Similitude of Those Who Recite The Holy Quran And Those Who Do Not

From Abu Musa r.a narrated that Rasullullah s.a.w said; “The Example of a Mukmin (beliver) who read the Quran is like that of turanj (citron), which has a pleasant smell and a sweet taste. The example of a mukmin who does not read the Quran is like that of a dates, which has no smell, though its taste is sweet, the munafiq (hypocrite) who does not read the Quran is like a wild gourd, which has a bitter taste and no smell, and the munafiq who reads the Quran is like a raihan (sweet selling flower) which is fragrant but has a bitter taste.”

In this hadith an abstract quality of reading the glorious Quran, has been to concrete objects in order to illustrate the difference between reading and not reading the Holy Quran. Otherwise it is obvious that material object of this world like citron and dates cannot match the sweetness and perfume of the Quran. There are, however special points in this similitude, which pertain to the deep knowledge of the Prophets and testify to the vast understanding of Rasullullah s.a.w. Consider, for example, the citron, which gives flavour to the mouth, cleans the stomach and stimulates the digestion. These are the qualities specially associated with reading of the Quran sinse, fragrance in the mouth, internal purity and spiritual strength result from reading the Quran. It is also said that if there is citron in house, no genie can enter it. If it is true, then such is the speciality of the Quran. Some physicians say that citron strengthens the memory and it is reported in the Ihya by Saidina Ali bin Abu Talib r.a that three things, i.e, cleaning the teeth with miswak, fasting and reading the Holy Quran strengthen the memory.

In the book of Abu Daud, it is mentioned at the conclusion of the hadith given above that a good companion is like a person having musk. Even if you do not get musk, you will at least enjoy its fragrance. An evil companion is like a person with furnace, near whom, even if you do not get blackened, you certainly cannot avoid the smoke. It is therefore, important that one should be very careful in choosing his companion, which whom he has to mix generally.