The Best Among You Are Those Who Learn the Quran and Teach It

There's a hadith that stops you in your tracks every time you hear it.

The Prophet Muhammad ﷺ said: "The best among you are those who learn the Quran and teach it." (Sahih al-Bukhari)

Simple words. Profound implications. But what does it really mean for you and me today?

A Standard of Excellence

In a world obsessed with measuring success through wealth, status, or followers, the Prophet ﷺ gave us a different metric entirely. The "best" aren't necessarily the wealthiest or most powerful. They're the ones engaged with the Quran—learning it, living it, passing it on.

This hadith isn't just about hafiz status. It's about anyone who opens the mushaf with the intention to understand and anyone who shares even a single verse with another soul.

Learning Never Ends

Here's something that might comfort you: the learning never stops.

Even the greatest scholars continued studying the Quran until their final breath. They found new meanings, deeper connections, and fresh insights decade after decade. If you feel like you're "just a beginner," remember that everyone is perpetually learning.

Teaching Doesn't Require a Classroom

When you hear "teaching the Quran," maybe you picture a formal madrasa setting. A teacher at the front. Students in rows. But teaching takes countless forms.

It's the parent who recites Surah Al-Fatiha with their child before bed. It's the friend who texts you a verse that reminded them of your situation. It's the social media post sharing the beauty of an ayah. It's correcting someone's tajweed gently during a car ride.

Every act of sharing the Quran counts as teaching. You don't need credentials—you need sincerity.

The Multiplication Effect

Think about this: when you teach someone a verse, and they later teach someone else, a chain begins. That chain might extend for generations. Your single act of teaching could echo through centuries, accumulating reward long after you've left this world.

The Prophet ﷺ said in another hadith: "Whoever guides someone to goodness will have a reward like the one who did it."

Teaching the Quran isn't just giving away knowledge. It's planting seeds in gardens you'll never see.

What Holds Us Back?

If this path leads to being among "the best," why don't more of us walk it?

Sometimes it's intimidation. We feel we don't know enough to teach anyone. But consider: you know more than someone just starting. Even if it's just Surah Al-Ikhlas, there's a child or a new Muslim who would benefit from learning it from you.

Sometimes it's distraction. Life gets busy. The Quran sits on the shelf while we chase other things. But the hadith is a reminder of where true excellence lies—not in the urgent, but in the eternal.

Starting Today

You don't need to enroll in a formal program (though that's wonderful if you can). You can start smaller:

• Open the Quran for ten minutes daily with intention to learn
• Share a verse with a family member this week
• Teach your child one new surah this month
• Explain the meaning of an ayah to a friend

Learning and teaching aren't separate phases of life. They happen simultaneously. As you learn, you teach. As you teach, you learn.

Being Among the Best

The Prophet ﷺ didn't say "the best among you are the scholars" or "the best among you are those with perfect tajweed." He said those who learn and teach.

That includes the struggling beginner who keeps trying. The busy parent who recites at bedtime. The teenager who helps a younger sibling with their homework. The elderly person who teaches their grandchildren what they know.

The door is open to everyone.

The question is: will you walk through it today?

The best among you are already there, Quran in hand, learning and teaching. Join them.