Hadithcore
Sahih Muslim, 811 a
sahih

Abu Darda' reported Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) as saying:

Is any one of you incapable of reciting a third of the Qur'an in a night? They (the Companions) asked: How could one recite a third of the Qur'an (in a night)? Upon this he (the Prophet) said: "'Say: He is Allah, One' (Qur'an. cxii) is equivalent to a third of the Qur'an."

وَحَدَّثَنِي زُهَيْرُ بْنُ حَرْبٍ، وَمُحَمَّدُ بْنُ بَشَّارٍ، قَالَ زُهَيْرٌ حَدَّثَنَا يَحْيَى بْنُ سَعِيدٍ، عَنْ شُعْبَةَ، عَنْ قَتَادَةَ، عَنْ سَالِمِ بْنِ أَبِي الْجَعْدِ، عَنْ مَعْدَانَ بْنِ أَبِي طَلْحَةَ، عَنْ أَبِي الدَّرْدَاءِ، عَنِ النَّبِيِّ صلى الله عليه وسلم قَالَ ‏"‏ أَيَعْجِزُ أَحَدُكُمْ أَنْ يَقْرَأَ فِي لَيْلَةٍ ثُلُثَ الْقُرْآنِ ‏" قَالُوا : وَكَيْفَ يَقْرَأْ ثُلُثَ الْقُرْآنِ ؟ قَالَ : " قُلْ هُوَ اللَّهُ أَحَدٌ تَعْدِلُ ثُلُثَ الْقُرْآنِ " ‏.‏

Isnad

9 transmitters
  1. 1Zuhayr bin HarbNisa'/Baghdad · d. 234 AH/848 CE
  2. 2Muhammad bin Bashar Bindaral-Basra · d. 252 AH
  3. 3Zuhayr bin Mua'wiya bin Hudayjal-Kufa,Bahrain · d. ~174 AH
  4. 4Yahya bin Sa'id al-AnsariMedina · d. 144 AH or after
  5. 5Shu'bah bin al-HajjajWasit,Basra · d. 160 AH
  6. 6QatadaBasra/Medina · d. ~117 AH
  7. 7Salm bin Abi al-Ja'dal-Kufa · d. 100 AH or after
  8. 8Ma'dan bin Abi TalhaSyria
  9. 9Abu al-DardaMedina/Syria · d. 32 AH/653 CE
References2 variants
In-Book Reference
Book 6, Hadith 314
USC-MSA web (English) reference
Book 4, Hadith 1769 (deprecated numbering scheme)
Sharh · explanationclick to expand
The glorious Qur'an is the strong rope of Allah and His straight path. Its recitation brings goodness and blessing and affords tranquility of the soul and abundance of reward. Allah endowed some of its Surahs and verses with a special merit. In this Hadīth, the Prophet (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) informs that Allah Almighty divided the Qur'an into three parts, i.e., sections: One section comprises the stories of the past people, another section contains the Shar‘i (legal) rulings, and the third section includes the belief in Allah's oneness and mention of His attributes. "and He made Surat {Say: 'He is Allah, the One'} as one of the parts of the Qur'an", which are three. This is the section of Tawhīd and the mention of Allah's attributes. It is because this Surah includes two of the names of Allah Almighty which comprise all the traits of perfection, and they do not occur in any other Surah of the Qur'an. They are: Al-Ahad (the One) and As-Samad (the Eternal Refuge). They point to the Essence of Allah which possesses all the attributes of perfection. This is clarified by the fact that "the One" gives a feeling about His particular existence, which no one else shares with Him; and "the Eternal Refuge" gives a feeling about all the attributes of perfection. This is because He is the One Whose sovereignty reached the pinnacle of sublimity and perfection, and the One before Whom all creatures stand in need and Who does not need anyone, Exalted be He. Since this Surah comprises knowledge of the attributes of perfection, it came to be regarded as one-third compared to the complete knowledge of the attributes of Allah's Essence and the attributes of His actions. It is said: It means that the reward for reciting Surat al-Ikhlās gets multiplied until it becomes tantamount to the reward for reciting one-third of the noble Qur'an. The Hadīth points out the merit of Surat al-Ikhlās..
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