1 Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī, no. 5018.
2 This ties into the broader discussion on whether some Qur’anic verses have greater merit than others, a topic explored in depth in Yousef Wahb’s article, “Are Some Qur’anic Verses More Meritorious than Others?” (Yaqeen Institute for Islamic Research, June 7, 2024).
3 The new compilation, titled in English
Special Virtues of the Qur’an’s Chapters and Verses, is published on
sunnah.com/virtues (accessed September 10, 2024). In compiling the virtues of certain verses and chapters of the Qur’an, I have adhered to a methodology that primarily relies on rigorously authenticated (
ṣaḥīḥ) and fairly authentic (
ḥasan) prophetic reports. The authentication of these reports is based on the evaluations of leading hadith scholars such as the compilers themselves, Imam al-Bukhari, Muslim, al-Tirmidhi, and al-Nasaʾi, among others. When citing narrations from collections that are not inherently
ṣaḥīḥ and
ḥasan, the verdicts of diverse hadith scholars were relied upon depending on the narration, such as al-Albani, Shuʿayb al-Arnāʾūṭ, and Ahmad Shakir, who have rigorously authenticated individual hadiths. Additionally, I have consulted and cross-referenced works dedicated to the topic of
faḍāʾil al-āyāt wa-l-suwar (virtues of the verses and chapters) to ensure comprehensive coverage. Among the dozens of key works referenced are: Muḥammad ibn Rizq ibn Tarhūnī,
Mawsūʿat faḍāʾil suwar wa āyāt al-Qurʾān (Encyclopedia of the virtues of the chapters and verses of the Qur’an) (Dār Ibn al-Qayyim, 2006); Fakhr al-Dīn ibn al-Zubayr ibn ʿAlī al-Muḥasī,
al-Durar min ṣaḥīḥ faḍāʾil al-āyāt wa-l-suwar (Ministry of Information and Culture, 2004); and Ḥasan ibn ʿAlī al-Saqqāf,
al-Kitāb al-jāmiʿ li-faḍāʾil suwar al-Qur’ān al-Karīm:
al-Aḥādīth allatī waradat fī faḍāʾil al-suwar wa-l-āyāt (Aal al-Bayt Royal Foundation for Islamic Thought, 2007).
In cases where hadith authenticity has been disputed, I have personally conducted isnād analysis, with the support and review of scholars and researchers. This has allowed me to clarify the status of some narrations that may have been the subject of debate, particularly those that could be classified as ḥasan li-ghayrih (strengthened by other reports). While the overwhelming majority of narrations included in this work are directly attributed to the Prophet ﷺ (marfūʿ), I have also included a small number of reports from the companions (mawqūf). These reports are deemed reliable and beneficial, especially in the context of their understanding of Qur’anic virtues..
7 Qur’an 2:281. There are various opinions regarding the last verse to be revealed. Al-Suyuti references several narrations, including Surah al-Baqara, 2:281 and 2:282. The only report mentioning a specific timeframe is related to Qur’an 2:281, where it was narrated that the Prophet ﷺ lived for nine nights after its revelation before passing away. See: Jalāl al-Dīn al-Suyūṭī,
al-Itqān fī ʿulūm al-Qurʾān, ed. Markaz al-Dirāsāt al-Qurʾāniyya, 7 vols. (Mujammaʿ al-Malik Fahd li-Ṭibāʿat al-Muṣḥaf al-Sharīf, 2005), 101–3. Ibn Hajar also states, “The most correct of opinions regarding the final revelation is [2:281].” Ibn Ḥajar al-ʿAsqalānī,
Fatḥ al-Bārī, 8:317.
8 Such as Prophets Adam, Abraham (Ibrahim), Ishmael (Ismaʿil), Isaac (Ishaq), Jacob (Ya’qub), Moses (Musa), Aaron (Harun), David (Dawud), Solomon (Sulayman), and Jesus (ʿIsa), peace be upon them all.
9 Jabir ibn ʿAbdullah reported: “The Messenger of Allah ﷺ went out to al-Safa and said, ‘We will start with that with which Allah started.’ Then he recited the verse: ‘Verily, [the hills of] al-Safa and al-Marwa are of the symbols of Allah…’ (Qur’an 2:158).” See
Sunan an-Nasāʾī, no. 2970; graded
ṣaḥīḥ (authentic); see footnote 3 regarding the methodology employed to grade hadiths in this paper.
