It’s interesting that if you look at the contemporary, learned scholars of Qur’an, you will find they all have a similar presence.
Shaykh Ma’serawi, Shaykh Abdul Rashid Sufi, Dr Fadel al-Samerrai and many others (hA) – they are all well-mannered, soft, accessible, and extremely humble.
They smile, but people are in awe of them. They are easy to be around, but command respect. They exhibit those prophetic qualities which you will often read in books on the sunnah of the Prophet (saws) or tazkiyah.
I feel the following statement from Abdullah ‘ibn Amr (rA) explains this: ‘It is not befitting for the bearer of the Qur’an to backbite with those who investigate others or to be ignorant with the ignorant, but he should forgive and overlook for the sake of the Qur’an, because in his CORE is the words of Allah’.
This last part hits home. If you are someone who carries or studies the Qur’an with sincerity, it’s meant to transform your character as you hold the words of Allah *within* you.
As a consequence, there is a responsibility to set the tone, to go against the grain. When others are doing evil, then you stop it or walk away. Imam Nawawi says of the people of Qur’an; ‘They are dignified, rise above the oppressors and vulgar of this world, they are humble with the righteous…’ (Al-Tibyan).
In the famous statement of Ibn Mas’ud (rA), he says about the person of Qur’an: ‘[He] should be known by his nights when the people are asleep, by his days when the people are eating, by his weeping when the people are laughing, by his silence when people are speaking vainly, by his humility when the people are acting proud and by his sadness when people are happy’.
This is not meant to say that one becomes a hermit or isolates themselves. It’s just a reflection that Ibn Mas’ud clarifies that once someone internalises the Qur’an, they become extremely aware of their condition in front of Allah. It therefore heightens them spiritually.
Everyone of us engages with the Qur’an to different extents, but we pray he ultimately grants us this love for the Qur’an and we embody it. As Aisha (rA) said: ‘The character of the Prophet of Allah (saw) was the Qur’an’ (Muslim).