Bakr, swearing by God that this was best, kept at me till God made me in­clined to do what He had made Abū Bakr and ‘Umar inclined to do. I therefore searched for the Qur’ān and collected it from leafless palm branches, white stones and the breasts of men till I found the end of sūra at-Tauba (Qur’ān, 9) with Abū Khuzaima al-Ansārī, not having found it with anyone else: "A messenger from among yourselves has come to you . . .” to the end of Barā'a* (Qur’ān, 9 128-129). The sheets were deposited with Abū Bakr till God took him, then with ‘Umar during his lifetime, then with Hafsa, ‘Umar’s daughter. *Tauba and Barā’a are alternative titles of sūra 9. Bukhārī transmitted it.

Anas b. Mālik told of Hudhaifa b. al-Yamān coming to ‘Uthmān after having led the Syrians along with the ‘Irāqīs at the conquest of Armenia and Azerbaijan: Being alarmed at their difference in reading the Qur’ān he said to ‘Uthmān, “Commander of the faithful, set this people right before they disagree about the Book in the manner of the Jews and the Christians.” ‘Uthmān therefore sent a message to Hafsa asking her to send the sheets to him so that they might make copies of them, after which he would return them to her. Hafsa sent them to ‘Uthmān and he commanded Zaid b. Thābit, ‘Abdallāh b. az-Zubair, Sa'īd b. al-‘Ās and ‘Abdallāh b. al-Hārith b. Hishām who made copies of them. ‘Uthmān gave instructions to the three members of Quraish that when they and Zaid b. Thābit disagreed about anything in the Qur’ān they were to write in the dialect of Quraish, for it came down only in their dialect. They did so, and when they had made several copies of the sheets ‘Uthmān returned the sheets to Hafsa. He then sent a copy of those which they had transcribed to every region, giving orders that every sheet or volume which contained a part of the Qur’ān in different form should be burned. Ibn Shihāb said he was told by Khārija b. Zaid b. Thābit that he heard Zaid b. Thābit say that when they transcribed the Qur’ān he failed to find a verse in al-Ahzāb which he had heard God’s messenger reciting. He therefore sought it and found it with Khuzaima b. Thābit al-Ansārī, “Among the believers are men who have been true to the covenant they made with God” (Qur’ān, 33:23). They then added it to its sūra in the copy of the Qur’ān. Bukhārī transmit­ted it.

Ibn 'Abbas said he asked ‘Uthmān what had induced them to deal with al-Anfāl (Qur’ān, 8) which is one of the Mathānī* and with Barā'a which is one with a hundred verses, joining them without writing the line contain­ing "In the name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful,” and putting it among the seven long ones. When he asked again what had induced them to do that, ‘Uthmān replied, "Over a period sūras with numerous verses would come down to God’s messenger, and when some­thing came down to him he would call one of those who wrote and tell him to put these verses in the sūra in which such and such is mentioned, and when a verse came down he would tell them to put it in the sūra in which such and such is mentioned. Now al-Anfāl was one of the first to come down in Medina and Barā’a was among the last of the Qur’ān to come down, and the subject-matter of the one resembled that of the other, so because God’s messenger was taken without having explained to us whether it belonged to it, for that reason I joined them without writing the line containing ‘In the name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful, and put it among the long sūras.'’ *Sūras with less than a hundred verses, but more than those in al mufassal. Ahmad, Tirmidhī and Abū Dāwūd transmitted it.