10 Belief in Allah, His angels, His books, His messengers, the afterlife, and divine decree (
qadr).
11 Sunan al-Dārimī, no. 2179;
Ṣaḥīḥ Ibn Ḥibbān, no. 786.
12 Muḥammad al-Ṭāhir ibn ʿĀshūr,
al-Taḥrīr wa-l-tanwīr (Dār Saḥnūn, 1997).
13 Ibn ʿĀshūr,
al-Taḥrīr wa-l-tanwīr,
201.
14 Al-Qurṭubī,
al-Jāmiʿ li-aḥkām al-Qurʾān,
148.
15 See: Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī al-Shawkānī,
Tuḥfat al-dhākirīn biʿiddat al-ḥiṣn wa-l-ḥaṣīn (Dār al-Kutub al-‘Ilmiyya, n..d.), 399.
16 Sunan al-Dārimī, no. 2179.
17 Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim, no. 804.
18 Ibn ʿĀshūr,
al-Taḥrīr wa-l-tanwīr,
201.
19 Ibn Taymiyya,
Majmūʿ al-fatāwā, ed. ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Muḥammad ibn Qāsim, 37 vols. (Dār al-Wafāʾ, n.d.), 28:433. It is for this reason that Allah referenced these groups in the beginning of the
surah, with four verses about believers, two about disbelievers, and thirteen about the hypocrites, mirroring the reality on the ground and emphasizing the importance of understanding these distinct spiritual states.
20 Ibn Taymiyya,
Majmūʿ al-fatāwā, 27:274.
21 Ibn ʿĀshūr,
al-Taḥrīr wa-l-tanwīr, 201–2.
22 Ibn Taymiyya,
al-Tafsīr al-kabīr, ed. ʿAbd al-Raḥman ʿUmayra, 7 vols. (Dār al-Kutub al-ʿIlmiyya, 2014), 130.
23 Ibn Taymiyya,
al-Tafsīr al-kabīr, 131.
24 Ibn ʿĀshūr,
al-Taḥrīr wa-l-tanwīr,
201–2.
25 Ibn Taymiyya,
al-Tafsīr al-kabīr, 146.
26 Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim, no. 804.
27 Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim, no. 805.
28 Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim, no. 780.
29 Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim, no. 804.
30 Mūsa Shahīn Lashīn,
Fatḥ al-munʿim sharḥ Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim (Dār al-Shurūq, 2002).
31 This refers to Surah al-Baqara, verse 255 (Qur’an 2:255).
32 Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim, no. 810.
33 Al-Nawawī,
Sharḥ al-Nawawī ‘alā Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim,
kitāb ṣalāt al-musāfirīn wa-qaṣrihā,
bāb faḍl Sūrat al-Kahf wa Āyat al-Kursī.
34 Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī, no. 5010.
35 Sunan Ibn Mājah, no. 3856;
al-Ṭabarānī, no. 7925;
al-Silsila al-ṣaḥīḥa, no. 746. This hadith has been graded
ṣaḥīḥ (rigorously authentic); see footnote 3 regarding the methodology employed to grade hadiths in this paper.
36 Abū Ḥāmid al-Ghazālī,
Jawāhir al-Qurʾān, 3rd ed., ed. Muḥammad al-Qabbānī (Dār Iḥyāʾ al-ʿUlūm, 1990), 74.
37 Sunan an-Nasāʾī al-kubrā, no. 9848;
al-Ṭabarānī, no. 7532; graded
ḥasan (fairly authentic). See footnote 3 regarding the methodology employed to grade hadiths in this paper.
38 Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī, no. 7418.
39 Sunan Abū Dāwūd, no. 4727. See also
Sunan Ibn Mājah, no. 193.
40 Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī, no. 2790.
41 Ibn al-Qayyim,
Zād al-maʿād,
4:203.
42 Ibn Abī al-ʿIzz,
Sharḥ al-ʿaqīdat al-Ṭaḥāwiyya, ed. Aḥmad Shākir (Muʾassasat al-Risālah, 1997).
43 Al-Ṭabarī,
Jāmiʿ al-bayān.
45 See: Qur’an 7:54, 10:3, 11:7, 13:2, 23:86, 23:116, 27:26, 20:5, 25:59, 32:4, 39:75, 40:15, 57:4, 69:17, 85:15.
46 See his commentary on 2:255 in
Tafsīr al-Qurʾān al-ʿaẓīm, 1:310.
