The Best of You: Learn the Qur'ān and Teach It

There are thousands of hadīth about the virtues of the Qurʾān. But few are as arresting as this one — because it does not just describe a reward waiting in the hereafter. It hands you a rank, right now, in this life: the best of you. Not the wealthiest, not the most prominent, not the most eloquent. The best. And the criterion is something any Muslim, at any age, in any city, can pursue.

The hadīth is narrated by ʿUthmān ibn ʿAffān (may Allah be pleased with him) and recorded in Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī. It is eleven words in Arabic, but those eleven words reward a lifetime of unpacking. This article takes that hadīth seriously — examining what the Prophet ﷺ actually meant by "learn" and "teach", how the Companions understood and lived it, and what it concretely asks of an ordinary Muslim today.

The Hadīth Itself

The narrator, ʿUthmān ibn ʿAffān (may Allah be pleased with him), is himself one of the greatest figures of Qurʾānic transmission. He recited the entire Qurʾān back to the Messenger of Allāh ﷺ before the Prophet's death, and among his most famous students in Qurʾān was Abū ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Sulamī — the very man who transmits this hadīth to us and whose life became its living proof.

What "Learning" Actually Means

It is easy to read this hadīth narrowly: memorise some Qurʾān, perhaps teach a child to read — done. But that reading misses much of what the Prophet ﷺ intended.

Scholars of Ahlus-Sunnah have explained that "learning" here encompasses recitation (knowing how to pronounce the words correctly), memorisation (retaining them in the heart), tartīl (measured, careful recitation as commanded in the Qurʾān itself), understanding (knowing what the words mean), and interpretation (grasping the guidance each passage contains). And underpinning all of these: acting upon it. The learner who ticks the first four boxes but ignores the fifth has not, in the fullest sense, learned the Qurʾān.

Listening with full attention is itself a form of learning — and this ayah, as Shaykh al-Saʿdī noted, is a general command to everyone who hears the Book of Allāh being recited. Learning begins before you have memorised a single line.

How the Companions Understood "Learning"

Abū ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Sulamī — the tābiʿī scholar who transmits this very hadīth — reported the practice of the teaching Companions in a statement preserved in Tafsīr al-Qurṭubī (1/80):

This is a pivotal point. The Companions did not treat acting on the Qurʾān as a separate, later stage — something you return to after finishing your memorisation or your studies. It was woven into the learning itself. Ten verses, then pause, then live them. Only then: the next ten.

What "Teaching" Actually Means

The Arabic of the hadīth pairs taʿallama (he learned) with ʿallamahu (he taught it). The grammar is deliberate: both actions are carried by the same person, and together they form the single description that earns the title khayrakum — the best of you. A teacher who has not genuinely learned, or a learner who hoards their knowledge and never passes it on, does not fully realise the praise the Prophet ﷺ is giving.

"Teaching" is not confined to formal classrooms. Scholars of Ahlus-Sunnah have emphasised that sharing knowledge of the Qurʾān includes informal settings: teaching a sibling to read correctly, helping a neighbour with a surah they are struggling with, correcting a child's pronunciation at home, or explaining the meaning of an ayah at a family gathering. The only requirement is that you are passing on what you genuinely know.

The Man Who Lived This Hadīth

The narration at al-Bukhārī 5027 does not end with the Prophet's words. It continues with a remarkable detail that is often overlooked: Abū ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Sulamī — the scholar who transmits this hadīth — explained why he spent his entire adult life teaching the Qurʾān. He said: "That is what has kept me in this seat [of teaching]." In other words, this very hadīth was his motivation. He heard it from ʿUthmān, and he built his life around it.

Who was he? Abū ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ʿAbdullāh ibn Ḥabīb ibn Rabīʿah al-Sulamī was born during the lifetime of the Prophet ﷺ, though he did not reach the age to be counted among the Companions. His father, Ḥabīb ibn Rabīʿah al-Sulamī, was a Companion. He was blind — and one of the foremost qāriʾs (Qurʾān reciters) of his generation. He learned the recitation from ʿUthmān, ʿAlī, Zayd ibn Thābit, ʿAbdullāh ibn Masʿūd, and Ubayy ibn Kaʿb (may Allāh be pleased with them all). He then taught in the Great Mosque of al-Kūfah from the caliphate of ʿUthmān right through the governorship of al-Ḥajjāj — a span of many decades. He never took payment for his teaching. He died in 73 or 74 AH.

His legacy did not stop with his own students. The recitation of Ḥafs ʿan ʿĀṣim — which most of the Muslim world recites today — traces back through ʿĀṣim to Abū ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Sulamī and ultimately to the Companions who learned directly from the Prophet ﷺ, built link by link, one teacher and one student at a time. Every time you open the muṣḥaf and recite, you are a recipient of a chain that al-Sulamī sat in the middle of, teaching, for decades.

Reward for Every Level of Reciter

A concern some readers may have: what if my recitation is weak? What if I am still a beginner — does this hadīth even apply to me? The answer, from the authentic Sunnah, is an emphatic yes — with a particular comfort for those who struggle.

The skilled reciter has an elevated station. The struggling reciter has two rewards — one for the recitation itself, one for the effort and perseverance. Neither is left out. This is the generosity of Allāh ('azza wa jall) towards those who engage sincerely with His Book, regardless of where they are starting from.

The Citron: Recitation and Action Together

The Prophet ﷺ used the image of fruit to make a point that scholars return to again and again: the ideal is both recitation and action, taste and fragrance together. Ibn Bāz (may Allāh have mercy on him) elaborated on this when explaining the virtue of the skilled reciter: the one who will be with the honourable scribes is the one who recites "in word and action, not merely recitation alone — he excels in reciting it and acting upon it, i.e. he adheres to it both in word and meaning." The Qurʾān is not a text to perform; it is a guidance to inhabit.

Lawful Envy: A Telling Comparison

Notice who shares the podium with the person of the Qurʾān: the generous wealthy person. Wealth spent freely in the day and night. The Prophet ﷺ is drawing a parallel: just as true generosity with money means spending it — not hoarding it — true generosity with Qurʾānic knowledge means teaching it, sharing it, passing it on. The one who learns and keeps it to himself is like the wealthy miser. The one who learns and teaches is the one the Prophet ﷺ said to envy.

What This Looks Like for You Today

The hadīth is not addressed to scholars or full-time teachers. It is addressed to you — "khayrakum", the best of you, of this Ummah. Here is what living it looks like in practice.

Summary

Eleven Arabic words. A rank available to every Muslim regardless of background, language, or age. The Prophet ﷺ did not say the best of you are the scholars, the wealthy, or the rulers. He said: the best of you are those who learn the Qurʾān and teach it. Abū ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Sulamī heard those words from ʿUthmān, and he gave the rest of his life to them — teaching in the mosque of al-Kūfah, never taking a fee, passing the recitation forward until it reached ʿĀṣim, and through ʿĀṣim to Ḥafs, and through Ḥafs to most of the Muslim world today, including you. The chain continues. It has your name in it too — if you choose.