Ten Rewards for Every Letter

In a different hadith, narrated by Ibn Masʿūd (may Allah be pleased with him), the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) states: Iqraʾū al-Qurʾāna fa-innakum tuʾjarūna ʿalayhi bi-kulli ḥarfin minhu ʿashru ḥasanāt — recite the Qur'an, for you are rewarded ten good deeds for every letter of it — adding that he does not mean that alif, lām, mīm together count as a single letter, but that alif is a letter, lām is a letter, and mīm is a letter, each carrying its own reward. Read daily on this measure, the reward that accrues over time is considerable. In a further narration he states that whatever of the Qur'an comes easiest should be read every day, regularly, because Allah does not punish a heart that carries the Qur'an within it — meaning, by that phrase, the heart of one who has memorised it, put its rulings into practice, obeyed its commands, avoided what it forbids, learned from the examples it relates and applied its counsel to life. A heart that merely recites the words with the tongue, without any regard for its rulings or its commands, gains no such protection; on the contrary, such a person, if wealth and standing led to neglect of what had once been memorised and to open disobedience of what the Qur'an forbids, will find the Qur'an itself as the greatest advocate on the opposing side — no longer an intercessor but the biggest plaintiff, pleading that this person be thrown into Jahannam before he even opens his mouth to argue his case; and he will be thrown in without being given the chance to speak, because the prosecutor is the Qur'an. Great care is needed here: memorising the Qur'an must go together with learning its meaning and its message. It is the greatest gift of Allah (swt) to His creatures, and the greatest form of worship.