47 Narrated by Ibn Khuzayma in
al-Tawḥīd, no. 154. It was also narrated by Ibn Abi Shayba in
al-ʿArsh, 21, al-Dārimī in
al-Radd ʿalā al-Marīsī, ʿAbdullah b. Ahmad in
al-Sunnah, and al-Ḥākim in
al-Mustadrak (2/282). Al-Ḥākim graded it as
ṣaḥīḥ according to the conditions of al-Bukhari and Muslim, and al-Dhahabi agreed. It was also classified as
ṣaḥīḥ by al-Albani in
Mukhtaṣar al-ʿUlū, 102, and Ahmad Shakir in
ʿUmdat al-tafsīr (2/163). See: Ibn Khuzayma,
Kitāb al-tawḥīd, ed. Muḥammad Khālid al-Sayyid (Maktabat al-Rushd, 1983); ʿUthmān ibn Saʿīd al-Dārimī,
Al-Radd ʿalā al-Marīsī, ed. Ibrāhīm al-Duwaysh (Dār al-Minhāj, 2004); ʿAbdullāh ibn Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal,
al-Sunnah, ed. Muḥammad ibn Saʿīd al-Qaḥṭānī (Dār al-Rāyah, 1986); Muḥammad Nāṣir al-Dīn al-Albānī,
Mukhtaṣar al-ʿUlū lil-Ḥāfiẓ al-Dhahabī, ed. Ṣalāḥ al-Dīn al-Munajjid (Maktabat al-Islāmī, 1991); Aḥmad Shākir,
ʿUmdat al-tafsīr ʿan al-Ḥāfiẓ Ibn Kathīr, ed. Ṣafī al-Raḥmān al-Mubārakfūrī (Dār al-Wafāʾ, 1993).
48 Reported by Ibn Abi Shayba,
Kitāb al-ʿArsh, (Jāmiʿ al-Kutub al-Islāmiyya), 20. Also reported in
Ṣaḥīḥ Ibn Ḥibbān, no. 361.
50 Narrated by Ibn Abi Shayba in
al-ʿArsh (no. 60), and its
isnād was classified as rigorously authenticated (
ṣaḥīḥ) in Ibn Hajar’s
Fatḥ (8:47) and by al-Albani in
Mukhtaṣar al-ʿuluw, pp. 123–24.
51 Qur’an 42:11. According to the Athari school, which emphasizes a literal affirmation of scriptural descriptions of divine attributes while firmly upholding divine transcendence, statements such as “The
Kursi is the place for the two Feet” are accepted as part of the revealed tradition without inquiry into their modality (
bilā kayf). Atharis caution against excessive allegorization, maintaining that while such expressions may appear anthropomorphic, they do not imply spatial limitation or corporeality. Instead, these texts are affirmed as they appear, with the understanding that Allah’s essence remains beyond human comprehension and is not confined to any physical locus. Meanwhile, Ashʿari theologians—though employing a different hermeneutical approach—similarly uphold divine transcendence (
tanzīh) and reject any literalist anthropomorphic interpretation, often allowing for figurative readings as a means of emphasizing Allah’s majesty.
52 Al-Ṭabarī,
Jāmiʿ al-bayān (Dār al-Fikr, n.d.), 2:16.
53 Al-Ṭabarī,
Jāmiʿ al-bayān, 2:16.
56 Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī, no. 2790.
57 Al-Silsila al-ṣaḥīḥa, no. 109. Graded
ṣaḥīḥ (rigorously authentic); see footnote 3 regarding the methodology employed to grade hadiths in this paper.
58 Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī, no. 2411.
59 Ibn Taymiyya,
Majmūʿ al-fatāwā, 6:584. In the cited passage, Ibn Taymiyya elucidates, “The Throne (
ʿArsh) is affirmed by the Qur’an, the Sunnah, and the consensus of the early generations of the
ummah and its scholars. Similarly, the Footstool (
Kursi) is established by the Qur’an, the Sunnah, and the consensus of the majority of the early generations. It has been reported from some of them that ‘His
Kursi’ refers to His knowledge. However, this is a weak opinion, because Allah’s knowledge encompasses everything, as He said: ‘Our Lord! You have encompassed everything in mercy and knowledge’ [Qur’an 40:7]… So, if it were said that His knowledge encompasses the heavens and the earth, this meaning would not be correct, especially since Allah says: ‘And their preservation does not exhaust Him’ [Qur’an 2:255], meaning that it does not weigh Him down nor burden Him. This is more befitting and suitable [to say] about Allah’s power, not His knowledge. The transmitted reports indicate this, but the verses and hadith regarding the
ʿArsh are even more numerous, clear, and mass-transmitted [
mutawātir]. And some of them [i.e., scholars] have stated: ‘The
Kursi is the [same as the]
ʿArsh,” but the majority hold that they are two distinct entities.’”
60 Imam al-Tirmidhi (d. 279/892) said: “More than one of the people of knowledge said about this hadith and other similar hadiths that discuss the attributes of Allah and the descending of the Lord, Glorified be He, every night to the lowest heaven; they said: ‘The narrations are confirmed, believed in, not imagined, and it is not to be said: How?’ Malik, Sufyan ibn ʿUyayna, and ʿAbdullah ibn al-Mubarak have been reported as saying: ‘Take these hadiths as they are “without how” (
bilā kayf).’ This is the view of the people of knowledge from the Sunni orthodoxy (
Ahl al-Sunnah wa-l-Jamāʿa).” See:
Sunan al-Tirmidhī, no. 662.
62 Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī, no. 3194, and
Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim, no. 2751.
63 Sunan al-Tirmidhī, no. 2882; graded
ṣaḥīḥ (rigorously authentic); see footnote 3 regarding the methodology employed to grade hadiths in this paper.
64 Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim, no. 173.
65 This is the opinion attributed to some of the second generation of Muslims, known as “successors” (
tabiʿin), including al-Hasan al-Basri, Ibn Sirin, and Mujahid; See: al-Qāḍī Abū Bakr ibn al-‘Arabī al-Mālikī,
Aḥkām al-Qurʾān, 3 vols. (Dār al-Kutub al-‘Ilmiyya, n.d.).
66 This opinion is attributed to many scholars; See: Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Hādī al-Sindī,
Ḥāshiyat al-Sindī ʿalā Sunan al-Nasāʾī (Dār al-Maʿrifa, n.d.), 224; and al-Qārī,
Mirqāt, 9:3772.
67 Sunan al-Dārimī, no. 3289; see also al-Nawawi in
al-Adhkār, 220. He attributed it to the report of Abu Bakr ibn Abi Dawud and said that this report is sound, according to the conditions of Imam al-Bukhari and Muslim.
68 Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī, no. 5009.
69 Similarly, Ibn Hajar states: “[It] was explicitly reported by ʿAsim from ʿAlqama from Ibn Masʿud, ‘Whoever recites [the two verses at] the end of Surah al-Baqara, it will be sufficient for him instead of standing in prayer for one night.’” See Ibn Ḥajar al-ʿAsqalānī,
Fatḥ al-Bārī, 8:672.
70 Abū Zakariyyā Yaḥyā ibn Sharaf al-Nawawī,
Sharḥ Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim, 11 vols. (Dār al-Kutub al-‘Ilmiyya, n.d.), 6:92.
71 Ibn al-Qayyim,
Al-Wābil al-ṣayyib, 3rd ed., ed. Sayyid Ibrahim (Dar al-Hadith, 1991), 91.
73 Abrogation, or
naskh, refers to the abrogation of a verse in terms of its recitation or ruling, where the latter is the predominant type in the opinions of most scholars of Qur’anic sciences. In this case, the hadith is referring to an abrogation of the initial ruling that people will be held accountable for what is in their hearts. For more on the topic of abrogation, see Yaqeen’s article,
Abrogated Rulings in the Qur’an: Discerning their Divine Wisdom.
74 Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim, no. 125; Qur’an 2:286.
75 Ibn Taymiyya,
al-Tafsīr al-kabīr, 232.
76 Ibn Taymiyya,
al-Tafsīr al-kabīr, 236.
77 Such as in the context of Ramadan and those for whom fasting is waived due to travel or illness: “Allah intends for you ease and does not intend for you hardship and [wants] for you to complete the period and to glorify Allah for that [to] which He has guided you; and perhaps you will be grateful.” Qur’an 2:185.
78 When a particular command becomes unreasonably difficult or impossible due to circumstances beyond human control, legal scholars generally hold that the obligation is either lifted or modified to a bearable form. For instance, if standing in prayer becomes impossible due to illness, the obligation adjusts to sitting or lying down. This practical application further illustrates the centrality of human capacity in determining the scope of divine law.